Babur, the Founder of the Mughal Empire | 1483CE - 1530CE | Al Muqaddimah

Around the turn of the 16th century, the Islamic world looked very different than it had in the days of the Golden Age. The Abbasid Caliphate had declined and been destroyed by the Mongols. Muslim Spain existed only in memory as the last Muslim stronghold of Granada fell a century earlier. Egypt was no longer the home of the Fatimids. It was now controlled by a slave soldier dynasty called the Mamluks. Constantinople had fallen to the Ottomans who had broken into Eastern Europe. Iran had just come under the control of a Shia dynasty known as the Safavids. However, our story begins a little bit north of Iran in a remote valley called Ferghana where a Timurid prince who fell down on his luck was unaware of where that luck would take him. Spoiler alert, India. This video is brought to you by, well, you guys. Thanks to my Patrons for supporting the channel and making these videos possible. Al Muqaddimah is funded only by Patreon and as you can see, the videos take a long time to research, edit and produce and it's only because of my Patrons that I am able to put this kind of time into these videos and keep them free from any kind of paywall. So, if you wanna pledge a dollar or more to support the channel, you can head over to my Patreon. Link is in the description. You can also become a member right here on YouTube. There's also some cool stuff that comes with it. Back to the video. Timur's great and vast empire had declined really quickly after his death. His former empire had broken into many pieces, most of which were picked up by the Safavids, who formed their heartland in Iran. There were still a bunch of Timurid princes lurking around, ruling a city or two. One of those princes was Umar Sheikh Mirza II who ruled over the Ferghana valley. Ruled is a very generous term here. Still, he wasn't half bad but his luck, as it turns out, was pretty bad. He died in an accident in 1494, leaving his realm to his 11-year-old son, Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur. Babur was born around 1483 and was a descendant, like I mentioned, of Timur on his father's side. But he was also a descendant of Genghis Khan on his mother's side. However, this wonderful pedigree didn't do him much good at the time. At first, it seemed that Babur had been served more than he could handle. He was, after all, merely a child. He still seemed too eager to rule and his relatives, including his uncles, began plotting against him to install his younger, more controllable brother on the throne. Eager to prove himself, Zahir invaded and captured Samarkand when he was only 15. Samarkand was the great capital of the Timurid Empire so this was indeed a great victory. However, it was short-lived. While at Samarkand, one of his rivals made a bid for Fergana and snatched it. When he went to confront him, Samarkand was conquered by another rival. Babur became homeless and wandered around looking for supporters. He made another attempt at capturing Samarkand but was pushed back by Shaybani Khan, the Uzbek conqueror who was quickly uniting Central Asia under his rule. It's said that Babur's situation was so dire that he and his 300 men only had one tent which was used by his mother. Babur found a little luck when he wandered into modern-day Afghanistan. Kabul was a rather important city but it was ruled by a very unpopular and weak usurper. Babur found his opening and attacked the city. He was able to capture it rather easily. From Kabul, he was able to build an army. Kabul was a link between North India and the rest of the world. Many commodities, especially war horses from Central Asia, travelled to India through Kabul. So, Babur was in a very advantageous position. In 1505, he led his first raid into India which found quite a bit of success. North India at the time was being ruled by the Afghan Lodhi dynasty. It would prove to be the last of the Delhi Sultanate dynasties. Sultan Sikandar Lodhi was a rather effective ruler and a direct confrontation with him could have ended Babur's ambitious Timurid kingdom at Kabul. Hence, Babur preoccupied himself with Central Asian affairs. Herat had been a vital city for the Timurids and a Timurid prince did control it. But in 1506, the last Timurid ruler of Herat died and Shaybani Khan of the Uzbeks invaded. Babur's sister and only full sibling, Khanzada was in the city at the time. Shaybani took her marry him. This was insulting to the Timurids. Babur was now the last ruling Timurid prince. All the deposed princes now united behind Babur, seeing him as the only way to survive. Babur was so proud of his recent achievements in Kabul and India that he took the Persian title of Padshah, the supreme ruler. Meanwhile, the conquest of Herat by Shaybani Khan had made Shah Ismail of Safavid's worry. This resulted in a clash between the two giants in 1510. The Safavids came out on top and Shaybani ended up in the ground. Ismail took Herat and rescued Babur's sister. Babur was grateful to the Safavid Shah and saw a lot of potential in an alliance. However, Ismail, being the more powerful of the two, demanded subservience and at least an apparent conversion to Shi'ism by Babur. Babur did both even though he was humiliated. Ismail helped him take Samarkand but its people rejected Babur on account of him being apparently a Shia. Babur gave up on his ambition to unite Central Asia and started looking again to India. This time, his intention wasn't to plunder but rather to conquer. He