According to S. Lanepoole, “Babur
was now (after Panipat) king of Delhi, but not yet king of Hindustan, much less
of India.” Babur’s victory at Panipat had not given him the throne of India,
but it had opened the gates of Hind for him. Speaking aptly, he was faced by a
number of problems since Panipat. If he was successful in solving three
problems, he was surely to be the ruler of India; or he would have lost here
everything had he failed in tackling these problems. The problems are as
follows:
(A) Climate:
The first
problem faced by Babur was the climatic conditions prevailing in Punjab and he
had to adjust himself with these conditions. The scorching heat had trembled
the Mughal soldiers in the months following the battle, because it is too hot
during April to July in the Punjab. The Mughals wanted cool air as they had
been in Kabul. Therefore they prepared themselves to leave India and return to
Afghanistan. Even Babur admits, “The heats chanced to be unusually oppressive, and
many men dropped at about the same time, as though struck by the samum, and
died on the spot.” These climatic deaths also enforced them to leave India.
But Babur was
very wise in dealing with this problem. He tried to prevent his soldiers from
leaving India: “A mighty enemy has been overcome, and a rich and powerful
kingdom is at your feet. And now having attained our goal and won our game, are
we to turn back from all we have accomplished and fly to Kabul like men who
have lost and discomfited? Let no man who calls himself my friend ever again
moot such a thing. But if there is any of you who cannot bring himself to stay,
then let him go.” This speech had a magical influence upon his soldiers and
they left the idea of returning to Kabul.
(B) Hostility
of the natives:
For every ruler
who has to face the hostility of his subjects, is his greatest problem. In case
of Babur, although he had established his rule over Delhi and Agra, he was not
supported by the natives. To them, he was a stranger, a dacoit. There was a
heavy till of life in the battle of Panipat. More than 50,000 Indians had died
in this battle. Therefore, the Indians could never forgive the Mughals and
considered them as murderers. They were never prepared to subsidize the
Mughals. Babur also writes, “When I came to Agra, it was the hot season. All
the inhabitants fled from terror, so that we could find neither grain for
ourselves nor fodder for our beasts. The villages, out of mere hatred and spite
to us, had taken to anarchy, thieving and marauding. The roads became
impassable.”
The
natives in India were always seeking an opportunity when they could take
revenge against the Mughals. Unfortunately, Babur till his end could not win
their favour, although he adopted many measures to console their hearts.
(C) Consolidation
of the newly founded empire:
After the
victory at Panipat, the Mughals were opposed by the Rajputs and the Afghans.
People here were also against the establishment of the Mughal rule. It was
important at this stage to consolidate the newly founded empire by means of
reforms etc. However, Babur’s early death left the Mughal power in India in a
precarious position. He had no time to consolidate his conquests or to
establish any permanent machinery of government. What he had won, he had won by
the sword, and it is not until the reign of his grandson, Akbar, that active
and orderly administration can be said to have existed. Though Babur could not
find enough time, and remained busy with his military transactions in India, he
got the measurement of land, established the dak-chaukis, which were some of
his steps taken with regard to his consolidation work of his empire.
(D) The
Rajputs:
The
Rajputs were the foremost trouble to the Mughals. Babur’s decision to stay in
India and to establish the Mughal rule here, clashed with the interests of Rana
Sangram Singh of Mewar (better known as Rana Sanga in history), who according to S.M. Jaffar, “was at that time the
most powerful prince and his was the premier state…. As a prince of great
wisdom, valour and virtue, he occupied a high position among the Rajput princes
of India.” Rana Sanga was ambitious to re-establish the Hindu rule in the North
India. So Babur wanted to put an end to this problem.
But it was
not an easy task for Babur, as his own men were afraid of the Rajputs, the
stories of whose bravery and courage they had heard. The Rajputs had repeatedly
over-run the Mughal troops in the pre-Kanwaha skirmishes. A prophecy, by an
astrologer from Kabul, of the Mughal defeat at the hands of the Rajputs had
also terrified the Mughals.
It was an
anxious moment for Babur. He renounced wine, poured his store of liquor on the
ground and broke his precious vessels before an assemblage of his officers and
troops. Tamgha was abolished for all the Muslims in his dominion. But even then
the morale of his dispirited men was not raised. Then he addressed them in
these words: “Noblemen and soldiers! Every man that comes into the world is
subject to dissolution. When we are passed away and gone, God only survives
unchangeable. Whoever comes to the feast of life, must, before it is over,
drink from the cup of death. He, who arrives at the inn of mortality, must one
day inevitably take his departure from that house of sorrow – the world. – How
much better is it to die with honour than to live with infamy? – God Most High
has been gracious in giving us this destiny that if we fall we die martyrs, if
we conquer we triumph in His Holy Cause.” Also, “What will all the Mohammedan
kings of the world say of a monarch whom the fear of death obliged to abandon
such a kingdom?”
These
words inspirited the Mughal troops and filled their hearts with confidence.
They swore by the divorce of their wives and on the Holy Quran, declaring to
stand by their king in weal and woe.
