The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c12.s3: The Four Invasions
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c12.s3
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- v4.c12.s3.10 — 4 parts
The Four Invasions
v4.c12.s3.1
There has been some disagreement among the Muslim historians regarding the various invasions of Hindūstān by Bābur. Bābur himself, writing in 1526 after the battle of Pānīpat, says that from the time of his conquest of Kābul in 1505 his desire for Hindūstān had been constant, but that until 1519 it had not, for a variety of reasons, been possible to make a move on that country, and so its territories had remained unsubdued. At the beginning of this year, however, Bābur made a sudden descent on Bājaur which he captured after a short siege. At the same time with a view to winning over the people he concluded an alliance with the Yūsufzāis by marrying the daughter of one of their chiefs; and when shortly after the fort of Bhera on the Jhelum submitted without offering resistance Bābur gave orders that no violence should be done to the inhabitants or to their flocks and crops. Bābur himself evidently regarded his occupation of Bājaur and Bhera as his first Indian expedition. "From then till now we laboriously held tight to Hindūstān, five times leading an army into it. The fifth time...made Hindūstān our conquest and possession."¹ Abu-'l-Fazl also reckons that Bābur made five expeditions, but he regards the abortive expeditions of January, 1505, and of September, 1507, as the first and second, and the successful invasion in January, 1519, as the third. Abu-'l-Fazl confesses he could get no information about his fourth expedition; the fifth is, of course, that which led to the battle of Pānīpat. Unfortunately there is a gap in the *Memoirs* between 2 January, 1520, and 16 November, 1525, so that we cannot know precisely which expeditions Bābur regarded as the second, third and fourth.
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¹ *Memoirs*, translated by Mrs Beveridge, p. 479.
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In January, 1505, Bābur took Kohāt and Tarbila in Multān, and returned in May of that year without having crossed the Indus. In September, 1507, he turned back owing to disagreement among his chiefs after reaching Mandrāwar.
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In order to understand the circumstances which facilitated the ultimate conquest of India by Bābur, we must take up the narrative where it broke off in chapter ix of vol. iii of this series.
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Ibrāhīm Shāh Lodī, in 1523, was confronted with rebellion and risings in all the outlying parts of his kingdom. His relations had one and all turned against him, but his most serious rivals were his uncle, 'Ālam Khān (also known as 'Alā-ud-dīn) who had been living under the protection of Sultān Muzaffar of Gujarāt (see vol. III, p. 321), and Daulat Khān Lodī, the governor of Lahore. During the revolts against Shāh Ibrāhīm, Daulat Khān, who had formed the confederacy, sent his son Ghāzī Khān to Delhi in order to ascertain the position of affairs at headquarters, and on his return to Lahore Ghāzī Khān warned his father that Ibrāhīm intended to deprive him of his governorship. Daulat Khān was determined to resist, but doubting his power to do so unaided he sent messengers to Kābul, offering to acknowledge Bābur as his sovereign in return for assistance. Bābur readily agreed, although 'Ālam Khān, the uncle of Shāh Ibrāhīm, who had recently fled to Kābul, was at the time begging Bābur to place him on the throne of Delhi.
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The Lodī army sent against Daulat Khān under the leadership of Bihār Khān encountered Bābur's army near Lahore and was utterly defeated, and Bābur found himself master of that city, a victory which he quickly followed up by the capture of Dipālpur, where he was joined by Daulat Khān and his two sons Ghāzī and Dilāwar. Instead of handing over Lahore to Daulat Khān, Bābur only presented him with Jullundur and Sultānpur as assignments. Daulat Khān was naturally disgusted and went into hiding with his son Ghāzī, intending to take the first opportunity which might offer of regaining what he had lost. Dilāwar Khān, who had acted treacherously towards his father, was now given Sultānpur and the title of Khān Khānān.
