Babur and Humayun

-Radha Gupta
• Mughals belonged to the Chagatai branch of
the Turks. Chagatais were the successor of
Chagtai, the second son of Genghis Khan
• He was the great grandson of Tamerlane and
Genghis Khan who lead the foundation of
Mughal empire in India after defeating
Ibrahim Lodhi in the battle of Panipat in 1526.
 Babur
• Babur’s full name was Mohammad Zahiruddin Babur.
Babr was a persian term meaning Tiger
• He was born on February 14, 1483 .
• He passed away on December 26 in 1530.
• He was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza, who was a
descendant of Turkish Mongol ruler and his mother was
a descendent of Genghis Khan.
• In 1494 Babur became the ruler of Farghana (at present
in Chinese Turkistan) at the young age of 11
succeeding his father Umar Shaikh Mirza
 Babur’s Military Conquests

• In 1504, Babur occupied Kabul.

• Daulat Khan, a noble from Punjab and a rebel of the
Lodi dynasty invited Babur to invade North India in
1524 to fight Lodhis as well as the Rajputs.
• He undertook four expeditions to India between 1519-
23 but didn’t succeeded
• In 1524, Babur occupied Lahore but Daulat Khan
withdrew his support and Babur was forced to retreat
to Kabul
• In November 1525, Babur recaptured Kabul.
 First Battle of Panipat
• Babur conquered Delhi and sent his son Humayun to seize Agra.
• The battle was fought between the invading forces of Zahir-ud-din Babur and  Lodi
Dynasty ruler Ibrahim Lodi.
• Babur’s had an army of 15,000 whereas Ibrahim Lodi had an army of around 30,000
to 40,000 men in total, along with at least 1000 war elephants.
• Babur’s army used guns but Lodi rulers didn’t have field artillery.

– Moreover, the sound of the cannons used by Babur’s army frightened Lodi’s elephants, causing
them to trample Lodi’s own men.
• Babur’s used Tulughma and Araba  war tactic in the war

– Tulughma:  Divison of Army into different smaller units in different directions

– Araba:  placing carts or Araba in the front divison of army , and tied to each other with ropes.
• The army of Babur defeated the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodi,
 Battle of Khanwa
• The Battle of Khanwa took place in Khanwa, in Bharatpur
District of Rajasthan, on March 16, 1527.
• The battle of Khanwa was fought between Babur and Rajput
forces led by Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar
• Rana Sanga considered Mahmood Lodi as the ruler of Delhi
and considered Babur as foreign invader.
• Rana Sangha, along with rulers of Marwar, Amber, Gwalior,
Ajmer and Chanderi fought with Babur in Khanwa.
• Babur took on the title of “Ghazi” to mobilize his army
• Babur defeated Rana Sangha in the battle of Khanwa and
consolidated his power
 Battle of Chanderi
• In the year 1528, Chanderi was captured by Babur from
Rajput king Medini Rai.
• Medini Rai was an ally of Rana Sangha who was offered
Shamsabad by Babur
• Medini Rai rejected Babur’s war and thus the battle became
inevitable.
• The battle was over within a day of the Mughal attack, with
the Fort falling only within an hour.
• Medini Rai organized ‘Jauhar’ wherein number of women,
children and soldiers committed suicide in order to escape
capture.
 Battle of Ghaghra
• The battle of Ghaghra was fought between
Muhammad Lodi and Babur in 1529.
• Muhammad Lodi was supported by Nusrat
Shah, who was the Sultan of Bengal and the
allied Afghan chiefs
• Babur was able to defeat the forces and Babur
occupied a considerable portion of northern
India.
• On December 26, 1530, Babur died at Agra at
thee age of 40.
• His body was first laid at Arambagh in Agra
but was later taken to Kabul, where it was
buried.
• He wrote his memoir called Tuzuk e Babur in
Turkish which was later translated in Persian
as Baburnama
 Humayun
• Humayun being the eldest son of Babur
succeeded the throne after Babur’s death in
1530
• Humayun was born in 1508. the name
Humayun means “fortune”
• His brothers revolted against him and his only
supporting brother Khalil Mirza was
assasinated in 1530
 Conquest at Kalinjar
• Humayun fought 6 battles under Babur including at
Kalinjar which he had to leave in between due to
illness of Babur.
• In 1531 he besieged the fortress of Kalinjar in
Bundelkhand which was the centre of Chandel rulers
• Even though the fort was not captured it gave a lot of
wealth to them amassing 6270 tolas of gold
• Humayun defeaated the Afghans at Douhrua and
drove out Sultan Mahmood Lodhi from Jaunpur, and
even defeated Bahadur Shah of Gujarat
 Internal Conflicts
• Humayun had three brothers, Kamran, Askari and
Hindal
• Humayun divided the empire among his brothers
• Kabul and Kandahar were given to Kamran Sambhal
and Alwar to Askari and Hindal respectively.
• Humayun captured Gujarat from Bahadur Shah
Askari was appointed as its governor but soon
Bahadur Shah recovered Gujarat and Askari had to
flee
 Battle of Chausa
• Sher Shah Suri consolidated his power in the
east and Humayun was ina weak position due to
internal conflicts
• Both enagged in the Battle of Chausa, held in
1539, where Sher Shah Suri was able to defeat
Humayun and Humayun had to flee
• Humayun’s brother Zaman Mirza deserted him
in the last hour. Mughal Army faced massacares
when the army was asleep by Sher Shah’s forces
 Battle of Kannauj
• Humayun reached Agra to negotiate with his brothers.
Kamran was asked for help with 20,000 soldiers but
after long negotiations he got an army of 3,000
• In 1540, in the Battle of Bilgram or Ganges also known
as Battle of Kanauj, Humayun was forced to fight with
Sher Khan alone and after losing his kingdom,
Humayun became an exile for the next fifteen years.
• Humayun’s brother Kamran doesn’t allow him to enter
Lahore and groups with Husen Arghun who defeats
Humayun in Bhakkar and Sewan
•  Humayun married Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Sheikh Ali
Amber Jaini, a preceptor of Hindal
• On November 23, 1542, Humayun’s wife gave birth to Akbar
• Amarkot’s Hindu chief RanaPrasad promised Humayun to help him
to conquer Thatta 
• Humayun left India and lived under the generosity
of ShahTahmashp of Persia.
• Shah of Persia helped Humayun and lend him a force of 14,000 men
• In 1545 Humayun captured Kandhar and Kabul 
• In 1555, Humayun defeated the Afghans and recovered the Mughal
throne. After six months, he died in 1556 due to his fall from the
staircase of his library.