The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c12.s1: I
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c12.s1
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I
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IN chapter IX of volume III, which dealt with the Lodī dynasty, the narrative was brought down to the revolts of the Afghān chiefs in Lucknow and Bihār against Ibrāhīm Shāh Lodī, and the intrigues of Daulat Khān, the semi-independent governor of Lahore. In the present chapter will be described the events which led to the expulsion of the Lodīs from upper India by the emperor Bābur.
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It would have sufficed for the purposes of an Indian history if the narrative had been resumed at the point where the disaffected Afghāns first began to intrigue with the Timurid ruler of Kābul in the year 1523. But the early life of the emperor Bābur offers so strange and engrossing a subject that it would be improper not to present the reader with a summary at least of the previous career of the man who founded the Mughul Empire of Delhi. We must, therefore, momentarily focus our attention on the country situate between Persia and Turkestān, in which Bābur was born and where he spent the first thirty years of his life. Since Tamerlane's invasion of India in 1398 (see vol. III, chap. VII) this country never seems to have attracted the attention of his descendants, for though these included men of rare gifts none of them were great soldiers or statesmen. The two we remember best are Ulugh Beg, Tīmūr's grandson, who was an eminent astrologer, and Sultān Husain Baiqara, Tīmūr's great-great-grandson, who for fifty-four years made Herāt one of the greatest centres of literature and art that the world has ever seen—a veritable cinquecento Florence in the heart of Asia. But between 1405, when Tīmūr died, and 1500 (by which time Tīmūr's central Asian kingdoms had been divided between the Uzbegs and the Safavids) among all the Timurid princes—who are known to Muslim historians as the Mīrzās—there was none capable of consolidating their common heritage. The hereditary instinct for great adventures seems to have lain dormant in the Timurid stock, until it suddenly revealed itself again in the person of the emperor Bābur. The whole result of Tamerlane's invasion of India had been the appointment of a governor of Multān, who, although he founded the short-lived dynasty of Sayyids, never even assumed the title of king. Of the other lands conquered by Tīmūr nothing remained to his immediate successors except Transoxiana, most of the modern Afghānistān, Khurāsān, and part of Persia, and his conquest of Delhi counted for no more when he died than his defeat of the Ottoman Sultān Bāyazīd.
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At the time of Bābur's birth, in 1483, these countries were no longer a single empire, but were broken up into a number of separate states large and small ruled over by Timurid princes among whom there was constant rivalry and warfare. Among these princes was Bābur's father, 'Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, who had inherited the kingdom of Farghāna. In 1494 'Umar Shaikh died and was succeeded by Bābur, then a child of eleven. For the next twenty years he was engaged in continual struggles with his cousins, in which his main objective was always the kingdom of Transoxiana with its capital Samarqand, for, like his great ancestor Tīmūr, Bābur had a deep-seated affection for this city. His only lasting success during this period was his occupation in 1504 of Kābul, a Timurid state, which then became his headquarters. It was to Kābul that he withdrew after his defeat by the Uzbegs at the battle of Ghazdawān in 1512, when he finally abandoned all hope of realising his chief ambition; but there, instead of resigning himself to the relative obscurity of a minor principality, he began to contemplate what neither Chingīz Khān nor Tīmūr had been able to achieve, namely the conquest of Hindūstān. Nothing could have seemed less probable when Bābur at the age of eleven inherited his father's small kingdom of Farghāna than that he should one day become emperor of Hindūstān; and in the first thirty years of his active career, in spite of his untiring energy and indomitable courage, he achieved nothing beyond turning his cousins out of Badakhshān, Kābul and Ghaznī.
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It is almost impossible in a brief survey to infuse life and interest into the petty wars and intrigues in which young Bābur found himself involved in his early career. The bones of contention were the various towns in Transoxiana and Khurāsān, notably Samarqand, Bukhārā and Herāt, and the protagonists were the Timurid Mīrzās and the Mughul Khāns. These years are packed with incidents and adventures, forming a panorama in which the outstanding figure is the youthful prince who was destined to found a great empire in a land far removed and greatly differing in climate, population and culture from his own. The history of the country lying between the Oxus and the Jaxartes between 1494 and 1512 can only be made interesting if told in great detail; that is to say, if one concentrates on the principal personalities, their ambitions and quarrels. Sketched briefly these events have little meaning, and simply offer a number of names, many of which are quite confusing on account of their similarity and sometimes even their identity with each other. Since, however, it is with the founding of the Mughul dynasty of Delhi that this chapter is concerned, it is clear that we must pass quite rapidly over Bābur's career in the north and only deal fully with his great Indian adventure.