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'Ālam, who still aspired to the throne of Delhi, now offered Bābur the formal cession of Lahore if he would help him to achieve this end. This offer on the part of a leading Lodī prince naturally appealed to Bābur, as it would give him a legitimate right to what he had only taken by force. He therefore instructed his generals whom he had left in Lahore to assist 'Ālam Khān in his attack on Delhi. That Bābur himself could not take part in this expedition was due to the fact that the Uzbegs were laying siege to Balkh, and as the safety of this city was almost as vital to himself as to Shāh Isma'īl, to whom it now belonged, he felt it incumbent upon him to go to the aid of his Persian ally. 'Ālam Khān now felt that the sooner he acted the better, as it would not only be to his own advantage if he could defeat his nephew Ibrāhīm without the personal aid of Bābur, but also because there was the risk that if things did not go well with Bābur, the Indian contingent might at any moment be recalled. Daulat Khān, as soon as Bābur left India, emerged from his hiding-place, and with a view to the possible recovery of Lahore offered to help 'Ālam Khān to conquer Delhi. Bābur's officers, however, could not agree to this arrangement, in that Daulat Khān was no longer on friendly terms with Bābur. After much discussion it was finally agreed that Daulat and his son Ghāzī were to remain in charge of the Punjab, while his other sons Dilāwar and Hājjī were to accompany ‘Ālam Khān in his attack on Delhi. The attack came to nothing—chiefly owing to treachery on both sides—and Ibrāhīm still remained lord of Delhi. But Bābur, who had disposed of his troubles in the north, was not far off.
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Leaving Mīrzā Kāmrān, then a mere child, in nominal charge of Kābul and Qandahār, Bābur set out over the Indus river to Siālkot. On his march he was joined first by Humāyūn with the troops from Badakhshān, and later on the same day by Khvāja Kilān with the Ghaznī troops. It was at Siālkot that Bābur heard of ‘Ālam Khān's failure to take Delhi. Daulat Khān and Ghāzī, on learning of Bābur's approach, fled to the fortress of Milwat (Malot) north of Lahore. Bābur blockaded Milwat on every side and Daulat Khān, seeing no hope of escape, capitulated.¹ Daulat Khān died on the way to Bhera, where he was to have been imprisoned. ‘Ālam Khān again fled to Bābur, bringing with him a certain number of his scattered troops, who had suffered severely at the hands of Ibrāhīm. He arrived on foot and nearly destitute.
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¹ Ghāzī Khān seems to have been a man of culture and taste, for Bābur speaks of his library where he found precious books, which he divided between Humāyūn and Kāmrān.
v4.c12.s3.10.1
Lahore and its dependent provinces being practically subdued, Bābur was now able to devote his whole attention to the capture of Delhi. Realising the political importance of having an Afghān prince in his camp, he paid every attention to ‘Ālam Khān suitable to his rank; and, although the latter had everything to lose by Bābur's success, he was entrusted with a command both at Pānīpat and at Khānua. The opposing parties were now both advancing to an encounter. Ibrāhīm marched his main forces due north from Delhi along the right bank of the Jumna, while a secondary force under Hāmid Khān moved up from Hissār Fīrūza in the south-west. This force, coming into contact with Bābur's right wing, was totally routed by Humāyūn, who was then eighteen years of age. This was Humāyūn's first experience of battle. Bābur marched to Ambāla, and following the river Jumna arrived at Pānīpat, which he occupied. Here Bābur, whose forces probably numbered some 25,000, took up a defensive position, drawing up his army in a long line. On his extreme right were the town and suburbs of Pānīpat. His centre was protected by rows of movable carts (*arāba*), seven hundred in number, connected by twisted bull-hides; between every pair of guns there were six or seven movable breastworks (*tura*) for the protection of the matchlock men. In the centre (*ghul*) was Bābur himself. His left was protected by ditches and branches of trees.
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His principal officers were Humāyūn and Khvāja Kilān on the right, Muhammad Sultān Mīrzā and Mahdī Khvāja on the left, Chīn Tīmūr Sultān on the right centre (*ung-ghul*), and Mīr ‘Alī Khalīfa—the Prime Minister—on the left centre (*sul-ghul*). On the extreme right and left of the whole line were strong flanking parties (*tulghama*), ready at a moment's notice to wheel round and take the enemy in the flank or rear. On 12 April Bābur was ready to receive Ibrāhīm's attack, but for eight days nothing happened, except for the attempts of small parties of the emperor's troops to vex the enemy by riding up to their camp and shooting arrows among them. On 20 April Bābur, growing impatient, sent out a force of four or five thousand men to make a night attack, which though badly conducted had the desired effect of making Ibrāhīm move. On 21 April at daybreak the Afghāns were seen to approach. Ibrāhīm had with him 100,000 men and nearly 1000 elephants. It seemed that the main attack was to be made on the emperor's right. At first they moved forward at a quick pace in the manner of shock troops, and the first slackening of their speed when they came near Bābur's defences caused confusion with the lines which were following close on their heels. Bābur at once took advantage of this check to use his flanking parties, which wheeled round and attacked the enemy in the rear.