On March
16, 1527 A.D, the two armies met at Khanua. Babur adopted the araba
war-strategy. He took his place in the Centre. On the Right were Chin Timur and
Khusrav Kukiltash. Humayun, Dilawar Khan Khanan and other Indian nobles were
also on the right wing. The Left was commanded by Syed Mahdi Khwaja. On the extreme
right and left were the flanking parties, while the artillery line was
commanded by Nizam-ud-Din Ali Khalifa.
The war
was opened by Rana’s left wing by attacking the right of the Mughals. But Chin
Timur drove them back. The Turkish gunner, Mustafa Rumi, forwarded the carts
and guns from the Centre of Humayun’s division and broke the enemy’s ranks. The
attack by Rana’s right also failed. Then Babur directed his Centre to come
forth and within ten hours the Mughals were victorious. Rana Sanga was wounded
and took to flight. Hasan Khan Mewati, allied with the Rajputs, was killed
while Sultan Mahmud Lodhi escaped from the battle-field.
Though
Babur had won a great victory over the Rajputs, the problem was not yet over. A
Rajput chief, Medini Rai, had established himself in Chanderi on the border of
Bundelkhand and Malwa. The Mughals besieged the fort on January 27, 1528. The
Rajputs resisted the enemy, but as Sir E.D. Ross writes, “The garrison on the
second day gave up all hope of resistance, and having put their women to death
they rushed out raked to perish, but not to be captured.”
In these
two battles, the Rajputs were killed in thousands and it is even said that
there was no single Rajput house which had not to mourn the death of at least a
single member. It crippled the power of the Rajputs completely.
(E) The
Afghans:
Although
the Afghans had been defeated at Panipat, they were likely to raise problems
for Babur, so that he left India for the Afghans. Many Afghan nobles – Alam Khan
Lodhi, Hasan Khan Mewati, Nasir Khan Lohani, Maruf Farmuli and many others had
been united to drive the Mughals out of India. Darya Khan’s son, Bahar Khan,
was elected as the chief of all the Afghan nobles and he adopted the title of
Sultan Mahmud. The other Afghan nobles – Biban, Bayazid and Azam Khan, along
with Sultan Ibraham Lodhi’s brother, Mahmud Lodhi, were invited to join them in
Bihar.
Towards
the end of January 1528 A.D, the Afghan rebels advanced from Bihar to Doab. On
February 2, Babur started for the east to meet the Afghan aggression. After
some days, the Afghans conquered Shamsabad and Kannauj. Babur reached Kannauj
on February 25, but found the resistance of the Afghans (February 27). On March
13, Babur got built a bridge and crossed the river. The Afghans finding their
resistance in vain decamped. The Mughals pursued them to Oudh. Thus for some
time, the Afghan danger was averted.
Soon
Mahmud Lodhi joined hands with other Afghan nobles and was accepted as their
ruler. Babur reached Dakdaki, a pargana of Kara on the banks of the
Ganga on January 20, 1529 A.D. Here he got the information that the Afghans had
organized a three-pronged drive:
(i)
Biban and Bayazid were sent towards Sarwar;
(ii) Sultan Mahmud and Fateh Khan Sharwani along
with 1,00,000 Afghans were coming towards Chunar along the Ganges;
(iii) Sher Khan Sur along with his men had crossed
the river and was marching towards Benaras.
On March 23, Babur reached Chunargarh, and hurried forward when he
was informed of Mahmud Lodhi’s appearance at Son. On reaching Ghazipur, Babur
received the submissive letters from Mahmud Khan Lohani, Jalal Khan, Farid Khan
and Sher Khan Sur. The Afghan rebels then sought refuge in Bengal. Babur was in
friendly relations with Nusrat Shah, ruler of Bengal. As he was interested in
waging a war against Nusrat, Babur opened negotiations with him demanding
(i)
not to give shelter to the Afghan rebels; and
(ii)
to open the passage for the Mughals.
However,
the Bengal ruler denied accepting these terms. Then Babur declared that if any
unpleasant circumstances occurred, Nusrat Shah himself would be responsible for
those.
Babur,
after his meeting with the ‘Council of War’, decided to cross the Ganges, which
was done on May 1. On 4th May, the Mughals attempted to cross the
Ghagra. The Afghans put strong resistance against the Mughals. On 6th
May, the issue was finally decided in the battle of Ghagra. The Mughals used
their artillery. Lanepoole concludes, “Good generalship had once more guided
valour to victory.” It was a battle which, according to Dr. R.P. Tripathi, “broke
the back of the Afghan rebels.”
In this
way, Babur overcame the difficulties he had to face in way of establishing his
rule in North India. His success over these problems made him definitely the
ruler of the North. He crushed the power of the Rajputs and the Afghans, but
not for ever. The Afghans had soon after Babur’s death, organized themselves
under Sher Khan Sur and re-established the Afghan rule. S.M. Jaffar concludes, “The
net result of Babur’s victories in India was that the Afghans were crushed, the
Rajput supremacy was shattered, the Mughal Empire was founded and Babur was the
master of almost the whole of Northern India.”
