Twilight of the Sultanate c15.s4.47

c15.s4.47

Prince Bahādur Shāh of Gujarat with 3,000 horse was present as an onlooker, interested in the outcome¹⁵⁰ when the great battle took place, near Panipat. Mahmūd Khaljī of Malwa did not actually mobilise his forces for fear of Mewar and Gujarat, but the fact of the matter was that the kings of Mewar, Gujarat and Malwa had their own plans after the battle of Panipat was over. Besides, it was rightly reported to Bābur that Ibrāhīm Lodī had started with an army of a hundred thousand men to oppose his advance. Indeed, before Bābur arrived at Panipat his forces had had to encounter two advance contingents of the Delhi army, one under Dāūd Khan on 26 February and the other under Hātim Khan on 2 April, 1526, both of which, however, he routed.¹⁵¹