began gathering resources and men. In 1517, Sultan Sikandar Lodhi died and his unpopular son, Ibrahim Lodhi ascended to the throne. Ibrahim quickly alienated the old establishment and replaced them with younger but loyal men. This old establishment invited Babur to invade. Babur, seeing this as a golden opportunity, invaded India in 1525 at the age of 42. After finding not much resistance in Punjab, he made his way to Delhi. In April 1526, he reached Panipat where he faced an army of Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi. The Lodhi army was much bigger than Babur's but it was poorly disciplined and lacked the matchlock and cannon technology that Babur had. Additionally, Babur had learned his tactics by observing both Ismail and Shibani's conquests. Sultan Ibrahim lost both the battle and his life. Babur's road to Delhi was now open. Unlike what his ancestor Timur had done, he embraced Delhi and guaranteed its people's safety. He didn't let his men plunder or loot anything. Despite himself adhering to the Sufi Naqshbandi order, he went to the shrine of Delhi's saints from the Sufi Chishti order. He paid his respects to the great saints Qutubuddin Qaqi and Nizamuddin Alia. However, he did displace the political power of the Chishtis and replaced them with his Naqshbandis. He took control of Agra which had been the Lodhi capital and secured their treasury but it was at this point that he realised what he was in the middle of. Due to a lack of authority, after Timur's invasion of India in 1398, there had been various factions vying for control of India. Two of these factions were the Afghans and the Rajputs. The Afghans were previously led by the Lodhis while the Rajputs were led by a dynasty called Sisodias and a man named Rana Sanga who had actually planned his own assault on Delhi before Babur. The defunct Afghans joined forces with the Rajputs to expel Babur. Their united army met Babur at Khanawa near Agra in 1528. Babur was victorious. Rana Sanga was dead. North India now belonged to Babur and his new Timurid-Gurkhani dynasty which history remembers as the great Mughal dynasty. Mughal is the Persian term for Mongol and points to Babur's Mongol origins. Ethnically, Babur, Timur and Genghis Khan were Mongols but Timur's clan had been Turkified. So, culturally, they were Turks and spoke Turkish, although Persian was the lingua franca in most of the Islamic world. As Richard Eaton writes, After his twin victories at Panipat and Khanawa, Babur swiftly moved to consolidate his authority in a strip of territory stretching from eastern Afghanistan through central Punjab to the mid-Gangetic plain. For personnel and models of governance, he drew on his Central Asian and Timurid past, placing Turks and Mongols in the kingdom's governing core. Although he was thoroughly conversant in Persian as a medium of cosmopolitan culture, his principal supporters were fellow Turkish speakers. Having spent nearly his entire life leading a steppe-based band of warriors, he saw himself as the first among equals, very much in the tradition of Bahlul, the founder of the Lodhi dynasty. Like his ancestor Timur, he governed on a personal and informal basis. Above all, although he held neither India nor Indians in a very high regard, he was pragmatic, being well aware of his precarious position as an outsider in a large and politically volatile land. He was, therefore, quick to reach agreements with the Sisodia lineage after defeating Rana Sanga at Khanawa as he did with other Rajput leaders in Awadh, Malwa and Punjab. Babur spent the next two years of his life consolidating his control over India. He invited kinsmen and fellow Turko-Mongols from Central Asia to help him govern. He laid the foundation of a stable empire. He didn't build many architectural projects except some mosques at Panipat, Sambhal and the controversial Ayodhya. During his lifetime, Babur collected his thoughts, memories and experiences in the Babur Nama, which is why we know so much about him. Due to his constant failures in Central Asia, he keeps bringing failure and humility up again and again in Babur Nama. Most interestingly, he did not like India. He complains about its people having no beauty, its fruits having no taste and its poets having no talent. I mean, sure, your beloved grandpa Timur destroyed the region and you have the audacity to complain about it being destroyed. Babur rectified his complaints by bringing Central Asian fruits and animals into India. He also brought Timurid architecture and gardens which would soon be seen all over India. Although, funny enough, this wasn't the first time Timurid architecture was coming to India. Muslim and Hindu rulers of the Deccan region had already begun copying the Timurid style after Timur's invasion. In 1530, Babur's son and heir Humayun fell ill and Babur made a bargain with God for Humayun's health in return for his. Humayun soon recovered but Babur fell ill and died in December 1530 at the age of 47. As per his desire, he was buried in Kabul. On his deathbed, he told Humayun not to punish his brothers no matter how much they deserve it and boy, did they deserve it. Babur's bargain with God proved to not be the best bargain he could have gotten. The second Padishah of the Mughal Empire, Humayun, would almost become its last. Don't forget to subscribe and press the bell icon. On screen right now, you can see the names and tiers of the Patrons. You can join them by pledging a dollar or more to support the channel. Thank you for watching.