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In the meanwhile the emperor's left wing under Mahdī Khvāja had been faring badly at the hands of the Afghāns, but strong support being sent from the centre, the Mughuls were able to repel them. At this juncture Bābur ordered his gunners to open fire, and then the main attacking force of the Afghāns found themselves exposed to arrows on either flank and to shot or bullets in front. The battle lasted till noon and was throughout most hotly contested, but the superior strategy and experience of the Timurid prince enabled him to bring confusion among the vastly superior numbers of the Afghāns, who finally took to flight leaving, it is said, over 15,000 dead on the field, including Sultān Ibrāhīm himself and Vikramājīt the old Rājā of Gwalior, who had fought nobly on the side of the man who had but lately deprived him of his principality. Bābur's first care now was to secure the public treasures of Delhi and Āgra, and to prevent plundering by his victorious army. He himself entered Delhi and Humāyūn was sent forward to Āgra, which still held out: and though he was not able at once to enter the forts, he prevented any treasure being carried off. An incident now occurred which has its place among the romantic anecdotes of Indian history. The wives and children of the Rājā of Gwalior, who had been left in the fort of Āgra, were seized, while attempting to escape, by Humāyūn's men. Humāyūn, hearing of this, treated them with the utmost courtesy and protected them from their captors.
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In order to show their gratitude to the young prince they presented him with jewels and precious stones; among these was a diamond of enormous value, which has been identified with the famous *Koh-i-Nūr* now in the Tower of London. Humāyūn handed over this diamond by way of homage to his father, who returned it to him as a gift. On the Friday following Bābur's arrival in Delhi (27 April, 1526¹) his name was read in the Grand Mosque as "Emperor of Hindūstān" and his highest ambition was at last attained. In his *Memoirs* Bābur compares his own success to the similar achievements of Sultān Mahmūd of Ghaznī and of Sultān Shihāb-ud-Dīn Ghūrī, and points out that though he owed everything to divine favour, his own performance was infinitely superior to theirs for they had had at their disposal enormous resources in men and money.
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¹ Hodivala, *Historical Studies in Mughal Numismatics*, pp. 261–2.
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The Indian summer having now set in, Bābur's most devoted chiefs and followers were beginning to murmur, including the loyal Khvāja Kilān, who, advocating that Bābur should follow the example of Tamerlane and abandon Hindūstān, was allowed to withdraw and become governor of Ghaznī; to others was offered the choice of staying or returning.
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No chapter in the *Memoirs* is more interesting than that containing Bābur's description of India and its fauna and flora, which follows his description of the battle of Pānīpat. It is fitting in this place to quote his general impressions of this country:
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Hindūstān is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks; of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there is none; of genius and capacity none; of manners none; in handicraft and work there is no form or symmetry, method or quality; there are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk-melons or first-rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the *bazars*, no hot-baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks.
In place of candle and torch they have a great dirty gang they call lamp-men (*dīwātī*), who in the left hand hold a smallish wooden tripod to one corner of which a thing like the top of a candlestick is fixed, having a wick in it about as thick as the thumb. In the right hand they hold a gourd, through a narrow slit made in which oil is let trickle in a thin thread when the wick needs it. Great people keep a hundred or two of these lamp-men. This is the Hindūstān substitute for lamps and candlesticks! If their rulers and begs have work at night needing candles, these dirty lamp-men bring these lamps, go close up and there stand.
Except their large rivers and their standing-waters which flow in ravines or hollows (there are no waters). There are no running-waters in their gardens or residences ('*imāratlar*). These residences have no charm, air (*hawā*), regularity or symmetry.
Peasants and people of low standing go about naked. They tie on a thing called *langūta*, a decency-clout which hangs two spans below the navel. From the tie of this pendant decency-clout, another clout is passed between the thighs and made fast behind. Women also tie on a cloth (*lang*), one-half of which goes round the waist, the other is thrown over the head.
