How did Babur defeat Ibrahim Lodi - Advent of the Mughals in India - First Battle of Panipat - Mughal Origins
The first battle of Panipat was fought in 1526 A.D. between
Ibrahim Lodi and Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur.
It was one of the most significant battles in the history of the Indian subcontinent. In this battle, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi.
Panipat is a city located in the state of Haryana, India. Panipat is around 90 km away from Delhi and is located on the banks of the river Yamuna.
This battle marked the end of the Delhi Sultanate and the beginning of the Mughal Empire. Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire.
Character of Babur
Babur was the great-great-great-grandson of Timur, who had attacked and sacked Delhi in the year 1398. Babur was a Timurid prince, that is, he belonged to the House of Timurid. The Mughal Empire was a continuation of the Timurid dynasty in India.
On his mother’s side, Babur was related to Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227). Genghis Khan was the ruler of the Mongol Empire—the largest contiguous empire in history.
The word “Mughal” is a corrupted form of the word “Mongol,” emphasizing the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty.
Why Delhi?
Babur’s father had been the governor of Fergana valley. Babur’s
father died when Babur was just 12 years old. At the age of 15, Babur attacked
Samarkand, the ancient capital of modern-day Uzbekistan.
He won Samarkand but lost Fergana in the process. He was able to retake Fergana but lost Samarkand in the process. He was able to retake Samarkand two more times, but only to lose it again.
Being practically stateless, he decided to cross the Hindukush mountains and attack Kabul, which he was able to capture in 1504. He was just 21 years old when he captured Kabul. He continued to rule Kabul till 1526. Babur was unable to capture his ancestral lands and wasn't happy with ruling just Kabul.
Being a Timurid prince, he had a claim to all lands that had once been under Timur, including Punjab. The stability of Babur’s rule was based on military strength. To have more land under him would bring more wealth and power to him. This required acquiring new territories.
To the west of Kabul was the strong Persian Empire, to the south was desert, and to the north were his arch-rivals—the Uzbeks—who had wrestled Fergana and Samarkand from him. The only course left for Babur was to acquire territory in the east—towards India.
North India at that time was ruled by several rival princes, who were too busy fighting amongst themselves and very unlikely to combine their forces against a common enemy. Babur made full use of this opportunity.
Prior to 1526, Babur had made two incursions into India, one in 1519 and one in 1524, but on both the occasions, he was defeated by the armies of Ibrahim Lodi.
On both the occasions, Babur had no intention of moving beyond Punjab. It was only during his third invasion when he started thinking about ruling Delhi.
Character of Ibrahim Lodi
Ibrahim Lodi, when compared with Babur, was a completely different character. He mistrusted his nobles, removed them from office, and gave them severe punishment.
Instead of inspiring loyalty, he drove them away from him, which resulted in them conspiring against him. He was not the man his father was.
Events Leading up to the Battle
Alam Khan, an uncle of Ibrahim Lodi and a pretender to the
throne of Delhi, invited Babur to invade India.
Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab, also sent emissaries to Babur with an invitation to attack Delhi and dethrone Ibrahim Lodi.
In Baburnama, Babur has written that he also received an invitation from Rana Sanga, the ruler of Mewar, to launch a joint attack on Ibrahim Lodi. Some historians have expressed doubts about this claim. Nonetheless, the Rana had no intention of joining Babur.
Rana Sanga was under the impression that Babur would not have any plans of settling in India. He thought that Babur, like the earlier invaders Timur, Mahmud of Ghazni, and Muhammad Ghori would simply plunder, loot, and leave. With Ibrahim Lodi out of the way, Rana Sanga would become the most powerful ruler in North India, but Babur had different plans.
The Battle
Though Ibrahim Lodi’s army was numerically superior, Babur’s
army was technologically more advanced, strategically superior, and much better
disciplined that the Delhi Sultan’s army.
Babur had an army of around 15,000, while Ibrahim Lodi had around 40,000 fighting men accompanied by many retinues, totaling to around 100,000. Ibrahim Lodi also had a huge contingent of war elephants.
The two armies camped in Panipat facing each other for a week. Babur used this time well to plan out his strategy.
The First Battle of Panipat was a battle of superior generalship, military strategy, and modern warfare. Babur made use of two tactics in this battle—Tulughma and Araba.
Babur also made use of field artillery and muskets in this battle. This was the first time that field artillery and muskets had been used in the Indian subcontinent.
For Babur’s musketeers to be effective, it was important for them to remain hidden until the enemy army came within striking distance. For this, Babur lashed together around 800 bullock wagons tied together by animal hide, so that they remained in the same position. This was a sort of field fortification. These fortifications were known as Araba (carriage). Babur’s canons hid behind these fortifications and fired upon the enemy without the fear of being hit. Babur’s musketeers hid behind these wagons, waiting for the enemy to come close enough. Babar even erected stands on which the musketeers could rest their weapons giving them the ability to fire with greater accuracy. And when the enemy came within range, numerical strength proved to be of no use—it was a massacre.
