The Mughals

Dateline: 1526AD-1857AD

The Mughal dynasty was founded by Babur, who was a ruler of a kingdom near Persia (modern day Iran). Babur a Turk, was related to the great Mongol conqueror, Chengiz Khan and the Turkish invader Timur. The increasing power of the Uzbeks of Central Asia, was a cause for Babur to want to leave his country. The Delhi Sultanate around this time existed merely in name, and the political scene was in total disarray. The Sultan in power was Ibrahim Lodi, but the nobles commanded a major portion of power. The entire system was very unstable, and finally it cracked. Daulat Khan, a powerful noble who was dissatisfied with Ibrahim Lodi actually requested Babur to come and invade India. Babur had long cherished a desire to conquer India, and he immediately grabbed the opportunity. He first conquered Afghanistan and then descended into India. His campaigns though initially faced some hiccups, turned out very successful and he captured a large section of North Western India. He then proceeded to Delhi where he fought the last remaining Sultanate ruler, Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat. Ibrahim Lodi possessed a much larger army, but Babur had greater amount of weapons and artillery as well as superb strategy and leadership. In just half a day, he defeated the Sultan and captured Delhi and its surrounding areas. The victory over Ibrahim Lodi however had only a nominal value, for the Sultanate was not a very powerful force in the country. Babur had to face many challenges from various Afghan, Turkish and native Indian rulers before finally he was able to assert his authority over a fairly large area, establishing the foundation of the Mughal empire. In the brief four years that he ruled he set the stage for the great empire. The Mughal empire was not firmly established in his time, in fact shortly after his son Humayun succeeded him, Sher Shah, temporarily threw out the Mughal power and set up his own empire. Upon his death however Humayun returned and re-established the Mughal empire. The greatest Mughal king, Akbar followed and he took the empire to its peak. When we talk of the Mugahl empire we usually refer to the reign of the greater Mughals: Babur, Humayaun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb. The Mughal empire began to disintegrate during the reign of Aurangzeb and the Mughal emperors after him are collectively referred to as the later Mughals. The Mughal empire would be an important part of Indian history for the next two hundred years, before its disintegration would pave the way for the rise of the British in India.