Pleasant things of Hindūstān are that it is a large country and has masses of gold and silver. Its air in the Rains is very fine. Sometimes it rains 10, 15 or 20 times a day; torrents pour down all at once and rivers flow where no water had been. While it rains and through the Rains, the air is remarkably fine, not to be surpassed for healthiness and charm. The fault is that the air becomes very soft and damp. A bow of those (Transoxanian) countries after going through the Rains in Hindūstān, may not be drawn even; it is ruined; not only the bow, everything is affected, armour, book, cloth, and utensils all; a house even does not last long. Not only in the Rains but also in the cold and the hot seasons, the airs are excellent; at these times, however, the north-west wind constantly gets up laden with dust and earth. It gets up in great strength every year in the heats, under the Bull and Twins, when the Rains are near; so strong and carrying so much dust and earth that there is no seeing one another. People call this wind Darkener of the
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Sky (H. *āndhī*). The weather is hot under the Bull and Twins, but not intolerably so, not so hot as in Balkh and Qandahār and not for half so long.
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Another good thing in Hindūstān is that it has unnumbered and endless workmen of every kind. There is a fixed caste (*jam‘i*) for every sort of work and for every thing, which has done that work or that thing from father to son till now. Mulla Sharaf, writing in the *Zafar-nāma* about the building of Tīmūr Beg’s Stone Mosque, lays stress on the fact that on it 200 stone-cutters worked, from Āzarbaijān, Fārs, Hindūstān and other countries. But 680 men worked daily on my buildings in Āgra and of Āgra stone-cutters only; while 1491 stone-cutters worked daily on my buildings in Āgra, Sīkrī, Biāna (Bayāna), Dholpur, Gwāliar and Kol. In the same way there are numberless artisans and workmen of every sort in Hindūstān. (*Memoirs*, pp. 518–20.)
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The difficulties with which Bābur was now confronted cannot be better described than in his own words:
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On our first coming to Āgra, there was remarkable dislike and hostility between its people and mine, the peasantry and soldiers running away in fear of our men. Delhi and Āgra excepted, not a fortified town but strengthened its defences and neither was in obedience nor submitted. Qāsim Sambhalī was in Sambhal; Nizām Khān was in Biāna; in Mewāt was Hasan Khān Mewātī himself—impious mannikin!—who was the sole leader of the trouble and mischief. Muhammad Zaitūn was in Dholpur; Tātār Khān Sarang-khānī was in Gwāliar; Husain Khān Nūhānī was in Rāprī; Qutb Khān was in Itāwa (Etawa); ‘Ālam Khān (Kālpī) was in Kālpī. Qanauj and the other side of Gang (Ganges) was all held by Afghans in independent hostility, such as Nāsir Khān Nūhānī, Ma‘rūf Farmūlī and a crowd of other amīrs. These had been in rebellion for three or four years before Ibrāhīm’s death and when I defeated him, were holding Qanauj and the whole country beyond it. At the present time they were lying two or three marches on our side of Qanauj and had made Bihār Khān the son of Daryā Khān Nūhānī their pādshāh, under the style Sultān Muhammad. Marghūb the slave was in Mahawin [Mahāban]; he remained there, thus close, for some time but came no nearer.
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It was the hot-season when we came to Āgra. All the inhabitants had run away in terror. Neither grain for ourselves nor corn for our horses was to be had. The villages, out of hostility and hatred to us, had taken to thieving and highway-robbery; there was no moving on the roads. There had been no chance since the treasure was distributed to send men in strength into the parganas and elsewhere. Moreover the year was a very hot one; violent pestilential winds struck people down in heaps together; masses began to die off.
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On these accounts the greater part of the begs and best braves became unwilling to stay in Hindūstān, indeed set their faces for leaving it. It is no reproach to old and experienced begs if they speak of such matters; even if they do so, this man (Bābur) has enough sense and reason to get at what is honest or what is mutinous in their representations, to distinguish between loss and gain. But as this man had seen his task whole, for himself, when he resolved on it, what taste was there in their reiterating that things should be done differently? What recommends the expression of distasteful opinions by men of little standing? Here is a curious thing: This last time of our riding out from Kābul, a few men of little standing had just been made begs; what I looked for from them was that if I went through fire and water and came out again, they would have gone in with me unhesitatingly, and with me have come out, that wherever I went, there at my side would they be—not that they would speak against my fixed purpose, not that they would turn back from any task or great affair on which, all counselling, all consenting, we had resolved, so long as that counsel was not abandoned. Badly as these new begs behaved, Secretary Ahmadī and Treasurer Walī behaved still worse. Khwāja Kilān had done well in the march out from Kābul, in Ibrāhīm’s defeat and until Āgra was occupied; he had spoken bold words and shewn ambitious views. But a few days after the capture of Āgra, all his views changed—the one zealous for departure at any price was Khwāja Kilān.
