At a glance
Era 9- Dates
- 1483-1530 CE
- Who
- Timurid prince who won Delhi at Panipat in 1526
- Era
- The Safavids & the Mughals
ProfileBabur
Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur descended from Timur on his father's side and from Genghis Khan on his mother's. He became ruler of Fergana in Central Asia at eleven, and lost it and Samarkand within a few years. For a time he and his followers lived as wanderers.
In 1504 he took Kabul. When his hopes in Central Asia failed, he turned to India. On 21 April 1526 at Panipat he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, using cannon and a line of linked carts. The next year he beat a Rajput alliance at Khanua, after vowing to give up wine. He founded the dynasty known as the Mughals.
He wrote his memoir, the Baburnama, in his own Turkish language, one of the most personal books ever written by a ruler. He died in 1530 and, as he wished, was buried in a garden in Kabul.
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