Babur
Timurid prince from Fergana who invaded Punjab several times before founding the Mughal empire at Panipat in 1526. Guru Nanak witnessed his sack of Saidpur.
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur was born in 1483 in the Fergana valley, a descendant of Timur on his father's side and of Genghis Khan on his mother's. Driven from his homeland, he took Kabul in 1504 and turned his eyes to India.
He raided the Punjab several times from 1519. In 1521 he sacked Saidpur, where Guru Nanak was taken prisoner and wrote his hymns on the cruelty of the invasion. In 1526 he defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat with cannon and matchlocks, and founded the Mughal empire.
His memoir, the Baburnama, written in Chagatai Turkish, is one of the great autobiographies: honest, curious, homesick for the melons of Kabul. He died in 1530 and is buried in a garden in Kabul.
Battles
Connected
In the world's museums
4 objects
Babur's army defeating Hazara tribesmen, c.1589, Baburnama, housed at the V&A MuseumV&A, London · photo SpeakingArch (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA ↗
Babur fights Hazara tribesmen in February 1507 on the road from Herat to KabulV&A, London · photo c.1590 artist (Wikimedia Commons) ↗.jpg)
Hazara horseman fighting Babur's troops on the Herat-Kabul road in February 1507.V&A, London · photo 1589-90 artist (Wikimedia Commons) ↗
Silver shahrukhi coin of Babur, struck at Lahore AH 935 ,1528-1529 CE, Ashmolean MuseumAshmolean Museum, Oxford · photo SpeakingArch (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA ↗