Chapter 1: Background, The Conquest of Delhi, and The Rajput-Mughal War
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur (born 1483), whose lineage could be traced through Timur to Ghengis Khan, was the ruler of the Fergana valley and Kabulistan. His loss of the ancient city of Samarkand made him question his ambitions to reunite the Timurid empire, especially with the burgeoning power of Safavid Iran and the Shaybanid Uzbeks. Thus Babur decided that his destiny was in India.
The most convenient target was the Sultanate of Delhi, ruled by the Pashtun Ibrahim Lodi. Delhi had once been under the rule of one of Timur's governors, a Khizr Khan. It was from this that Babur derived his claim. He marched his 15,000-strong army into the Delhi Sultanate's lands and met Lodi's 40,000-strong army in battle near the village of Panipat. Babur's decisive victory was achieved through the expert use of gunpowder weapons, which demoralised Lodi's men and elephants. Ibrahim Lodi himself was killed in the battle. Babur's forces reached Delhi within three days, decreed it to be is new capital, and organised a festival to celebrate his victory. His problems were not over yet though.
The Rajput states of Mewar, Mewat, Dhundhar, Marwar, Jangladesh, and Jaisalmer, all of whom were outraged at Babur's intrusion declared war on him with the aim of recovering Delhi.
By this time, Babur's army had grown to 25,000 men, outnumbering the combined 24,000 men of the Rajput states. An initial force of 20,000 Rajput soldiers was completely destroyed by Babur's army, therefore crippling the power of the Rajputs indefinitely. Following this, Babur's army marched to Mewar province and besieged the city. Within months the defenders had fallen and Babur's army moved on to conquer Mewat and Jangladesh.
Babur then brokered peace with the remaining Rajput states; breaking up their confederacy and forcing them to pay an indemnity.
With the war now over, Babur could now attend to matters of state. He decreed that Persian would be the official language of the state, and Sunni Islam would be the religion of the state. However he afforded his new Hindu subjects the complete freedom to worship as they pleased, as long as they remained loyal to the state.
The Indians of the subcontinent referred to this new empire as the Mughals.
