The Mughal Empire: Political History, Consolidation and Decline — Part 1: Introduction and Babur
Part 1: Introduction to the Mughal Empire; Babur's four battles — First Panipat (1526), Khanwa (1527), Chanderi (1528), Ghaghra (1529); tulughma strategy; Baburnama as primary source.
Medieval India — Part 2 of 5
Introduction
The Mughal Empire (1526–1707) stands as one of the most remarkable political edifices in world history. Founded by Babur, a prince from Central Asia who traced his lineage to both Timur and Genghis Khan, the empire grew from a foothold in the Punjab to encompass almost the entire Indian subcontinent under successive rulers. At its height under Aurangzeb, it governed perhaps 150 million people — roughly a quarter of the world's population — with revenues that rivalled those of all European states combined.
For UPSC aspirants, the Mughal Empire is indispensable to GS Paper I (Medieval India), the History optional, and frequently appears in the Prelims. This article traces the political trajectory of the six great Mughals — from Babur's victory at Panipat (1526) to Aurangzeb's death at Ahmadnagar (1707) — and examines how administrative genius created a pan-Indian empire even as structural contradictions planted the seeds of its eventual decline.
1. Babur (1526–1530): Foundation
Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur was the ruler of Kabul and Fergana when he turned his ambitions toward Hindustan. His opportunity came from a fractured Afghan polity: Sultan Ibrahim Lodi had alienated his own nobles, and Daulat Khan Lodi, governor of Punjab, invited Babur to intervene.
First Battle of Panipat (21 April 1526)
Babur's army — outnumbered but superior in artillery and tactics — deployed a strategy called the tulughma (flanking manoeuvre) combined with the massed use of field artillery (tufang and cannon). Ibrahim Lodi died in battle; the Sultanate of Delhi collapsed. The Baburnama records that Babur was keenly aware of the political fragmentation of Hindustan: he observed that every Raja set up for a monarch on his own account in his own petty territories, and that this fragmentation was his strategic opportunity.
Battle of Khanwa (17 March 1527)
The Rajput confederacy under Rana Sanga of Mewar, along with Afghan remnants, posed the gravest threat to Babur's nascent empire. At Khanwa (near Agra), Babur again deployed superior artillery and the tulughma. Before the battle, he renounced wine and declared a jihad, calling his men ghazis (warriors of the faith) to boost morale. The crushing defeat of Rana Sanga neutralised Rajput military power for a generation.
Battle of Chanderi (1528)
Medini Rai of Chanderi, an ally of Rana Sanga, was defeated. This consolidated Mughal control over Malwa and central India.
Battle of Ghaghra (1529)
Babur defeated the combined Afghan forces under Mahmud Lodi and the ruler of Bengal, effectively eliminating organised Afghan resistance in the east.
Babur's Legacy
Babur reigned for only four years in India before dying in 1530. He left behind the beginning of an empire, his extraordinary memoir the Baburnama (written in Chaghatai Turkish — described by scholars as the only true autobiography in Islamic literature), and a deep love of gardens that would characterise Mughal aesthetics. His observations on Indian peasantry and agriculture — including detailed notes on irrigation devices such as the Persian wheel and the bucket-and-pulley system — provide primary-source insight into early Mughal agrarian realities. He was struck by the mobility of India's rural population: entire villages could be depopulated and re-established in a day and a half, and an equal abundance of artisans — whom he noted passed their trades from father to son across generations — defined the Indian economic landscape.