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In the history of the first twenty years of Bābur's career the scene changes so rapidly and the protagonists are so numerous that even in the briefest account something in the nature of a list of *dramatis personae* is required, for without such a list there must be confusion in the reader's mind.
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Zahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur, the founder of the Mughul Empire in Hindūstān, was born in Farghāna on 14 February, 1483. His father, ‘Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, was descended in the fourth generation from the great Tamerlane, and his mother, Qutluq Nigār Khānum, the daughter of Yūnus Khān, was descended from Chagatāi Khān, the son of Chingīz Khān. ‘Umar Shaikh Mīrzā was one of the nine sons of Sultān Abū Sa‘īd Khān, who, in 1452, had succeeded to what yet remained of Tamerlane's vast empire, thanks very largely to the support of the Uzbegs of Turkestān under their Qipchaq leader, Abu-’l-Khair Khān. On the death of Sultān Abū Sa‘īd Khān in 1469 his empire was divided among his sons.
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The eldest son Ahmad had obtained Transoxiana with its capital Samarqand, and the second son Mahmūd became lord of Badakhshān and Hisār. The fourth son of Abū Sa‘īd Mīrzā, Ulugh Beg, became lord of Kābul and Ghaznī, and he had a son called ‘Abdur-Razzāq. The fifth son ‘Umar Shaikh, the father of Bābur, inherited the kingdom of Farghāna with its capital Andijān. The most powerful of the Timurids at this time was, however, Sultān Husain Baiqara, who belonged to the Mīrān-Shāh branch of Tamerlane's family, and was ruling Khurāsān from Herāt. His territories included in the east, Balkh; in the west, Bistām and Dāmaghān; in the north, Khwārazm (Khiva); and in the south, Qandahār. He had a son named Badī‘-uz-Zamān Mīrzā. Bābur had two brothers, Jahāngīr Mīrzā and Nāsir Mīrzā. Such were the chief Timurid princes or Mīrzās. The most prominent chiefs and nobles outside the family of Tamerlane were Khusrav Shāh, a Qipchaq Mongol, who was minister of Mahmūd Mīrzā and for a time governor of Qunduz; and Zū-’n-Nūn Arghūn, also a Mongol, who was governor of Qandahār on behalf of Sultān Husain Baiqara—he claimed descent from Arghūn Khān, son of Abāqa, son of Hulāgū, Īl-khānī rulers of Persia two centuries earlier. His two sons, Shāh Beg and Muhammad Muqīm Khān, both play a prominent part in this story. The great chiefs of the Uzbegs who ultimately usurped the eastern possessions of the Timurids, were Abu-’l-Khair Khān; his grandson Muhammad Shaibānī Khān (also known as Shāhībeg or Shaibak, a corruption of Shāhbakht); and ‘Ubaid-ullah Khān, the nephew of Shaibānī. Amongst the Chaghatāi Chingīz-Khānids were Sultān Ahmad Khān and Sultān Mahmūd Khān, the sons of Yūnus Khān, the father of Bābur's mother. Ahmad had several sons of whom we hear at this time, notably Mansūr Sultān, Sa‘īd Khān and Chīn-Tīmūr. Finally, mention may be made of Mīrzā Haidar Dughlāt, Bābur's cousin and friend, the author of the famous *Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī*.
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In order to follow the career of Bābur we must first familiarise ourselves with a map which includes on the north the Sea of Aral, on the west Meshed (and Kirmān), on the south upper India, and on the east Kashmīr, Tibet, and Chinese Turkestān. We must think of various countries in the terms of the sixteenth century. Transoxiana, or Māvarā-un-nahr, comprised most of the country between the Oxus and the Jaxartes, including Samarqand and Bukhārā. In the south-east is Farghāna with its capital Andijān. Khurāsān included Marv, Balkh, Herāt, Qandahār and Khwārazm (Khiva). Kābul (which included Ghaznī) was independent. Hisār and Qunduz were included in Badakhshān.
