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Early Life After the fall of Tughlaq dynasty it was Baber who once again united India under one flag. He was born in February 1483 AC in Andijaan the capital of Fargana. His father Omar Sheikh Mirza was the ruler of Fargana. His father had links with the family of Temur the Lame while his mother Qutlug Nigar Khanam was linked to the family of Changed Khan. Thus it is said that blood of two famous warriors was running in his veins. His childhood name was Zaheerudin Mohammad but he was called Babar by his Turkish friends which mean lion. We don’t know much about his education but from his autobiography Tuzk-i-Babri it becomes evident that two people had influenced his life a lot. First was his maternal grandmother Issan Dolat Begam from whom he learnt a lot about administration. Second was his teacher Shekh Muzeeb who taught him Persian and Turkish languages. His father’s sudden death in June 1494 paved the way for his anointment as the ruler of Fargana. At that time he was only eleven years old. It was just the starting of difficulties for him. All his relatives had started efforts to capture his state. After solving these initial problems he decided to capture the neighboring states. With this motive he conquered Samarqand in 1497. He celebrated his victory over Samarqand for one hundred days and then fell ill. A rumor had been spread in Fargana that Babar had died. Under the leadership of Tambal his friends and Beghs revolted and appointed his brother Jahangir Mirza as the ruler of Fargana. After recovering from illness Babar started his journey towards Fargana but in his absence Sultan Ali captured Samarqand. Thus Babar lost both Samarqand and Fargana. In 1501 he again conquered Samarqand but could rule it only for eight months as he was defeated by an Uzbek chieftain Shivanikhan in a battle.

Babar as Wanderer After the second defeat of Samarqand he spent his next three years of life in forests. Revolt in Kabul paved the way for his another major success. His uncle Allog Khan was the governor of Kabul. After his death his son Abdul Razzaq became the ruler of Kabul but rebellions dethroned him. Babar took the advantage of this ideal situation and captured Kabul without any stiff resistance in 1504. After that he conquered Kandhar and Himmat. After it, he, once again conquered Samarqand but could rule it only for a short period. Ubed Ula Khan defeated him and thus put an end to his dream of ruling Samarqand forever. These battles’ experience played an important rule in his victories in India. He had learnt Tuluguma, laying ambuscade and use of artillery and used all these methods and weapons during various battles against Indian rulers.

India Expeditions India was divided into many small states when Babar invaded India. The kings of these small states used to fight against each other and there was lack of unity among them. There was not any strong central state that could fight against the invader successfully. There were seven states that were very strong and could present a stiff resistance to Babar’s ambitions. Five of them were ruled by Muslim rulers and the other two were ruled by Hindu kings. These states were Delhi, Bengal, Gujarat, Malwa, Mewar, Sindh, Kashmir, Orissa and Khan Desh. Before the famous victory of Panipat he had invaded India for four times. Kabul played an important role as a launching pad for his India expeditions. In 1519 he captured Bajour and Bhera.  In his third expedition in 1520 he suppressed rebellion in Bhera and captured Peshawar, Sialkot and Sayadpur. He launched his fourth expedition in 1524 as the ruler of Lahore Daulat Khan Lodhi has asked him for his help against the Delhi ruler. But Daulat Khan Lodhi had been defeated by the Delhi Sultanate military shortly before Babar could reach Lahore to help Daulat Khan Lodhi. But Babar took the advantage of this situation and defeated and killed all the Delhi Sultanate soldiers. Daulat Khan was expecting that Babar will appoint him as the governor of Punjab but he gave him only the Jalandhar and Sultanpur areas and appointed Aalam Khan the governor of the remaining areas. From these victories Babar had understood that without establishing a strong rule in Punjab he fulfill his dreams of ruling India. In 1525 he invaded India for the fifth time. He defeated Daulat Khan Lodhi in this way to Delhi. When Babar invaded Delhi was ruled by Ibrahim Lodhi. He was very unpopular among his ministers as well as the public. Most of his council members were unsatisfied the way he ruled his state. That is why most of them declared themselves the kings of their provinces. Thus Delhi ruled by Ibrahim Lodhi was a very small state and Babar ended his rule by defeating him in April 1526 in the battlefield of Panipat. Ibrahim Lodhi was killed along with thousands of his soldiers in the battlefield. Gawaliar King Vikrim was also killed in this battle. Rana Sangram Singh, Bengal’s Nusrat Shah, and rulers of Malwa and Gujarat kept themselves away from this battle. Babar has written, ‘By the grace and mercy of Almighty God the mighty armies of Delhi were in the space of half a day laid down in dust’. Babar’s victory was the result of his superior weapons that he had acquired from Turkey and his consummate success. With the Panipat victory Babar became the ruler of Delhi but could not be called Sultan of India as he had just took his first step to establish his rule all over India. From the historical point of view this battle has a great importance as it ended Delhi Sultanate and established the rule of Mughal Dynasty in India. Mughals ruled India more than three hundred years.

Battle of Khanua Babar’s rule over Delhi brought him into direct conflict with the Rajputs who were led by the Rana of Mewar Rana Sanga. It is said that Rana Sanga and Babar had an agreement according to which Babar had agreed to return to Kabul after defeating Lodhi Sultan while Rana Sanga had agreed to help Babar in his Delhi invasion. But this agreement did not turn into reality and both sides blamed each other for disobedience of the agreement. It is believed that after the battle of Panipat Babar had decided to stay in India permanently which was totally hostile to Rana Sanga’s wishes as the later too wanted to capture Delhi. Thus situation and fate set both the famous warriors against each other. At one hand Babar wanted to stay in India permanently and rule the country while on the other hand Rana Sanga wanted to establish Hindu rule all over India. Rana’s invasion of Biana turned the possibilities of battle between both the forces. Biana ruler Nizam Khan had joined Babar which infuriated Rana. Rana Sanga attacked Biana and defeated Nizam Khan. Babar had sent military help to Biana but that could not stop the Rajputs. Thus a battle between the Rajputs and Mughals was imminent and some immediate reasons played an important role for bringing both the forces to battlefield. A battle was fought at Khanua, a village near Agra. The ruler of west Afgana, Hasan Khan had joined Rana along with his huge military.  The battle started by 9 o’clock on 15 March 1527 when Rajput military attacked Mughal military. For most of the time Rajputs had upper hand over the Mughals but artillery played and important in deciding the result of the battle in Babar’s favor. Rana Sanga got injured in this battle while Hasan Khan Mewati was killed in the battlefield. One of Rana Sanga’s governors had deserted him and had joined Babar. Batle of Khanua proved out to be a decisive battle between the two brave clans of Asia. This battle firmly established the Mughal rule in India. This battle put a full stop one the increasing power of the Rajputs and it also ended the political wishes of Rajputs. Before this battle, Kabul was the central point of Babar’s activities and administration but after the battle of Khanua, he became the Sultan of India and he spent the remaining days of his life in India.

Last Days After the battle of Khanua, Babar spent his next four years for the expansion of his Kingdom. He fought many battles but two important battles were the battles of Ghagra and Chanderi. The battle of Chanderi was fought between Rajpoot king Medni Rao and Babar. Medni Rao was defeated and killed in this battle. Thus on 29, 1528 Chanderi was taken over by him. In 1529 he defeated the combined forces of Mehmood Lodhi and Nusrat Shah. They were rulers of Bihar and Bengal. But Babar could not rule his kingdom for long time and on December 26, 1530 he died in Agra. His dead body was taken to Kabul and there his last rites were performed. He was succeeded by his son Humayun