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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c22.s3: Ibrahim Lodi, 1517—1526

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c22.s3

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Ibrahim Lodi, 1517—1526

His accession

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After Sikandar’s death his eldest son, Ibrahim, was elevated to the throne with the unanimous consent of the Afghan peers on November 21, 1517. He assumed the title of Ibrahim Shah.

The subjugation of Gwalior

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Ibrahim’s foreign policy aimed at completing the work of conquest begun by his father. He decided to pursue Sikandar’s designs of conquering and annexing Gwalior which had more than once defied the late Sultan’s might. A convenient pretext was furnished by the ruler of that principality who gave shelter to Ibrahim’s brother, Jalal Khan. Moreover, the valiant Man Singh, who had successfully resisted Sikandar, had died and was succeeded by his son, Vikramajit, who was much inferior to his father in ability and poetical wisdom. Ibrahim despatched Azam Humayun Sarwani at the head of an army of thirty thousand horse and three hundred elephants to besiege Gwalior. Another army was sent from Agra to co-operate with him in this difficult task. Azam Humayun threw himself with zeal into the work of besieging the giant fortress. As a result of the operations an important outwork was captured. The siege progressed satisfactorily and, eventually, the fortress surrendered. Vikramajit became a vassal of the Sultan of Delhi. This was Ibrahim’s greatest achievement.

Defeat at the hands of Rana Sanga

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Anxious to push his father’s policy of aggressive conquest to its logical conclusion, Ibrahim undertook an expedition against Mewar, then the most notable State in Rajasthan. Its ruler was the valiant Rana Sangram Singh, popularly known as Sanga, without whose subjugation the Sultan could not hope to establish his supremacy in central Hindustan. So he despatched a powerful army under the command of Mian Makhan with whom were associated such well known Afghan officers as Husain Khan Zarbakhsh, Mian Khan-i-Khana Qarmali and Mian Maruf. The army of invasion numbered thirty thousand horse and three hundred elephants. But it suffered from dissension and disaffection among its chief officers. As it reached the frontier of Mewar, it was encountered and defeated by the Rana with great slaughter near Bakarol in the present Asind district of Mewar. Mian Makhan and his men fled in panic. But they were attacked by the Rajputs near Ghatoli (on the border of Bundi) and a considerable number of them was annihilated.²

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² Babur mentions the defeat of Ibrahim in his Memoirs.

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INDIA IN 1526 A.D. Ibrahim Lodi.

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Suppression of Jalal Khan’s rebellion

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Ibrahim’s reign was distracted by party rivalry. Soon after his accession, a party of selfish nobles advocated partition of the kingdom and managed to secure the elevation of Ibrahim’s younger brother, Jalal Khan, to the throne of Jaunpur. The Sultan was compelled under pressure to agree to the partition. Even before Jalal could establish himself at Jaunpur, Ibrahim repented and one of his important nobles, Khan-i-Jahan Lohani, strongly condemned the foolish policy of dividing the kingdom and pressed for Jalal Khan’s recall. Ibrahim entrusted the task to Haibat Khan. Having failed in the policy of persuading Jalal to return to Delhi, Haibat Khan had recourse to diplomacy. By a clever policy he seduced most of Jalal Khan’s followers which compelled the latter to abandon Jaunpur and establish himself at Kalpi where he asserted his independence and assumed the title of king. He won over Azam Humayun Sarwani who was at the time besieging Kalinjar on behalf of his master, Sultan Ibrahim. Having united their forces, Jalal and Azam Humayun Sarwani attacked Awadh. Ibrahim was obliged to march against the rebels. But, fortunately Azam Humayun abandoned Jalal and returned to the side of Ibrahim. Jalal Khan, having thus been abandoned, returned towards Agra and attacked the garrison there. Ibrahim deputed Malik Adam to reinforce the garrison at Agra. This officer was able to persuade Jalal to give up his pretensions to sovereignty on the promise that he would be allowed to retain possession of Kalpi. Ibrahim, however, refused to ratify the terms and decided to bring about complete submission of his brother. Jalal had, therefore, to flee to take refuge with the raja of Gwalior. Ibrahim thought it necessary to attack that fortress with the double object of securing the person of his brother and occupying the fortress. As he approached near, Jalal Khan fled from Gwalior to Malwa. While the siege was in progress, Jalal, tired of the ill-treatment of the Sultan of Malwa, fled from there to the Gond principality of Garha Katanga. But the Gonds arrested him and sent him a prisoner to Ibrahim. The Sultan ordered him to be imprisoned in Hansi; but the prince was murdered on the way to that place. Ibrahim now became the undisputed ruler of the kingdom without any rival to intrigue against him.