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When I knew of this unsteadiness amongst (my) people, I summoned all the begs and took counsel. Said I, “There is no supremacy and grip on the world without means and resources; without lands and retainers sovereignty and command are impossible. By the labours of several years, by encountering hardship, by long travel, by flinging myself and the army into battle, and by deadly slaughter, we, through God’s grace, beat these masses of enemies in order that we might take their broad lands. And now what force compels us, what necessity has arisen that we should, without cause, abandon countries taken at such risk of life? Was it for us to remain in Kābul, the sport of harsh poverty? Henceforth, let no well-wisher of mine speak of such things! But let not those turn back from going who, weak in strong persistence, have set their faces to depart!” By these words, which recalled just and reasonable views to their minds, I made them, willy-nilly, quit their fears. (*Memoirs*, pp. 523–5.)
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Meanwhile, some of the Afghān chiefs set up Ibrāhīm’s brother, Mahmūd, but most of them, seeing that Bābur, who had made Āgra his headquarters, had come to stay and did not, like Tamerlane, intend to withdraw, laid down their arms. While Bābur was in Kābul, Rānā Sanga of Chitor (the modern Udaipur), who was at this time recognised as head of all the Rājputs, had exchanged friendly embassies with him, and had even offered to help him against Ibrāhīm. His life had been one of constant wars, in the course of which he had defeated Sultān Mahmūd Khalji, and captured the provinces of Bhilsa, Sārangpur, Chanderī and Ranthambhor. He is said to have been so often wounded in battle that in addition to having eighty scars he had but one eye and one arm and was a cripple. He is said to have had at his disposal when necessary seven rajas and one hundred and four chiefs. But Bābur as emperor of Delhi and Bābur as a leader of raids from Kābul were two different people, and Rānā Sanga now declared war against him, and for the first time Bābur found himself engaged in a *jihād* or Holy War against the idolator. Humāyūn meanwhile was sent on a punitive expedition against the various amīrs in the east, who under Nāsir Khān Nūhānī and Ma‘rūf Farmūlī had taken Kanauj. During this expedition Humāyūn took Jaunpur and Ghāzīpur. Gwalior was also taken by a stratagem, of which Bābur gives a vivid account. It may be mentioned that after the capture of Gwalior, Bābur had a narrow escape from death by poisoning, for which Sultān Ibrāhīm’s mother was responsible. Rānā Sanga now marched on Bayāna, where Mahdī Khvāja was governor, but the troops who came out to oppose the Rānā, being unable to withstand him, turned back. The Rānā, who had now been joined by a number of powerful chiefs including Silahdi (Silāh-ud-Dīn) of Rāisen (30,000 horse) and Hasan Khān, the renegade raja of Mewāt (12,000 horse), advanced with 100,000 horse to a hill near Khānua, a village in the Bharatpur state thirty-seven miles west of Āgra. Bābur was at this moment in a highly precarious position, being practically surrounded in his camp on all sides by an enemy in possession of the open country. As he himself confesses, he was at this crisis overwhelmed by religious compunction.
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He had on many occasions intended to give up wine drinking, and now he issued a *farmān* on the subject, and having disposed of all his gold and silver wine vessels he poured his wine into a well. He further vowed that he would remit the *tamgha* or stamp duty to all Muslims. As before the battle of Pānīpat, he found it necessary to speak stirring words of encouragement to his troops, who were even more dejected than their master. On 16 March, 1527, was fought the battle of Khānua. Bābur again adopted the *arāba* formation. He himself was in the centre; Chīn Tīmūr and Khusrav Kūkiltash were on the right; Humāyūn (who had returned from his successful campaign in the east), Dilāwar Khān Khānān and other Indian nobles were also on the right wing; Sayyid Mahdī Khvāja was on the left; and on the right and left were flanking parties; the artillery line was commanded by Nizām-ud-dīn ‘Alī Khalīfa. The Rānā’s left wing opened the battle by attacking Bābur’s right, but was driven back by Chīn Tīmūr. Mustafā Rūmī, the Turkish gunner, brought forward the carts and guns from the centre of Humāyūn’s division, and broke the enemy’s ranks. Then followed an attack by the Rānā’s right wing, which was repulsed, and finally Bābur led his centre forward. After ten hours’ fighting Bābur’s forces were victorious, and the Rānā took to flight. Hasan Khān Mewātī was among the slain. Sultān Mahmūd Lodī who was present at the battle escaped. After his victory over Rānā Sanga, Bābur proceeded to reduce Mewāt, and on 7 April, 1527, he entered its capital Alwar in triumph. By the end of 1527 Bābur’s authority was established everywhere except in Oudh.
