On 12th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani in 933 AH, Zahir ud-din
Babur, who founded the famous Timurid Mughal Dynasty of the
Subcontinent, defeated a huge Rajput army of 100,000 soldiers and one
thousand well trained elephants, led by Rana Sanga, the Rajah of Mewar.
This victory, a year after his historic defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi at
Panipat, earned him the title Ghazi.
To fulfill his vow before the decisive battle, Babur ordered his Iranian minister, Mir Abdul-Baqi, to build the famous Babri Mosque on a vacant piece of land in what is now Fayzabad. This historic mosque was destroyed in 1992 by Hindu fundamentalists vandals on the pretext that it was founded on the ruins of a temple, a claim which both historians and archeologists categorically reject. Babur was a noted scholar and poet of Persian as well as his native Chaghtai Turkic.
To fulfill his vow before the decisive battle, Babur ordered his Iranian minister, Mir Abdul-Baqi, to build the famous Babri Mosque on a vacant piece of land in what is now Fayzabad. This historic mosque was destroyed in 1992 by Hindu fundamentalists vandals on the pretext that it was founded on the ruins of a temple, a claim which both historians and archeologists categorically reject. Babur was a noted scholar and poet of Persian as well as his native Chaghtai Turkic.
The Battle of Panipat
On 7th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 932 AH, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, Zaheer od-Din Babar, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of Hindustan or Northern India, at the Battle of Panipat. He then took control of Delhi and Agra, thereby laying foundations of the Mughal Empire that would reach its zenith during the rule of the 6th and last "Great Mughal" Aurangzeb, encompassing what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and eastern Afghanistan. After two centuries of glory, the Mughal Empire shrank to Delhi and its suburbs, ending in 1857 AD with the British capture of the last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar and his exile to Burma.
Babur was born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. He was the son of the local ruler Omar Shaikh Mirza, who in turn was a great-grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur. From his mother's side he was a descendant of the Mongol marauder, Genghis Khan. A Persianized Turk, Babur, as a protégé of Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, had earlier succeeded in gaining brief control of Timur's capital Samarqand, before being driven out by the Uzbeks. Babur's army, which conquered Delhi also included Qizilbash Iranian fighters, who as one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court, would promote Persian language and culture in the subcontinent, as well as the teachings of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, which until then were brutally suppressed in Northern India.
On 7th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 932 AH, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, Zaheer od-Din Babar, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of Hindustan or Northern India, at the Battle of Panipat. He then took control of Delhi and Agra, thereby laying foundations of the Mughal Empire that would reach its zenith during the rule of the 6th and last "Great Mughal" Aurangzeb, encompassing what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and eastern Afghanistan. After two centuries of glory, the Mughal Empire shrank to Delhi and its suburbs, ending in 1857 AD with the British capture of the last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar and his exile to Burma.
Babur was born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. He was the son of the local ruler Omar Shaikh Mirza, who in turn was a great-grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur. From his mother's side he was a descendant of the Mongol marauder, Genghis Khan. A Persianized Turk, Babur, as a protégé of Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, had earlier succeeded in gaining brief control of Timur's capital Samarqand, before being driven out by the Uzbeks. Babur's army, which conquered Delhi also included Qizilbash Iranian fighters, who as one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court, would promote Persian language and culture in the subcontinent, as well as the teachings of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, which until then were brutally suppressed in Northern India.
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