From Kabul, which he had taken in 1504, Babur looked east across the passes to Hindustan. Four times he raided the Punjab. In the winter of 1525 he came to stay.
On 21 April 1526 his army of perhaps twelve thousand men faced Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan of Delhi, on the plain of Panipat. Ibrahim had many times more soldiers and a thousand war elephants. Babur had something new to India: field cannon and matchlock muskets, set behind a wall of carts chained together.
By midday the battle was over. Ibrahim Lodi lay dead on the field, and within days Babur's son Humayun had ridden into Agra. A new dynasty had begun, though its founder had only four years left to live.
All episodes of Babur to Akbar
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1
The Prince of Fergana
1 min read
In 1494 a twelve-year-old boy inherits a small kingdom and a world of enemies.
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2
The Road to Panipat
1 min read
With guns, carts and a gamble, Babur meets the Sultan of Delhi on an April morning in 1526.
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3
The Boy Emperor
1 min read
Crowned in a garden at thirteen, Akbar must win back an empire his father barely held.
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4
A City of Red Sandstone
1 min read
Akbar builds a new capital on a ridge near Agra, and names it for victory.
