Early Life of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur

The founder of the Mughal Empire Babur or Zahir-ud-din Muhammad, was a young warrior filled with ambition and courage to create his own destiny. 

Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur Family Background

The first of its kind, Zahiruddin Muhammad or otherwise famously renowned as Babur, was the son of Umar Shaikh Mirza-II, who himself was a commendable ruler of Kabul. Qutlugh Nigar Khanum the mother of Babur. Both his parents were the descendants of great families.

Their families consisted of rulers who are still known to people all around the world. His father was the successor of the Timurid line who were great warriors themselves and surely his father was a great ruler. While his mother belonged to the family of Chengiz Khan, a name that world has not forgotten yet.

Descendant of such great family Babur was no doubt to be one of the greatest king ever lived. And the founder of the Mughal Empire. He belonged to the blood line that had warriors, cavalry skills and one of the best battle field strategies. Babur was born in 1483 AD, it is said that he was born of 14th of February in the beautiful valley of Andijan; now known as Uzbekistan.

He was the first son of Umar Shaikh Mirza-II. However, there were events that Babur had to face from his early childhood. He had to see the death of his father, the betrayal coming from his own family and many more life stirring incidents. Babur lost his father when he was just 11 years old. After the death of his father, he inherited Farghana, a small province situated in Transoxiana.

He was 12 around this time when he was claimed as the ruler of the small state named Farghana. Considering his origin Babur was from a tribe named Barlas, which had the essence of Persia and Turks in it. And so, Babur was fluent in the languages such as Persian, and many more, which helped him in his future endeavors. As mentioned earlier Babur was a skilled warrior since his days of childhood.

He was highly spirited, motivated and had a keen knowledge of battel field. But as it was noted earlier that he had to face the betrayal from his own family members. His relatives from both side that is maternal and paternal, were against him becoming the ruler.

His uncles who themselves had keen desire to hold the position of that of a ruler were constantly opposing his accent to the throne. And so, he had to meet Shaibani Khan one of the famous leader from Uzbek.

He managed to protect his inherited province Farghana. And he also tried for Samarqand which he gained after much effort only to lose it back. Regardless, he was fearless, and still continued with zeal like never before for the journey he had yet to cover ahead.  

Formation of the Mughal Empire

There was lot that Babur had to do before he established the widely famous; the Mughal Empire. For a long time, Babur devoted most of his time capturing and trying to hold power in Samarkand, an old capital. But he was simply unable to do so. Soon he lost his inherited kingdom too.

He was left with no kingdom at all. He finally was confident that he won’t be able to gain control in Samarkand. He went ahead and was living a life of a vagabond for a while. He was accompanied by some faithful friends of his. Till he got to know that the administration situation in Kabul is somewhat week and so he finally decided to capture and rule Kabul.

In1504, he won an entirely new kingdom, that will be Kabul. And from 1522 after seizing Kandahar, he had started venturing the western states of Afghanistan. From all this it was clear that Babur was not going to surrender to the misfortunes or to any troubles.

He had lost his previous kingdom, but he muster all his strength to get his own kingdom. He did not succumb to failures and discontent of the heart. From here, there were many battles to conquer and the beginning of the creation of the Mughal Empire had taken birth. 

The Battles

There were many battels that were in the line before the empire could be fully established in India and Babur’s influence could be known in the country. Babur came to India as a refugee but soon he decides to capture India. At that time Ibrahim Lodi was at power and was the governing the Delhi Sultanate.

But his hold in the country had become somewhat week and he was not considered to be an efficient ruler. And so, Babur met Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat. The first Battle of Panipat was fought between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi on 21st April in the year 1526. In the battle, Ibrahim Lodi was badly overthrown by the Babur army. Babur with magnificent cavalry skills and efferent war strategies won the battle.

And Ibrahim Lodi was also killed in the battle. With the victory in Panipat, and the defeat of Ibrahim Lodi, Delhi Sultanate was put to an end. This victory was the true beginning of the establishment of the Mughal Empire. Everyone presumed Babur to leave after this however Babur had some other plans.

This battle was only the beginning. Babur had to face king of Mewar, Rana Sangram Singh. He was a tough and fierce king, and in order, Babur to completely hold a grip of his reign in India had to overthrow Rana. And so, Battle of Khanwa was fought on 15th of March in the year of 1527.

Rana was a Rajput, which meant that he possessed battle skills. However, Babur’s army proved to be stronger than his. Rana was defeated badly and so he fled and was heartbroken and was ashamed of his defeat, which was also the cause of his death.

Babur’s final claim to India and a dream and ambition of capturing the Indian subcontinent was accomplished when he dethrones the rulers of Bihar and Bengal, who were Afghans. He met then at the Battle of Ghagra dethroning them.  Babur had succeeded in capturing India and hoisting the Mughal flag. 

And so, the early stage of Babur building a dynasty of his own was full of ups and downs. He had to face tremendous setbacks and opposition but they were nothing in front of young, ambitious and skilled Babur, who was given the title Ghazi.