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In 1494 Ahmad, the son of Yūnus Khān, died, and was succeeded by his brother Mahmūd, who died in the following year, when his territories were divided between his two sons, Baisunqur and Mas‘ūd. ‘Umar Shaikh also died in 1494, and his kingdom of Farghāna was inherited by his son Bābur, then only eleven years of age. From the very outset of his career the young prince found himself the object of external foes and of internal intrigues; for he had inherited his father’s quarrels as well as his insecure throne. The first years of Bābur’s reign were mainly occupied in fighting against his cousin Baisunqur, from whom he captured Samarqand in 1497, after a siege of seven months.
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At this stage we hear of the arrival in Transoxiana of Shaibānī Khān, chief of the Uzbegs, who was destined to play a great part in the early history both of Bābur and of Shāh Isma‘īl, the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Persia. Baisunqur Mīrzā had invited Shaibānī Khān to come and help him against his cousin Bābur. The Khān of the Uzbegs came but again withdrew without rendering any assistance, having seen enough to make him realise, as Erskine says: “the richness of the prey and the weakness of its defenders.” In 1501, after suffering a defeat at Sar-i-pul, Bābur withdrew to Samarqand which, after a protracted siege, he surrendered to Shaibānī Khān. Bābur himself only obtained his freedom by a promise that his sister should marry the Uzbeg Khān. He now withdrew to Tāshkent, which had been given to Sultān Mahmūd Khān, son of Yūnus Khān, by ‘Umar Shaikh; and there Bābur spent three years in hiding and misery. In June 1504 we find him accompanied by a handful of men and women, a refugee without a home and without a destination. Shaibānī Khān, the Uzbeg, in the meanwhile had become master of Transoxiana, and had put to flight Khusrav Shāh, the governor of Qunduz. This disaster and the consequent dispersal of Khusrav’s army came as a blessing to Bābur, to whose camp large numbers of deserters fled. Those chiefs who now attached themselves to Bābur were called the “Guest Begs”. Bābur now found himself at the head of a force of over four thousand men (according to Mīrzā Haidar, twenty thousand) and he was obliged to choose between marching to help in the defence of Herāt which was being attacked by Shaibānī Khān, or of moving farther south, over the Hindu Kush. Feeling his forces were not sufficiently strong to cope with Shaibānī's large army, he chose the latter alternative. Having led his men over the formidable passes of the Hindu Kush, he came at last within sight of Kābul. As we have seen, Kābul had on the death of his father Abū Sa'īd passed into the hands of Ulugh Beg, on whose death in 1501 it went to his son 'Abdur-Razzāq, who had been immediately displaced by Muqīm the Arghūn. Had Bābur found Kābul safely in the power of his cousin 'Abdur-Razzāq, he would have had no good excuse for trying to take possession of that important military post, but seeing that it was in the hands of an usurper, whom 'Abdur-Razzāq had been unable to withstand, he not only attacked but, as much by ruse as by daring, captured it, and having done so asserted his hereditary right to the kingdom of Kābul and pensioned off his cousin with an estate. We are justified in assuming that it was while Bābur was bringing order into his new kingdom and somewhat vainly attempting to collect its revenues that he was first inspired with his Indian dream. The temptations offered by the fertile plains of Hindūstān did not affect his passionate affection for the land of his birth, to which he so constantly refers in his *Memoirs*, and it is unlikely that he had contemplated settling in India until after his defeat at Ghazdawān in 1512. Moreover, to conquer Hindūstān did not necessarily mean lasting severance from Turkestān; rather would success in the south give the means whereby to recapture Farghāna and Samarqand.
