Medieval History - The Secret Will of Babur

Babur was born in 1483 AD in Farghana, a small principality in Central Asia. He ascended its throne in 1494 at the age of twelve at a difficult time when his small empire was surrounded on all sides by enemies. And so began his career which was more full of defeats and disappointments than victories and successes, until he died, in Agra, on December 26, 1530 at an early age of 47. 

He fought dangerous battles against Uzbegs, Chaghtais, Turks and Afghans; some of which proved nearly disastrous to him. Thrice he captured Samarqand, the capital of his forefathers, but every time he was driven out. He moved to Kabul, which he captured in 1504, and then to Hindustan. On his sixth invasion, he defeated the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodhi in the first Battle of Panipat in 1526 and finally overthrew the Lodhi empire. 

We know him as a general and founder of the Great Mughal Empire in India. What we do not know is that inspite of his 36 years' ventures in war, he was essentially a man of peace: an honest and a graphic chronicler, an author, a poet, whose two diwans (collections of poems) have come down to us; an ardent lover of nature and maker of beautiful gardens; and, above all, a humanist. 

Garden-craft was his unique contribution to the art and culture of this country which he finally adopted as his home. These gardens comprised of several receding terraces with a central canal, on a charbagh (four quartered) plan, associated with such other water devices shallow canals, lotus ponds and fountains. The gardens also consisted of architectural features like pathways, parterres and tree-avenues. It was upon his legacy that his successors developed such world famous terraced gardens as the Nishat and the Shalamar in Kashmir, tomb-gardens as those of Taj Mahal and palace gardens as in Red Fort and in Agra Fort.

Babur was a devout Sunni Muslim but there was no reference to suggest he was a bigot, or even an orthodox, and that he ever indulged in any iconoclastic measures during his 26 years of military campaign from Kabul to Ganga. so free was he of any worldly greed, religious bias or any other rigidity that he earned the title 'Qalander' (recluse). Throught his life he maintained a liberal view towards fine arts: poetry, music and painting. Babur was kindly disposed towards all his non-Muslim subjects with whom he practiced and advocated a policy of peaceful co-existence, tolerance and non-interference in their religious matters. An extremely important document is on record to vouchsafe for this particular phenomenon. 

In his own secret will, which he addressed to his son and heir Humayun, on January 11, 1529,  when he was staying at 'Bag-e-Nulufar' (the Lotus Garden) at Dholpur in Rajesthan, he wrote:

"Alll praise to Allah. Secret will of Zahir'al-Din Muhammed Babur to his son Prince Nasir'al-Din Muhammed Humayun. May God prolong his life. Written for the strength of the Empire. O my son, the empire of Hindustan consists of various religions. Dominations and sovereignty where of has been bestowed on you by the grace of the Almighty. It is incumbent that religious bigotries be wiped off the tablet of the heart, and justice meted out to each religion. Specially abstain from sacrifice of cows as this would tend to win the hearts of the people of Hindustan and the  populance of the country would be loyal to the Royal favours. The temples and places of worship of whatever religion under the Royal authority may not be desecrated. Such justice may be adopted that the King may be pleased with the Rayyat (subjects) and the Rayyat with the King. Overlook the dispute between the Shias and Sunnis since such weakness still persists in Islam. Establish administration with the Rayyat of various communities in accordance with the four principal elements so that the body of the empire may be free from different diseases. The model work done by his late Majesty Timur (Tamerlane) Sahib Qiran should always be kept before the mind so that you become mature in the work of administration."

Thus did Babur lay down the policy of governance of this country based on religious tolerance which was taken forward by Humayun and later Akbar. He warned his successors not to meddle in the religious affairs of the people and to leave them free to practice their religion in accordance with their own faiths and beliefs.  

(Excerpts from the article of Mr R Nath as published in The Hindu,  June 26, 1994)

The Second Battle of Panipat and the Stray Arrow that Changed History

On November 5th, 1556 as the Samrat of Dilli, Hemu's armies faced the young challenger Akbar and his Mughal warriers across the plains of Panipat, it seemed as if the march of Indian history paused and watched with a bated breath. For today promised two future paths which would be very different from each other. On one side stood a potential resurgence of Hindu empire in India and on the other stood a permanent  establishment of Mughals. But to understand how this crossroad of Indian history came to be we need to look a little further back.

