Bab'er

Bab'er (Zehir-Eddin Mohammed), the first of the Great Moguls in India, a descendant of Timur, was born in 1483. He was barely 12 years of age when he succeeded his father, Omar Sheikh Mirza, in the sovereignty of the countries lying between Samarkand and the Indus. Driven more than once from his paternal dominions by the usurpation of his uncle and the revolts of his nobles, he made himself master, by prompt and daring movements, of the provinces of Kashgar, Kunduz, Kandahar, and Kabul. Having thus opened the way to India, he made two or three rapid incursions into Hindustan; and finally, about the end of 1525, taking advantage of the feeble government of Ibrahim Lodi, the Afghan emperor of Delhi, he crossed the Attok (the Kabul branch of the Indus), quickly defeated some bodies of troops that opposed him in the Punjab; and at last, in April 1526, on the plain of Panipat, not far from Delhi, encountered and fought a decisive battle with his enemy, whose army was far superior in numbers. The 100,000 men and 1000 elephants of Sultan Ibrahim were dispersed; Ibrahim himself fled; and Baber made his entry into Delhi. In the following month, Agra, the second city of the empire, surrendered. Baber's enjoyment of empire in India was brief; he died in 1530, having had to contend during the five years of his reign with numerous conspiracies and revolts. To the talents of a general and statesman, which he manifested alike in his conquests, his improvements of public roads, measuring of lands, adjustment of taxation, and his postal arrangements, Baber united a taste for science and art. He wrote in the Tartar language the history of his own life and conquests, which was translated into Persian by Abdul Rachim, and from the Persian into English by Leyden and Erskine (1826). Baber was succeeded on the throne of Delhi by the eldest of his four sons, Humayun, and was the founder of the Baber or Great Mogul dynasty. See MOGUL.