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In January, 1505 Bābur set out *via* Bādām-chasma, Jagdalik, Ādīnapūr, Ningrahār, Jam-rūd through the Khyber Pass and Kohāt, and thence along the mountains to the west of the Indus as far as Derā Ghāzī Khān. Although it was mid-winter he and his men, encountering such climatic conditions as they had never before experienced, suffered much from the sub-tropical sun of upper India. The raid lasted four months, and by May 1506 Bābur was back again in Kābul (Abu-'l-Fazl's first invasion). In March, 1508, Humāyūn was born in Kābul, of Bābur's third wife Māhīm. In the meanwhile Shaibānī Khān had captured Khiva, and was threatening Balkh. Husain Baiqara, realising that the town of Herāt was now endangered, called on Bābur and other princes of the Timurid house to come to his rescue; and although Bābur set out with all haste from Kābul in response to this appeal, he had only reached Kahmard when news came that the old Sultān was dead (May, 1506). Bābur, nevertheless, continued his march on Herāt in order to oppose the Uzbeg Khān in Khurāsān, perhaps chiefly with the idea of saving the face of the Timurids in general. On 26 October, 1506, he met the assembled Mīrzās, who persuaded him to spend the winter in Herāt, but on 24 December, finding that no proper arrangements for winter quarters had been made, he moved out of Herāt and marched back over the snow-clad passes to Kābul, raiding the Hazāras on his way. Meanwhile there had been a conspiracy in Kābul to place his cousin Mīrzā Khān, son of Mahmūd Mīrzā, on the throne. He quickly suppressed this rebellion. In the spring of 1507 Shaibānī Khān set out from Samarqand to invade Khurāsān, and owing to the indecision of the Mīrzās he was allowed to take Herāt (June, 1507), which, being in a wretched state of defence, fell at the explosion of the first mine.
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Bābur had long desired to get possession of Qandahār on account of its strategic importance. On the fall of Herāt the Arghūn princes in Qandahār had appealed to Bābur for military aid, but no sooner had Bābur set out than they changed their minds and determined to oppose him. Bābur, advancing by way of Qalāt, which he took, met Muqīm and Shāh Beg, the sons of Zū'n Nūn Arghūn, in a pitched battle, in which the Arghūns were put to flight. Shortly afterwards Nāsir Mīrzā brought news that Shaibānī Khān was on his way to lay siege to Qandahār, having apparently been encouraged in this enterprise by the fugitive Muqīm. Shaibānī fully expected to find Bābur in Qandahār, but Bābur on this occasion did not display his wonted courage. Instead of waiting to meet the Uzbegs he held a council of war, at which it was decided to undertake a raid into Hindūstān, and in September, 1507, he set out on an expedition which is regarded by Abu-'l-Fazl as Bābur's second invasion of India. Meanwhile Shaibānī Khān had attacked Qandahār, but withdrew without taking it, his presence being required in the north owing to the rebellion of one of his chiefs. On reaching Mandrāwar Bābur retraced his steps to Kābul, but whether this was on account of disagreement among his nobles—for they had started without any fixed plan—or as a result of Shaibānī's withdrawal, we cannot determine. It was on his return to Kābul from this expedition that Bābur ordered that he should in future be styled not Mīrzā (prince), but Pādishāh (emperor). It was perhaps an unsuitable moment for him to change his title, but it should be remembered that Kābul was the only Timurid state which remained after the fall of Herāt.
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April, 1509, to April, 1510, was passed quietly in Kābul, but exciting news began to arrive of the hostilities which had broken out between Shāh Isma'īl Safavī and the redoubtable Uzbeg Khān, who had now been in possession of Transoxiana for about nine years. In the summer of 1510 Shaibānī had led an army against the elusive Hazāras eastward of Herāt, and, having failed to discover them, he gave leave of absence to his troops for the winter; but no sooner had he done so than news came that Shāh Isma'īl had set out with his army for Khurāsān. Most of this province had been wrested from the aged Sultān Husain (1506) by Shaibānī, and his troops had even penetrated into the province of Kirmān. This led to an acrimonious correspondence between the Shiah king and the Sunnī usurper (containing taunting references to the possible visit of the former to Meshed and of the latter to Mecca). Isma‘īl, having overrun Khurāsān as far as Meshed, went in pursuit of Shaibānī in the direction of Marv, where the latter shut