Editing Babur

{{Short description|Mughal emperor from 1526 to 1530}}
{{About|the first Mughal Emperor|the male given name|Babar|the amphipod crustacean|Babr|other uses|Babur (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date= July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = Humayun and Babur (Late Shah Jahan Album) Babur detail.jpg
| alt          = Babur
| name         = Babur
| title        = [[Ghazi (warrior)|Ghazi]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Dale |first=Stephen F. |title=Babur |year=2018 |page=154}}</ref>
| caption      = Portrait of Babur in the ''Late Shah Jahan Album'', painted {{Circa|1640}}. Smithsonian Collections.<ref>{{cite web |title=Babur and Humayun with Courtiers, from the Late Shah Jahan Album |url=https://asia-archive.si.edu/object/S1986.401/ |website=Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art|quote=The first Mughal emperor, Babur, who reigned from 1526 to 1530, is shown seated on the right with his son and successor, Humayun.}}</ref>
| succession   = [[Mughal Emperor]] ([[Padishah]])
| reign        = {{nowrap|21 April 1526&nbsp;– 26 December 1530}}
| predecessor  = [[Ibrahim Khan Lodi|Ibrahim Lodi]] (as [[List of sultans of Delhi|Sultan of Delhi]])
| successor    = [[Humayun]]
| succession1  = [[Timurid Empire#History#Fall|Emir of Kabul]]
| reign1       = October 1504<ref name="u914">{{cite web | last=Avali | first=Raghu | title=The Conquest of Kabul (1504) | website= Indian History for Everyone | date=2023-12-17 | url=https://www.indianhistoryforeveryone.org/blog-1-1/the-conquest-of-kabul-1504 | access-date=2024-07-12}}</ref> – 21 April 1526
| predecessor1 = Mukin Begh
| successor1   = ''Himself as the [[Mughal Emperor]]''
| succession2  = [[Principality of Fergana|Emir of Fergana]]
| reign2       = 10 June 1494 – February 1497
| successor2   = [[Jahangir Mirza II]]
| predecessor2 = [[Umar Shaikh Mirza II]]
| succession3  = [[Timurid Empire#History#Fall|Emir of Samarkand]]
| reign3       = November 1496 – February 1497
| predecessor3 = [[Sultan Baysonqor Mirza bin Mahmud Mirza|Baysonqor Mirza]]
| successor3   = [[Sultan Ali bin Mahmud Mirza|Ali Mirza]]
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1483|2|14|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Andijan]], [[Timurid Empire]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1530|12|26|1483|2|14}}
| death_place  = [[Agra]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| burial_place = [[Gardens of Babur]], [[Kabul]], Afghanistan
| spouse       = {{Marriage|[[Maham Begum]]|1506}}
| spouse-type  = Consort
| spouses      = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Aisha Sultan Begum]]|August 1499|1503|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[Zainab Sultan Begum]]|1504|1506-07|end=died}}
* {{Marriage|[[Masuma Sultan Begum]]|1507|1509|end=died}}
* {{Marriage|[[Bibi Mubarika]]|30 January 1519}}
}}
| spouses-type = Wives <br /> ''[[#Consorts|more...]]''
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Fakhr-un-Nissa|Fakhr-un-Nissa Begum]]
*[[Humayun]]
*[[Masuma Sultan Begum (daughter of Babur)|Masuma Sultan Begum]]
*[[Kamran Mirza]]
*[[Askari Mirza]]
*[[Hindal Mirza]]
*[[Gulbadan Begum]]
*[[Gulchehra Begum]]}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| issue-pipe   = more...
| full name    = Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur
| posthumous name = Firdaws Makani (Dwelling in Paradise)
| house        = [[Mughal dynasty|House of Babur]]
| dynasty      = [[Timurid dynasty]]
| module       = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes
| battles = 
{{Tree list}}
{{hidden begin}}
*'''In Central Asia'''
**[[Siege of Samarkand (1490s)|Samarkand]] (c. 1490)
**[[Siege of Samarkand (1497)|Samarkand]] (1497)
**[[Siege of Samarkand (1501)|Samarkand]] (1501)
**[[Battle of Sar-e-Pul|Sar-e-Pul]] (1501)
**[[Battle of Akhsi|Akhsil]] (1503)
**[[Siege of Kabul (1504)|Kabul]] (1504)
**[[Campaign against Sultan Masudi Hazaras|Hazaras]] (1505)
**[[Battle of Qalat|Qalat]] (1506)
**[[Eastern Afghanistan Operations|Eastern Afghanistan]] (1507)
**[[Battle of Ab Darrah Pass|Ab Darrah Pass]] (1511)
**[[Battle of Ghazdewan|Ghazdewan]] (1512)
*'''In Indian Subcontinent'''
**[[Babur's First Indian Expedition|First expedition of India]] (1505)
**[[Bajaur massacre|Bajaur]] (1519)
**[[Battle of Hisar Firoza|Hisar Firoza]] (1526)
**[[Battle of Panipat (1526)|Panipat]] (1526)
**[[Battle of Khanwa|Khanwa]] (1527)
**[[Battle of Chanderi|Chanderi]] (1528)
**[[Battle of Ghaghra|Ghaghra]] (1529)
{{Tree list/end}}
{{Hidden end}}
}}
| father       = [[Umar Shaikh Mirza II]]
| mother       = [[Qutlugh Nigar Khanum]]
| signature    = Detail of Babur's dynastic seal, from a Mughal land grant dating from August 1527.jpg
| signature_type = Seal
| religion     = [[Sunni Islam]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Christine |first=Isom-Verhaaren |title=Allies with the Infidel |year=2013 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |page=58}}</ref>
}}
{{Campaignbox Babur}}