Like his great-great-great-grandfather Timur, Babur knew that war elephants, though a very formidable force to have on your side, were animals who panicked very easily. Timur had employed a very creative and effective strategy to fight the war elephants in the Delhi sultan’s army at that time. He gathered several camels, placed stacks of hay on them, lit the hay up and prodded the animals with iron sticks. The camels, in severe pain, raced towards the elephants. The elephants on seeing the sight of camels with flames leaping from their backs and charging towards them howling in pain, in sheer panic, turned around and stampeded back towards the Delhi army.
Babur decided to capitalize on this knowledge. The heavy sound of artillery and cannon balls landing close to them caused sheer panic in the elephants. As expected, the elephants turned around and ran away from the battlefield, crushing many in the Delhi army, resulting in utter chaos.
Tulughma strategy involves dividing the whole army into different units. So, Babur divided his army into left, right, and central units, and then further sub-divided them into the front and rear units. Two great advantages of this strategy were maneuverability and positioning. By using this strategy, Babur could maneuver his army easily and position them in a way to surround the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodi. Compared with all this, Sultan Ibrahim’s army marched as a large disorganized single unit.
For his strategies to succeed, it was important for Babar that the Delhi army should attack him first and through a narrow column. Babar had ordered his men to dig trenches along the sides so that Ibrahim’s massive army could only attack as a narrow column from the front.
The actual battle did not last for long, around three hours only. Ibrahim Lodi was killed within these three hours. It is said that even with these great strategies, the Delhi army would have won had Ibrahim Lodi survived the battle for another hour. There are two reasons for this, one, the sheer size of the Delhi army, and two, Babur’s forces had no reserves, which meant that the soldiers had no back-up to rely on even as they grew increasingly tired in the battle. In this battle, Ibrahim Lodi was killed and beheaded. His tomb is in the city of Panipat.
Babur had an army of around 15,000, while Ibrahim Lodi had around 40,000 fighting men accompanied by many retinues, totaling to around 100,000. Ibrahim Lodi also had a huge contingent of war elephants.
The two armies camped in Panipat facing each other for a week. Babur used this time well to plan out his strategy.
The First Battle of Panipat was a battle of superior generalship, military strategy, and modern warfare. Babur made use of two tactics in this battle—Tulughma and Araba.
Babur also made use of field artillery and muskets in this battle. This was the first time that field artillery and muskets had been used in the Indian subcontinent.
For Babur’s musketeers to be effective, it was important for them to remain hidden until the enemy army came within striking distance. For this, Babur lashed together around 800 bullock wagons tied together by animal hide, so that they remained in the same position. This was a sort of field fortification. These fortifications were known as Araba (carriage). Babur’s canons hid behind these fortifications and fired upon the enemy without the fear of being hit. Babur’s musketeers hid behind these wagons, waiting for the enemy to come close enough. Babar even erected stands on which the musketeers could rest their weapons giving them the ability to fire with greater accuracy. And when the enemy came within range, numerical strength proved to be of no use—it was a massacre.
Like his great-great-great-grandfather Timur, Babur knew that war elephants, though a very formidable force to have on your side, were animals who panicked very easily. Timur had employed a very creative and effective strategy to fight the war elephants in the Delhi sultan’s army at that time. He gathered several camels, placed stacks of hay on them, lit the hay up and prodded the animals with iron sticks. The camels, in severe pain, raced towards the elephants. The elephants on seeing the sight of camels with flames leaping from their backs and charging towards them howling in pain, in sheer panic, turned around and stampeded back towards the Delhi army.
Babur decided to capitalize on this knowledge. The heavy sound of artillery and cannon balls landing close to them caused sheer panic in the elephants. As expected, the elephants turned around and ran away from the battlefield, crushing many in the Delhi army, resulting in utter chaos.
Tulughma strategy involves dividing the whole army into different units. So, Babur divided his army into left, right, and central units, and then further sub-divided them into the front and rear units. Two great advantages of this strategy were maneuverability and positioning. By using this strategy, Babur could maneuver his army easily and position them in a way to surround the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodi. Compared with all this, Sultan Ibrahim’s army marched as a large disorganized single unit.
For his strategies to succeed, it was important for Babar that the Delhi army should attack him first and through a narrow column. Babar had ordered his men to dig trenches along the sides so that Ibrahim’s massive army could only attack as a narrow column from the front.
The actual battle did not last for long, around three hours only. Ibrahim Lodi was killed within these three hours. It is said that even with these great strategies, the Delhi army would have won had Ibrahim Lodi survived the battle for another hour. There are two reasons for this, one, the sheer size of the Delhi army, and two, Babur’s forces had no reserves, which meant that the soldiers had no back-up to rely on even as they grew increasingly tired in the battle. In this battle, Ibrahim Lodi was killed and beheaded. His tomb is in the city of Panipat.
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