Suppression of the nobles

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Ibrahim’s success in crushing Jalal Khan’s rebellion and establishing his undisputed sway over the kingdom seems to have turned his head. He began to behave and act like an absolute despot. Imbued with the Turkish ideal of sovereignty, he made the impolitic declaration that ‘kingship’ knows no kingship : all the people were either the king’s subjects or vassals. He discarded the Afghan tradition and compelled his nobles to stand in his court in an humble posture with their hands folded across their breasts. He imposed a rigid court ceremonial on the Afghan nobles who, being accustomed to treat the Sultan as one of themselves and to share the royal carpet with Bahlol and sometimes, even with Sikandar, would not brook this humiliation. They strongly resented the king’s behaviour whose insolence and arrogance drove a few principal Afghan chiefs into rebellion. Mention has been made of Azam Humayun Sarwani’s joining Jalal Khan and then abandoning him and making his peace with the Sultan. Ibrahim does not seem to have forgotten this temporary defection. Consequently, he summoned Azam Humayun and his son, Fateh Khan, from before the walls of Gwalior and threw him into prison. He had already imprisoned Main Bhova, a leading noble of Sikandar’s time. This high-handed action incited Islam Khan, another son of Azam Humayun, to rebellion. He assumed the command of his father’s army and attacked Ahmad Khan, governor of Agra. The Sultan obliged to collect his army in order to suppress this rebellion. At this very time two other important nobles, namely, Azam Humayun Lodi and Sayeed Khan Lodi, deserted the Sultan, marched away to their fief in Lucknow and prepared to join Islam Khan. An army sent by the Sultan against these two rebels was defeated and driven back with heavy losses. The Sultan became suspicious of other nobles and foolishly warned them that if they failed to crush the rebellion, they would be treated as rebels. He then took the field at the head of fifty thousand horse. The rebel nobles, too, gathered a huge army which swelled to forty thousand cavalry, a large body of infantry and five hundred elephants. A holy man, named Shaikh Raju Bukhari, tried to intervene and settle the dispute by negotiations, but without success. The rebels demanded the release of Azam Humayun Sarwani, which the Sultan refused to agree to. The result was a deadly contested battle. Ahmad Yadgar, the author of the *Makhzan-i-Afghana*, describes the battle in these words :

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“Dead bodies, heap upon heap, covered the field; and the number of heads lying upon the ground was beyond the reach of recollection. Streams of blood ran over the plain and whenever, for a length of time, a fierce battle took place in Hindustan, the old men always observed that with this battle no other one was comparable; brothers fighting against brothers; fathers against sons; bows and arrows were laid aside, and the carnage carried on with daggers, swords, knives and javelines.” At the end Ibrahim won. He defeated the rebels. Islam Khan was killed and Sayeed Khan was captured. The Sultan rewarded those who had remained loyal by conferring upon them the fiefs that had been in the possession of the rebels.

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This success served to make Ibrahim more insolent than before and to encourage him to punish other disloyal barons. Unfortunately Azam Humayun Sarwani and some other nobles died in prison, causing an outburst of indignation and disaffection. Dariya Khan Lohani, governor of Bihar, Khan-i-Jahan Lodi, Mian Husain Qarmali and others rose into rebellion. The Sultan committed another act of folly by ordering the assassination of Shaikh Hasan Qarmali in Chanderi. This convinced the rebels that their lives and honour were not safe as long as Ibrahim remained on the throne. So they took steps to bring about the Sultan’s deposition. Dariya Khan Lodi, the leader of the rebels, died at this time. But his son, Bahadur Khan, who held the fief of Bihar, proclaimed himself king under the title of Muhammad Shah. Many rebels now flocked to his standard and his army swelled to one lakh horse. He occupied the whole of the country from Bihar to Sambhal and was joined by Nasir Khan Lohani, the governor of Ghazipur.

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The Panjab, too, revolted under its governor Daulat Khan Lodi. His son, Ghazi Khan, escaped from Delhi and reported to his father that if Ibrahim succeeded in putting down the rebellion in Bihar he would deprive him of Lahore. In view of this fear Daulat Khan assumed virtual independence and opened negotiations with Babur, the king of Kabul, whom he invited to invade India and overthrow Ibrahim. This proposal was accepted by Babur who was himself desirous of conquering Hindustan. Daulat Khan Lodi seems to have believed that Babur would come, plunder the country and go back and thus enable him (Daulat Khan Lodi) to establish his power in the Panjab. He was, however, mistaken. At this very time another ambitious Lodi chief, named Alam Khan, an uncle of Ibrahim, also appeared on the scene. He was ambitious of becoming king of Delhi and he opened negotiations with Babur. The result was the famous battle of Panipat on April 21, 1526, in which Ibrahim Lodi was defeated and killed. With his death came the end of the Sultanate of Delhi.

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Though not devoid of ability and intelligence, Ibrahim Lodi proved a sad failure. He was a brave and fearless soldier and a fairly successful commander. He seems to have been honest and laborious. From the meagre account of the medieval chronicles it is clear that his private life was good and that he applied himself to the business of the State with zest. He administered justice as well as any of his predecessors. But, though himself an Afghan, he was ignorant of the character and sentiment of his race. He foolishly abandoned the sagacious policy of his father and grandfather and tried to impose a rigorous discipline and strict court ceremonial on his peers who were fierce democrats and treated the king as nothing more than the noble among the nobles. By his policy of playing the king and insolently punishing those who disregarded his orders, he drove them into rebellion. He thus dug the very foundation of the State and lost his throne and life.

Cites (8)