'''Babur''' ({{IPA|fa|bɑː.βuɾ|lang}}; 14 February 1483{{spaced ndash}}26 December 1530; born '''Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad''') was the founder of the [[Mughal Empire]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. He was a descendant of [[Timur]] and [[Genghis Khan]] through his father and mother respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baumer |first=Christoph |author-link=Christoph Baumer |title=The History of Central Asia: The Age of Islam and the Mongols |year=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=47}}</ref><ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor">{{iranica|babor-zahir-al-din|Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor|quote=Bābor, Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad son of Umar Sheikh Mirza, (6 Moḥarram 886-6 Jomādā I 937/14 February 1483&nbsp;– 26 December 1530), [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] prince, military genius, and literary craftsman who escaped the bloody political arena of his Central Asian birthplace to found the Mughal Empire in India. His origin, milieu, training, and education were steeped in [[Muslim]] culture and so Bābor played significant role for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, the Mughals of India, and for the expansion of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and [[historiographical]] results.}}</ref><ref name="Robert L. Canfield 1991 p.20">{{cite book |last=Canfield |first=Robert L. |title=Turko-Persia in historical perspective |year=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=20 |quote=The Mughals-Persianized Turks who invaded from Central Asia and claimed descent from both Timur and Genghis&nbsp;– strengthened the Persianate culture of Muslim India.}}</ref> He was also given the [[posthumous name]] of ''Firdaws Makani'' ('Dwelling in Paradise').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jahangir |first=Emperor Of Hindustan |title=The Jahangirnama : memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India |publisher=Washington, D.C. : Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution ; New York : Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780195127188 |pages=6 |translator-last=Thackston |translator-first=W. M.}}</ref>

Born in [[Andijan]] in the [[Fergana Valley]] (now in [[Uzbekistan]]), Babur was the eldest son of [[Umar Shaikh Mirza II]] (1456–1494, [[Timurid Empire|Timurid]] governor of [[Fergana]] from 1469 to 1494) and a great-great-great-grandson of [[Timur]] (1336–1405). Babur ascended the throne of Fergana in its capital [[Akhsikath]] in 1494 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion. He conquered [[Samarkand]] two years later, only to lose Fergana soon after. In his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to recapture both the regions failed when the [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]] prince [[Muhammad Shaybani]] defeated him and founded the [[Khanate of Bukhara]].

In 1504, he conquered [[Kabul]], which was under the putative rule of Abdur Razaq Mirza, the infant heir of [[Ulugh Beg II]]. Babur formed a partnership with the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid emperor]] [[Ismail I]] and reconquered parts of [[Turkestan]], including Samarkand, only to again lose it and the other newly conquered lands to the [[Shaybanids]].

After losing Samarkand for the third time, Babur turned his attention to India and employed aid from the neighbouring Safavid and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] empires.<ref name="Gilbert2017">{{citation|last=Gilbert|first=Marc Jason|title=South Asia in World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dhKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-066137-3|pages=75–|access-date=11 June 2021|archive-date=22 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922031915/https://books.google.com/books?id=1dhKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|url-status=live}} Quote: "Babur then adroitly gave the Ottomans his promise not to attack them in return for their military aid, which he received in the form of the newest of battlefield inventions, the matchlock gun and cast cannons, as well as instructors to train his men to use them."</ref> He defeated [[Ibrahim Lodi]], the [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultan of Delhi]], at the [[First Battle of Panipat]] in 1526 and founded the Mughal Empire. Before the defeat of Lodi at Delhi, the Sultanate of Delhi had been a spent force, long in a state of decline.