himself up. Isma‘īl, in order to bring him out into the open, gave out that he was returning home after paying a ceremonial visit to the Holy City of Meshed. The ruse had the desired result, and on 2 December, 1510, a battle was engaged outside Marv, in which Shaibānī was defeated and slain. The Uzbegs now withdrew from Khurāsān into Transoxiana, and Isma‘īl wintered in Herāt. News of the victory at Marv was brought to Bābur, who, with hopes revived of regaining his lost territories, set out with all possible speed via Bāmiān and reached Qunduz in January, 1511. Shāh Isma‘īl sent an embassy, laden with rich presents and bringing Bābur’s sister Khānzāda Begam, who had, as we have seen, been given in marriage to Shaibānī Khān. On the approach of Bābur, however, fearing the results of her devotion to her brother, Shaibānī had divorced her and married her to a man who afterwards fell in the battle near Marv. Bābur sent Khān Mīrzā to thank Isma‘īl and to congratulate him on his victory over their common enemy; he further suggested that Isma‘īl might help him to recover Transoxiana. The latter consented and began to invade this country but, owing to affairs in Āzarbaijān which required his personal attention, he accepted proposals of peace made by certain Uzbeg chiefs, and withdrew again to Herāt. In the meanwhile Bābur learnt that his cousin Mīrzā Haidar had driven the Uzbegs out of Farghāna. Not long after, Bābur with the help of some Qizilbāsh troops took Bukhārā and Samarqand, and the Uzbegs withdrew to Turkestān. In October, 1511, he was proclaimed king at Samarqand. His dominions now included Tāshkent and Kābul, Qunduz and Hisār, Samarqand, Bukhārā and Farghāna.
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When the Uzbegs, who had retired beyond the Jaxartes, learnt that Shāh Isma‘īl had withdrawn, they resolved to attempt the recovery of Transoxiana. ‘Ubaid-ullah Khān, who had succeeded his uncle Shaibānī Khān, now attacked Bukhārā; whereupon Bābur moved out of Samarqand to meet him. In May, 1512, an encounter took place at Kul-i-Malik, in which Bābur was defeated, and, finding it impossible to remain in Samarqand, he withdrew to Hisār, whither the Uzbegs followed him in August. In the meanwhile Najm Beg (Najm-i-Sānī), who had been despatched to help Bābur by Shāh Isma‘īl on reaching the frontier of Khurāsān, hearing of Bābur’s defeat at Kul-i-Malik, collected further troops from Herāt, advanced on Balkh and in October met Bābur at the Darband-i-Āhanīn. The combined armies took Khuzar and moved on Qarshī, whose inhabitants were put mercilessly to the sword, much to the disgust of Bābur who desired them to be spared. Najm Beg now advanced on Bukhārā. The Uzbegs entrenched themselves in the fort of Ghazdawān where they were besieged by Bairam Beg and Najm Beg, but it was winter and, while the Uzbegs were well provisioned, Najm Beg was unable to feed his troops. Bābur and others advised him to withdraw to Qarshī till the winter was over, and then to return with plentiful supplies. Najm Beg agreed, but on the morrow the Uzbegs attacked and utterly defeated the Persians. Bābur, who was at this time thirty, now abandoned all hope of reascending the throne of Samarqand, which he had won and lost no less than three times. His Mughul allies turned against him and, barely escaping in his sleeping attire from a sudden attack made on his camp, he withdrew first to Hisār and then to Qunduz, and finally he again crossed the Hindu Kush and returned to Kābul. Khān Mīrzā (Wais Mīrzā), the son of Mahmūd Mīrzā, was left in Badakhshān, which Bābur still possessed and Nāsir Mīrzā, who had been left in charge of Kābul, was on Bābur's return appointed to Ghaznī. His death, due to intemperate habits which shortly after intervened, led to a revolt among the Mughul chiefs. Bābur, having disposed of this rebellion, now settled down for four years (1515–18) to what was the nearest approach to a "quiet life" that he had ever known. Müller says "Bābur dedicated the next four years to ceaseless wars in every direction, for without them it was not possible to teach the mountain dwellers of Kābul and Ghaznī the respect due to his overlordship"—which means that he conducted a series of punitive expeditions. Grenard states that these expeditions were "merely an Asiatic method of advertising the advantages of obedience". His raids were "shopping expeditions". For example, Bābur himself writes in one place: "We resolved that, since grain was plentiful in Hashtnagar, it was expedient to lead a raid against the Afghāns there." At any rate, during these years Bābur undertook nothing in the nature of military expeditions on a larger scale.