|
Click
here if you would like to Contribute.
Click
here if you would like to send Feedback.
Click
here to Read more about Babur, Ayodhya and related
articles.
Part
1 | Part2
Babur
was very proficient in archery and had studied the use of
artillery too. It is said, when he entered India, that is
Punjab, he had just 12,000 soldiers. But then it was a
highly mobile force. Of course, Babur had the help of
traitors and the local Rajput Chief Rana Sangha of Mewar,
who encouraged Babur with offers of collaboration against
the Lodis the local Governor of Lodis in Punjab, Daulat
Khan, turned a traitor and had invited Babur to capture
Lahore and challenge the Lodi Sultanate. With such favorable
circumstances, Babur with a mere 12,000 Mughals advanced
across the Punjab's rivers unopposed. It appears, even this
number of 12,000 shrunk during their march across the Punjab
but Babur was lucky to supplement the loss by his enemy
Lodi's deserters. And when in April 1526 the two armies met
at Panipat. Ibrahim Lodi had a numerical advantage of about
ten soldiers to one of Babur. Yet Babur won. The rest is
history.
The
conservative estimate put the slain at 15,000; amongst them
was Ibrahim Lodi himself. There is an interesting incident
recorded in history about the legendary Koh-I- Nur
diamond. This diamond is also sometimes called Babur`s
diamond. It is credited with conferring on its owner
either rulership of the world or imminent extinction. It is
a diamond of 186 carats and its value is estimated as
equivalent to 'two and a half days' food for the whole
world. It seems, Humayun (Babur`s son), who acquired it from
Raja Vikramaditya of Gwalior, offered it to Babur, who
having known its history and mysterious power wisely
declined and might have advised his son too not to keep it
for fear of reasons mentioned above. Babur had never loved
India which he dubbed as "an unattractive,
unsociable, uncouth and exceedingly numerous race of
infidels. They could never live at ease." Babur was
contemptuous of the Rajput`s idolatry. In fact, Babur and
his Mughals wanted to get back to Kabul and beyond. Babur
still dreaming of capturing Samarkand, Timur`s capital and
his childhood dream.
Babur
was faced by Rajput opposition particularly by Rana
Sangha of Mewar, who had originally encouraged Babur to
invade against Lodis. So in early 1527 Babur had to face the
Rajputs and a soothsayer had predicted disaster for Babur.
But Babur once again came on top. As a man of great
imagination, he hit upon an idea. Like our present day
secular politicians of India, Babur "dug deep to
rally his men, this time by appealing to their Islamic
convictions. Since the Rajputs were infidels, the war was
designated a jihad." It seems Pakistan must have
learnt its war strategy from Babur. Which is why we hear so
much of jihad from Pakistan backed jihadi groups!
Cowardice
on the part of his Muslim soldiers thus became apostasy
while death assumed the welcome guise of martyrdom and an
opportunity to enjoy many virgins. Thus a war for
illegitimate acquisition of another's land became the
noblest possible of causes for both Mughal soldiers as well
as the Muslim soldiers who deserted Lodis. Babur made all
the Muslim soldiers to take an oath on the quran to fight
till they fell. What is more, Babur himself made what for
him was the ultimate sacrifice by ostentatiously abjuring
alcohol. Imagine an alcoholic like Babur giving up
alcohol altogether in order to inspire his soldiers in the
name of religion- Islam.
History
says the decanters and goblets were broken to pieces. Not
just this. "Wine-skins emptied, and a quantity of the
latest vintage from Ghazni salted for vinegar". So
now there was a born-again Babur prepared for battle against
Rajputs. Of course, Rajputs were defeated in the great
encounter at Khanua near Fathepur Sikri not from
tactical naivety but from treachery.
Babur
died near Agra in 1530, thinking that the victory was a
reward for his newfound piety as a Muslim. From this victory
against Rajputs at khanua, his belief in divine
intervention in human affairs became strong. Such dealings
with the divine became his second nature. No wonder, he once
again turned to God when Humayun mortally ill. A distraught
father, he prayed by his son`s sickbed offering his own life
in exchange for his son's. This time too his piety was
rewarded or so he believed and humayun recovered.
Humayun
was 22 when Babur was buried in a garden in Agra. However,
Babur had never loved India both for reasons of its extreme
climates and infidels. But for his easy victories in India,
he would have gone back to Kabul or Samarkand. No wonder, he
did not even want his body to be buried in India. Later,
therefore, in accordance with his final wishes, his body was
removed and buried in Kabul amidst the melons and vines that
he loved most. However, fate had decreed, that the empire he
established and the mosques he built remain in India.
Ironically, even after the empire is gone, the mosques
however remained.
Now
let us come to the Babri Masjid, built by Babur or under his
orders by Mir Baqi, a nobleman from Babur's Court, which is
now the cause for another kind of a battle, which has
already taken precious HUMAN lives.
Babur's
only noteworthy additions to India's monuments had been
three Mosques of little stylistic distinction. One at
Panipat celebrated his victory over the Lodi. Another one at
Ayodhya at the supposed site of Lord Rama's birth place has
since becoming more famous than the one at Panipat for
obvious reasons. Another one he built in Delhi on the
supposed site of Indraprastha, the capital of
Pandavas in the Mahabharatha and now known as Purana
Quila. Each mosque built at sites, specially chosen
thoughtfully for political reason- to humiliate the defeated
and to assert his supremacy. So much for Babur, the great
and the first Mughal emperor as a builder.
Interestingly,
it seems, after his many easy victories in the north, he sat
down listening the native powers of India, of what he called
"Hindustan" and placed first the Raja of Bijanagar-Vijayanagar
in northern Karnataka, according to the Baburnama which
records Babur's Indian adventure and rule.
Enough
of Babur the emperor because we now have Babri Masjid to
haunt us.
Part
1
| Part2
K.B.Ganapathy,
Editor,
Star of Mysore, Evening daily,
Mysore.
Click
here to Read more about Babur, Ayodhya and related
articles.
Click here if you would like to Contribute.
Click
here if you would like to send Feedback.
|