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Meanwhile Medinī Rāi, a Rajput chief, had established himself in Chanderī on the borders of Bundelkhand and Mālwā. Here he was besieged by Bābur. The garrison on the second day gave up all hope of resistance, and having put their women to death they rushed out naked to perish, but not to be captured (29 January, 1528). Humāyūn with a large contingent, taking advantage of Bābur’s promise made before the battle of Khānua that all who pleased might go on leave to Kābul, was now despatched to Badakhshān, while Bābur himself set out to punish Bīban, who had repulsed the Mughal army in Oudh and captured Lucknow. Crossing the Ganges Bābur speedily defeated Bīban and drove him into Bengal. Sultān Mahmūd Lodī, the brother of Ibrāhīm, had meanwhile occupied Bihār, and he now with a force of 100,000 men advanced on Benares, where he was put to flight. On 6 May, 1529, Bābur won his third great battle in India, at the junction of the Ganges and its tributary the Gogra, whence it has come to be known as the battle of the Gogra. In this engagement he was opposed by the Afghān chiefs who had taken up the cause of Sultān Mahmūd Lodī. Bābur gives a very detailed account of the campaign leading up to this battle, which reads like a diary kept from day to day. The progress of the battle itself, in which much use was made both of boats and of artillery, is, however, by no means easy to follow. As a result of this victory Bābur was joined by nearly all the Afghān chiefs and amīrs; and was able to conclude a treaty of peace with Nusrat Shāh, king of Bengal, by which he himself became sovereign of Bihār.
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Humāyūn having spent a year in Badakhshān, where in obedience to his father’s commands he had refrained from attempting the recapture of Samarqand, set out for Kābul and thence for Āgra. He was next sent to his *jāgīr* Sambhal. At the end of six months he was suddenly attacked by fever. This caused Bābur so much anxiety that he caused Humāyūn to be brought to Āgra. The most learned doctors were at a loss for a remedy. A famous saint, Mīr Abū Baqā, being called in to advise, said that when physicians were at a loss, the patient should give in alms the most valuable thing he had and should seek remedy from God. Bābur thereupon said: “I am the most valuable thing that Humāyūn possesses. . . . I shall make myself a sacrifice for him. May God the Creator accept it.”¹ Bābur was shortly after taken ill, and Humāyūn recovered: as he lay dying, Bābur appointed Humāyūn his successor. Mīr Khalīfa, having formed a bad opinion of Humāyūn, desired to place Mahdī Khvāja, Bābur’s brother-in-law, on the throne, but he changed his mind, it would seem, on account of the arrogant behaviour of the Khvāja. Bābur died in Āgra on 26 December, 1530.²
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¹ ^1 *Akbar-nāma*, p. 276.
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² ^2 *Hodivala*, p. 262.
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The Indian career of the Turkī prince Bābur did not actually begin till his capture of Lahore in 1524, and he died in 1530. It therefore took him only six years to lay the foundations of a vast empire the rulers of which, real or nominal, continued down to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is interesting to recall that his famous ancestor Tīmūr had, in 1397, invaded northern India, and entered Delhi in 1398 as a conqueror. But Tamerlane’s ambitions were too great for him to treat his Indian campaign as more than a raid. That Bābur should have confined his conquering activities to northern India, after consolidating his power between the Oxus and Kashmīr, was, no doubt, partly due to the fact that he had been helped by the powerful founder of the Safavid kingdom, Shāh Isma‘īl, with whom, much against his better Sunnī feelings, he had made an alliance which had lasted twenty months (A.H. 917–18—A.D. 1511–12). There could, therefore, be no question of attacking Persia, even had he been strong enough to do so. It was as lord of Kābul that he cast longing glances across the Hindu Kush.
