Number of words: 1,056

Babur was a direct descendent of Ghengis Khan from his mother’s side and Taimur the lame on his father’s side. However, Taimur’s empire had been largely lost by the time Babur was born. At the age of twelve, Babur inherited a tiny kingdom in the beautiful Ferghana valley in Central Asia. It could barely support an army of three to four thousand men but even with this small military force, he tried to capture Taimur’s capital of Samarkhand many times. He even managed to do it for a brief while but couldn’t hold on to it. The Uzbeks chased him out of there and he made his way south with a small band of followers. He won and lost many battles along the way till he gained control of Kabul. And then, he began to look towards India.

It was a daring ambition because his army was much smaller than the Sultan’s, but Babur had a secret weapon— matchlock guns. This was the first time that guns would be used in north India. Babur defeated the Sultan and quickly went on to beat all other rivals, including the Rajputs. And thus began the Mughal (i.e. Mongol) empire in India. The dynasty did not call itself the Mughals though. The name they preferred was ‘Gurkhani’—which comes from ‘Gurkhan’ or ‘son-in-law’. Taimur liked to call himself by this name after he was married to a princess from the Ghengiz Khan dynasty.

Although Babur had finally conquered this region, what he really wanted was Samarkhand. He did not think very highly of India. In his opinion, Hindustan ‘is a place of little charm. There is no beauty in its people, no graceful social intercourse, no poetic talent or understanding, no etiquette, nobility or manliness. The arts and crafts have no harmony or symmetry. There are no good horses, meat, grapes, melons, or other fruits. There is no ice, cold water, good food or bread in the markets.’ Then why did Babur invade India at all? He’s quite honest about it: ‘The one nice aspect of Hindustan is that it is a large country with lots of gold and money.’

Babur died less than five years after he came to India. After him came his son Humayun, who started the construction of the next Delhi—Dinpanah. Built just south of Feroze Shah Kotla, along the river Yamuna, it included a Citadel that we now know as Purana Qila (or Old Fort). As we have discussed, this is said to be the site of ancient Indraprastha but there is nothing to suggest that this is why Humayun chose this place. In addition to the Citadel, there was a fortified city. Not much has survived of Dinpanah except one of its impressive gates—the Lal Darwaza (Red Gate). You can see this massive structure across the road from Purana Qila and Delhi Zoo.

But Humayun did not complete either Dinpanah or Purana Qila. He was chased out by a group of Afghan rebels led by Sher Shah Suri. He escaped with his family to Persia and it was Sher Shah Suri who completed the construction of Purana Qila. Though he ruled for a short time, Sher Shah Suri introduced many vital changes. He reorganized tax collection, minted the first silver Rupiya (the earliest version of the modern Indian rupee) and revived the ancient city of Pataliputra (Patna). He also rebuilt the ancient Uttara Path highway from Punjab to Bengal. Known as Sadak-e-Azam (or Great Road), it became a major artery of the Mughal period. The British called it the Grand Trunk Road which, as we know, is now part of the Golden Quadrilateral.

Sher Shah Suri died in a gunpowder-related accident just after five years on the throne. Humayun came back and reoccupied Delhi. But it seemed as if Sher Shah Suri’s bad luck had followed him, too. On one fateful day, Humayun went to watch the rise of Venus from the roof of his library. On his way down the steep stairs, he tripped on his robe and died from the fall. Humayun’s library building is still there in Purana Qila. The stairway also exists but is not open to the public.

With humyaun’s death, thirteen-year-old Akbar became the new ruler. He is usually called the third Mughal Emperor but it was actually he who created the foundations of a stable empire. Apart from continuing with the changes introduced by Sher Shah Suri, he attempted to improve relationships with the Hindus living in his empire in the second half of his reign. This was a huge step forward.

From the writings of Muslim writers of that time as well as from the ways in which the Hindus responded to the Turkish invaders, it is clear that Delhi’s rulers before Akbar regarded themselves as foreign occupiers. Thus, Hindu rulers, especially the Rajputs, saw themselves in perpetual conflict with the Delhi sultans. For example, the rajput rulers of Mewar did not just see themselves just as kings but as the custodians or guardians of the Hindu civilization embodied in the temple of Eklingji. The deity Shiva was considered to be the real king of Mewar, which is why the rulers did not call themselves ‘Maharaja’ or Great King. They called themselves Rana which means ‘Custodian’ or ‘Prime Minister’. Mewar suffered huge losses and faced extreme hardship but its rulers still did not give up their fight against the sultans. On three different occasions, its capital Chittaur was defended to the last man and even after the capital fell, the fight continued in the hills.

By Akbar’s time, However, everyone was tired of the fighting that had been going on for centuries. Thinkers like Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh tradition, had already argued that both civilizations must learn to accommodate their differences. Emperor Akbar was probably liberal by nature but his thoughts also evolved with time. The change may have happened with the siege of Chittaur, the capital of Mewar in 1568. The fort fell after many months. Almost every soldier was killed. The women killed themselves in a ritual suicide. Akbar further killed 20,000 people—unarmed civilians. Like Ashoka, eighteen centuries earlier, he may have been shocked by the blo odshed he had created.

Excerpted from Page 132-136 of ‘The Incredible History of the Geography of India by Saneev Sanyal