After the death of Sher Shah Suri in 1545, his son Islam Shah Suri was crowned emperor. Though he was a strong king, his untimely death in 1554 opened the doors for infighting and power struggle within the Sur dynasty. His successor, his son Firuz Shah Suri, who was aged only twelve was murdered by Sher Shah's nephew Muhammad Mubariz Khan, who then ascended the throne as Muhammad Adil Shah. He appointed Firuz Shah's competent wazir Hem Chandara (Hemu) as his own wazir. As Adil Shah whiled away his time in wine, opium, singing and dancing, it was left to Hemu to manage the affairs of the State.Sensing a weak ruler in Delhi, many of the Afgan governors refused to pay taxes. Ibrahim Shah Suri, the governor of Agra, revolted and overthrew Adil Shah from Delhi. At the same time Sikandar Shah Suri and Muhammad Khan Suri the governors of Punjab and Bengal respectively declared their independence. Adil Shah was left ruling small portions of land near Agra and Bihar. Leading Adil Shah's armies Hemu went from region to region crushing rebellions of various Afghan governors. In December 1555 Hemu routed the Bengal forces under Muhammad Shah, who was killed in the battle. Meanwhile, Humayun sensing opportunity to retake Delhi placed the command of his armies in the hands of Bairam Khan and marched from Kabul. Bairam Khan led Humayun's armies to victory against Sikandar Suri in Punjab and facing any further resistance, on 23 July 1555, Humayun once again sat on Babur's throne in Delhi.But the victory was short lived. Nine months later, as the thirteen year old Akbar and Bairam Khan were camped in Kalanor with the mughal armies chasing after Sikandar Suri, Humayun slipped down the steep stairs of his library and died of a fractured skull. As Stanley Lane Pool remarks " Humayun tumbled through life and tumbled out of it".

Hemu / Raja Vikramaditya

For the next seventeen days, as Akbar and Bairam Khan made preparations for return to Delhi, Humayun’s death was kept a secret from the empire. Mulla Bekasi , who resembled Humayun, was dressed up as the emperor every day and shown to the public (Jharokha Darshan) from the palace terrace. It was only on 11th February 1556, when the khutba was read in Akbar’s name from the Delhi mosques that the death of Humayun was made public. Meanwhile Akbar was formally crowned emperor on 14th February in Kalanor. He stood on a wooden platform and received oaths of fealty from his loyal amirs, generals and other nobles. Bairam Khan had expected initial threats to Akbar’s rule either from treachery from within Delhi or in the form of Sikandar Sur in the west. However, trouble came unexpectedly from the eastern part of the realm. Sensing opportunity to seize Delhi, Hemu marched with his army from Chunar and reached Delhi via Etawah, Kalpi and Agra. At Agra, the Mughal governor, Iskandar Khan Uzbeg offered some resistance but was soon overwhelmed. Hemu captured Agra with its huge trove of war equipments and treasure. On the heels of the retreating army, Hemu marched on to Delhi. Tadri Beg, the governor of Delhi sent messengers to Akbar in Kalanor and prepared for battle. Hemu and Tadri Khan’s armies met outside Delhi. Sir Jadunath Sarkar writes about the battle of Tughlaqabad as follows: “The Mughal army was thus drawn up. Abdullah Uzbeg commanded the van, Haider Muhammad the right wing, Iskander Beg the left and Tadri Beg himself the center. The van and the left wings attacked and drove the enemy forces before them and followed far in pursuit. In the assault the victors captured 400 elephants of Hemu’s and killed over 3000 of his Afghan warriors. Imagining victory already gained many of Tadri Beg’s followers dispersed to plunder the enemy camp and he was left in the field thinly guarded. All this time Hemu had been holding 300 of his choice elephants and a force of select horsemen as a reserve in the center. He promptly seized the opportunity and made charge upon Tadri Beg.” Tadri Beg panicked. Abandoning over 1000 iraqi horses, over 150 war elephants and an unprotected Delhi, Tadri Beg fled westwards to join with Akbar's advancing army. Hemu renamed Raja Vikramaditya, crowned himself king. He distibuted the captured treasures among his Afghan and Rajput nobles, had coins stuck in his name and held court from the imperial canopy. 

