Babur | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

(1483–1530), founder of the Mughal empire. Born in Fergana in Central Asia on 14 February 1483, Zahir-ud-din Muhammad—better known as Babur or "the Tiger"—established what became known as the Mughal (or Moghul or Mongol) empire (1526–1857) in India (though he regarded himself as a Timurid Turk). One of the largest centralized empires in the premodern world, the Mughal empire lasted until the British exiled the last emperor in 1858. Babur was an excellent military commander, being a keen archer, horseman, and swimmer, as well as a cultured monarch and a lover of music, nature, gardens, and poetry. He wrote The Baburnama, considered to be the first autobiography in Islamic literature, a book that provides us with an official chronicle as well as an intimate personal memoir.

Although most widely associated with India, little about his life was Indian. He was born prince of Fergana in Transoxiana (modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), scion of a dynasty that reigned in eastern Iran and Central Asia, and was descended from Amir Temur (c. 1336–1405) on his father's side and Genghis Khan (1167–1227), the famed Mongol ruler, on his mother's. He occupied the throne of Samarqand at twelve, although the following decades were to see him lose and recapture this throne and several other kingdoms, including Kabul, on several occasions. Though a Sunni Muslim, he became, from his thirties, addicted to drink. His political philosophy was dictated by a driving ambition that saw him move due south and east to the Indian subcontinent. Though his forces were vastly outnumbered, Babur was successful through superior military strategy, firearms—matchlock guns and field cannons—and fast cavalry in defeating Ibrahim Lodhi (reigned 1517–1526), the ruler of the Delhi sultanate in North India, in a historic battle at Panipat in April 1526, thereby capturing the throne of Delhi. He spent1527 and 1528 expanding his empire, principally by defeating the other major power, the Rajput kings of northwestern India. However, he died at Agra, in northern India, on 25 December 1530 at the young age of forty-seven, bequeathing to his son a kingdom— consisting of Central Asian territories, Kabul, the Punjab, Delhi, and part of Bihar to the east and south to Gwalior—that had been conquered but not consolidated. He was later reburied in Kabul.

Babur, Zahiruddin Muhammad. (1996) The Baburnama. Translated and edited by Wheeler M. Thackston. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hasan, Mohibbul. (1985) Babur: Founder of the Mughal Empire. Delhi: Manohar.

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