Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babar, founder of the Mughal dynasty in India was an excellent general and a wise ruler. He was born on 14th February 1483 and was a Chughtai Turk, descendant of king Taimur on his father's side and Chengez Khan on his mother's side. Thus conquest and efficient administration was in his blood. He succeeded to the throne of Farghana, a small state in Central Asia, when his father Umar Sheikh Mirza died. At that time he was barely eleven years old. His initial years to throne were marked by continuous wars, battles and treaties. After sometime he lost his state and has to live in exile. Few years later fate again smiled on him. His enemies fought among themselves and he converted this opportunity in his favor, and captured the kingdom of present day Afghanistan. Babar was able to re conquer his home state Farghana and Samarkand, but this happiness proved to be shortlived for him. As he was again driven out of his home by his Uzbeg enemies. He was invited to India by Rana Sanga and Daulat Khan Lodi, the Muslim Governor of Punjab, to fight against Ibrahim Lodi. After losing his empire in Central Asia, he found the invitation very lucrative, thus he invaded India. He was the first king to bring artillery to India. He met the forces of Ibrahim Lodi in the field of Panipat on 21st April 1526 and won this battle known in Indian history as the First battle of Panipat. This battle marked his conquest over
Delhi. And changed the course of Indian history as well as Mughal empire forever. After this he fought another decisive battle with Rana Sanga in 1527, at Kanwaha. In this battle Rana Sanga was defeated and with this Babar became the unchallenged ruler of northern India.
Although he restrained from plundering and looting the cities of India, he conquered, he was not very religiously inclined and did not convert the people of India to Islam. His first act of commemorating victory in
Agra was not any religious but aesthetic, a garden in Persian style, called Aram Bagh.
He had made himself the ruler of Punjab, Delhi and the Ganga plains as far as Bihar, before his death. He wrote an autobiography containing lively description of India. It is known as Tuzuk-I- Babari, and is written in Turkish. He died in 1530 and was succeeded by his son Humayun to the throne of Delhi.
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