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The question naturally presents itself: how did Bābur keep such a detailed record of his own doings from the age of eleven (A.H. 899)? Not only his own doings, but those of his relations are recorded in full detail. And whence did he derive all this information, biographical and geographical? Mīrzā Haidar Dughlāt had the same gift: he tells us he wrote the *Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī* because the memory of the Mughuls and their Khāns—i.e. the eastern branch of the Chaghātāi—stood in danger of being altogether lost through want of a chronicler. The earlier Mongols, Chingīz and his descendants, had been fortunate in their chroniclers in their own day. It was the descendants of Tamerlane, however, Bābur, Mīrzā Haidar, Gulbadan Begam, who first among princes undertook to write autobiographies, while Humāyūn, Jahāngīr (for part of his reign) and Shāh Jahān were content to have their memoirs written by personal attendants. There are very few examples in history of a great conqueror who was also an eminent poet, though many soldiers, like Julius Caesar and Xenophon, have been men of letters. Bābur was a sufficiently good poet (in Turkī) to have become famous on that account alone, had he achieved no fame as a soldier or ruler.
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In writing an epitome of the emperor Bābur’s career, having in view only the part he played in the history of his times, the romantic side of this remarkable man’s personal character has perforce been relegated to the background: but in conclusion a few words may be said regarding his private life.
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Bābur was one of those men who are so active in mind and body that they are never idle and always find time for everything. Excepting during the three years when he was hiding in Tāshkent under the protection of the Sultān of Kāshghar he knew no rest, and he himself says towards the end of his life that he had never kept the Fast of Ramazān twice in any one place. He was pre-eminently human, and has drawn a picture of himself in his memoirs in which no attempt is made to hide either his virtues or his vices. He was a rigid Sunnī Muslim, and both orthodox and superstitious in his beliefs. When in order to please the Shiah Shāh Ismaʻīl he adopted the Qizilbāsh head-dress for himself and his soldiers, he showed a form of moral courage reminding one of his grandson Akbar, who while still professing Islam displayed the utmost leniency towards Hindus and Christians: and if Bābur’s motive was purely political, it required no little self-reliance to face the sarcasm and derision which this head-dress provoked among the zealous Sunnīs of Transoxiana: not to mention the hatred in which the name of Shāh Ismaʻīl was held by reason of his cruelty towards the Sunnīs of Khurāsān.
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As a soldier Bābur was, like most of his race, fearless in battle, and as a general he was a great tactician with a keen eye to detect any mistake on the part of his opponents. He was also one of the first military commanders in Asia to appreciate the value of artillery.
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As a diplomatist he seems to have shown much more cunning and skill in dealing with the Afghāns than with his own people: and the manner in which he played off the rebellious amīrs of Sultān Ibrāhīm against each other was worthy of a Machiavelli.
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While inheriting a savagery common to all the Mongols and Turks, and a total disregard for human life, he was capable of great generosity in forgiving those who had behaved ill towards him. Like all his family he was strongly addicted to intemperance, though his drinking bouts were always followed by very sincere repentance. He had a love for the beauties of nature probably rare in his day, something apart from a delight in the artificial beauties of poetry, which was common to all his co-religionists whether Turks or Persians. His careful descriptions of the animals and plants of India reveal great powers of observation. These portions of his memoirs read like the notes of a peace-loving naturalist rather than those of a restless warrior.
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The *Memoirs* of Bābur must be reckoned among the most enthralling and romantic works in the literature of all time. They were written in that form of Turkish known as Turkī, which was Bābur's mother-tongue. As we possess them they are not complete; all the copies known to us contain gaps from 1508 to 1519, from 1520 to 1525 and from 1529 to 1530. A more complete copy was apparently known to his cousin Mirzā Haidar, the author of the *Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī*; but the translation into Persian made in 1589 by Khān Khānān ‘Abdur-Rahīm, the son of Bairam Khān, contains the same gaps as the Haidarabad Codex, from which Mrs Annette Beveridge made her admirable English translation.
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Bābur was a real poet, and apart from the incidental verses introduced in his memoirs we have from his pen a small collection of Turkī lyrics, which bear comparison with the best poetry of his day.¹ He also wrote a religious poem called the *Mubayyin*, and about two years before his death he wrote a versified rendering of the *Risāla-i-Wālidiyya*, a pious tract written by the famous Khvāja Ahrār in honour of his parents.
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¹ See *Dīvān-i-Bābur Pādishāh*, edited with facsimile by E. Denison Ross, *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, 1910. This edition was based on a unique MS. in the library of the Nawāb of Rāmpur.