The Second Battle of Panipat

Then Hemu advanced from Delhi to meet with Akbar's forces. Remembering Babur's strategic use of his artillary to defeat Ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of Panipat, Hemu sent his park artillary including large field guns, cannon, rockets and moartars in advance escorted by a relatively weak vanguard towars Panipat. In the narrow passages of Panipat he planned to block the advance of Akbar and Bairam Khan's forces and force them to either turn back or attempt a suicidal frontal attack.Sensing the move, Bairam Khan sent a part of his force at neck breaking speed, which made a surprise attack on Hemu's artillary before his main army could arrive and captured almost all of Hemu's artillary. However, Hemu's army arrived before Bairam Khan and Akbar could catch up with the rest of their forces and started launching massive attacks on the Moghul vanguard army. Akbar's vanguard was barely able ot hold on till help arrived. The two main foces finally met on the battlefield on 5th November 1556. The strength of Hemu's army was predominantly in its elephants. Their huge stature and built combined with effective war training made them lethal killing machines. These elephants were furnished with chain mail and defensive armour and daggers and sabers were attached to their tusks. Despite their size, they were of the most amazing swiftness and agility. Musketeers and bowmen were seated on their back. Hemu's army had around 1500 of these war elephants and a fighting strength of around 50,000 cavalry. He put them under three commands - the right wing under Shadi Khan Kakar, the left under his sister's son Ramya while sitting on his famous elephant 'Hawai' he commanded the center. The Mughal army which was smaller in number with around 25,000 horsemen. The main cavalry of the Mughal army rode forward in a two pronged attack to relieve its vanguard. They were supported by the archers and muskeeters who followed. The central army was made up of the remaining cavalry of around 4000 men. The two pronged attack initially halted Hemu's advances but soon the battle tide turned. The two flanks were slowly driven inwards and Hemu's well desciplined elephants pushed forward despite many wounds. The Mughal army's flanks were driven back towards the center. Then Hemu attacked the central flank himself leading a charge of elephants and cavalry. The Mughals deployed a strategy of meeting the elephants with a shower of arrows in a hope of making them turn around and stampede. Though this was not successful, one of such stray arrows pierced Hemu's left eye and he collapsed unconcious. This decided the fate of the battle. Hemu's army, seeing him fall, scattered to save their lives and were chased and decimated by the Mughals. Hemu himself was captured and brought to Akbar and Bairam Khan. 

According to Abul-Fazl Hemu was beheaded  by Bairam Khan on the battlefield. His head was sent to Kabul and the trunk was hung at the gates of Delhi. There it was left to rot till only bones remained. Within a few hours the Mughal army regrouped around mounts of war spoils and a pyramid of over ten thousand severed heads of Hemu's warriors. This was an age old practice of the Mughal warriors, followed by Babur and going way back to Timur and Genghis Khan. 

With this victory Akbar firmly established himself as the Emperor of India and started an consolidation process which saw him become the richest and the most powerful emperor of the world in that period.

The Lion King of India - Sher shah Suri

Sher Shah Suri

The Indian history of the first half of the 16th century is the story of the Afgan-Mughal contest for dominance and power in the sub continent. In 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, in the first battle of Panipath marking the advent of Mughal empire in India. However the Afghan chieftains were not completely destroyed. Disarrayed and discontent to an alien rule they required the guidance and charisma of a strong leader. This they found in the form of Sher Shah Suri.

Sher Shah was born Farid in Haryana. At an early age his father Hasan took him to Sasaram in Bihar where he had been awarded a small jagir. In his childhood days Farid was ill treated by his step-mother and at the age of 22 left his household to travel and study in Jaunpur. After the death of his father Farid took possession of his paternal jagir and in 1522 got into the service of Bahar Khan, the ruler of Bihar. He rose quickly in the court of Bahar Khan and was soon appointed his deputy. He also became the tutor and mentor of Bahar Khan's minor son. Once, hunting in the forest, Farid killed a full grown tiger with his bare hands and was awarded the title of Sher Khan by Bahar Khan. But in a few years Sher Khan fell out of favour with Bahar Khan and joined Babur's camp in 1527-28. On the death of Bahar Khan, Sher returned to Bihar as its governor and guardian to the minor prince. After becoming the governor of Bihar, he began reorganizing the administration efficiently. In course of four years he organised a well disciplined, one of the largest and most efficient army and became the recognized ruler of Bihar. In the same time the Fort of Chunar came into his possession. The Lord of Chunar had been killed by his eldest son, who had rebelled against his father. His widow however married Sher Shah and gave the fort to him. 

Sher Shah's Empire

As Humayun focused his armies towards western India in order to defeat Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, Sher Khan in a surprise attack on Bengal annexed a large part of its territory. In 1530s as Humayun attacked and defeated Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, many of the defeated Afghan generals fled and joined Sher Shah as he was increasingly perceived as the new rising Afgan leader. Strengthened by his acquisitions in 1537 Sher Khan attacked Bengal and besieged its capital Gaur. Humayun on his return journey from Gujarat made his way towards east but instead of joining forces with the Sultan of Bengal, besieged the Fort of Chunar. There he was unable to conquer it for over six months while Sher Shah was able to utilize the time for capture of Gaur. Unable to capture Chunar, Humayun moved his forces towards Bengal and entered Gaur in July 1538. However, Sher Khan avoided direct confrontation with Humayun's forces and moved his forces to plunder Mughal territories in Bihar, Jaunpur and Kannauj. Finnaly the Mughal and Afghan armies met on the plains of Buxar in June 1539. Here the Mughar armies met with a heavy defeat and most of the Mughal soldiers were killed or captured by Sher Shah's army. Humayun himself escaped by hiding in the water skin of a water carrier and was carried across the Ganges. The victory over the Mughal ruler widened Sher Khan's empire which now extended from Kannauj in the west to the hills of Assam in the east. To legalize what he had gained, he now assumed the royal title of Sher Shah and ordered the Khutba to be read and the coins to be minted in his name. The next year Humayun retried to capture lost territories and met Sher Shah's armies in Kannauj. Commanding a demoralized and badly trained army, Humayun was again defeated on 17th May, 1540 in the Battle of Kannauj. The defeat marked the end of the empire created by Babur and heralded the arrival of Sur dynasty which ruled India unto 1557. 

Apart from being a great military leader, Sher Shah Suri, was an extremely able administrator. He introduced a tax collection system, built roads along with resting areas for travelers, dug wells, improved the jurisdiction, founded hospitals, established free kitchens, organized mail services and the police. His management proved so efficient that even one of the greatest rulers of human history, the Mughal Emperor Akbar, organized the Indian subcontinent on his measures, and the system which lasted until the 20th century. He is widely considered to have built the civil and administrative structures which were later used and developed further by Akbar. To Sher Shah Suri are attributed four key achievements:

1. Introduction of an Effective Monetary System: Sher Shah introduced the tri-metal coinage system which later came to characterize the Mughal coinage system. He also minted a coin of silver which was termed the Rupiya that weighed 178 grains and was the precursor of the modern rupee. The same name is still used for the national currency in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles among other countries.
2. Development of Roadways: For military and trade movement, Sher Shah connected the important places of his kingdom by a netwrok of excellent roads. The longest of these, called the Sadak-e-Azam or the "Badshahi Sadak" (renamed "Grand Trunk Road" by the British) survives til this day. This road is the longest highway of Asia and extends over 1500 Km from Sonargaon in Eastern Bengal to the Indus. All the roads were flanked by shade giving trees and there were sarayes (traveller's inns) all along the routes. 
3. Administrative Subdivision of Empire:  The Sur empire was divided into forty-seven separate units called sarkars. Each of these was further subdivided into. Each paragana had its own administrative system with its own Ami , lawkeeper, treasurer and account keepers. Over the next higher administrative unit, the sarkar, were placed a Shiqdar-I-Shiqdaran and a Munsif-I-Munsifan to supervise the work of the paragana officers. To keep a tab on the performance of his officers, Sher shah had panned to rotate them across the empire every two or three years. Every branch of the administration was subject to Sher Shah's personal supervision.
4. Development of the First Postal System: The sarayes developed along the road network also served as post offices. Sher Shah Suri established the foundations of a mounted post or horse courier system, wherein conveyance of letters was also extended to traders. This is the first known record of the Postal system of a kingdom being used for non-State purposes, i.e. for trade and business communication. 

Sher Shah Suri died from a gunpowder explosion during the siege of Kalinjar fort on May 22, 1545 fighting against the Chandel Rajputs. Had it not been for his untimely demise the Sur dynasty would not have declined and perished and the Mughal empire may never have been re-established. 

The Sher Shah Suri Tomb (122 ft high) stands in the middle of an artificial lake at Sasaram, a town that stands on the Grand Trunk Road, his lasting legacy.