The rival adjacent [[Kingdom of Mewar]] under the rule of [[Rana Sanga]] had become one of the most powerful states in [[North India]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhatnagar |first=V. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Life and Times of Sawai Jai Singh, 1688–1743 |year=1974 |publisher=Impex India |language=en |page=6 |quote=From 1326, Mewar's grand recovery commenced under Lakha, and later under Kumbha and most notably under Sanga, till it became one of the greatest powers in northern India during the first quarter of sixteenth century.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=G. N. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.10571 |title=Mewar and the mughal emperors |date=1954 |pages=8–45 |quote=Before describing his early power, it is worthwhile to say a word or two concerning the personality and the previous history of the man (Rana Sanga) who was destined to be the acknowledged leader of Hindu India of the first half of the 16th century.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Satish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II |date=2005 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-1066-9 |pages=25–40 |language=en}}</ref> Sanga unified several [[Rajput]] clans for the first time since [[Prithviraj Chauhan]] and advanced on Babur with a grand coalition of 80,000-100,000 Rajputs, engaging Babur in the [[Battle of Khanwa]]. Babur arrived at Khanwa with 40,000-50,000 soldiers. Nonetheless, Sanga suffered a major defeat due to Babur's skillful troop positioning and use of [[gunpowder empires|gunpowder]], specifically [[matchlock]]s and small [[cannon]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dale |first1=Stephen F. |title=Babur |date=3 May 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47007-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLxsDwAAQBAJ&q=babur |language=en}}</ref> The battle was one of the most decisive events in Indian history, more so than the First Battle of Panipat, as the defeat of Rana Sanga was a watershed event in the Mughal conquest of North India.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Majumdar |first1=R.C. |last2=Raychaudhuri |first2=H.C. |last3=Datta |first3=Kalikinkar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyIWMwEACAAJ |title=An Advanced History of India |year=1950 |edition=2nd |publisher=Macmillan & Company |page=419 |quote="The battle of khanua was one of the most decisive battles in Indian history certainly more than that of Panipat as Lodhi empire was already crumbling and Mewar had emerged as major power in northern India. Thus, Its at Khanua the fate of India was sealed for next two centuries" |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chaurasia |first=Radheyshyam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |title=History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |date=2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0123-4 |page=161 |quote="The battle of Kanwaha was more important in its result even than the first battle of panipat. While the former made Babur ruler of Delhi alone the later made him King of hindustan. As a result of his success, the Mughal empire was established firmly in India. The sovereignty of India now passed from Rajputs to Mughals" |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Wink|2012|p=27|ps=: "The victory of Mughals at khanua can be seen as a landmark event in Mughal conquest of North India as the battle turned out to be more historic and eventful than one fought near Panipat. It made Babur undisputed master of North India while smashing Rajput powers. After the victory at khanua, the centre of Mughal power became Agra instead of Kabul and continue to remain till downfall of the Empire after Aalamgir's death.}}

Religiously, Babur started his life as a staunch [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]], but he underwent significant evolution. Babur became more tolerant as he conquered new territories and grew older, allowing other religions to peacefully coexist in his empire and at his court.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamès |first=Constant |year=1987 |title=Babur Le Livre de Babur |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1987_num_63_2_2432_t1_0222_0000_2 |journal=[[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]] |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=222–223 |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230349/https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1987_num_63_2_2432_t1_0222_0000_2 |url-status=live}}</ref> He also displayed a certain attraction to theology, poetry, [[geography]], history, and [[biology]]—disciplines he promoted at his court—earning him a frequent association with representatives of the [[Timurid Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Babur |title=Le livre de Babur: le Babur-nama de Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur |last2=Bacqué-Grammont |first2=Jean-Louis |last3=Taha Hussein-Okada |first3=Amina |date=2022 |publisher=les Belles lettres |isbn=978-2-251-45370-5 |series=Série indienne |location=Paris}}</ref> His religious and philosophical stances are characterized as [[Humanism|humanistic]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dale |first=Stephen Frederic |year=1990 |title=Steppe Humanism: The Autobiographical Writings of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, 1483–1530 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020743800033171/type/journal_article |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=37–58 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800033171 |s2cid=161867251 |issn=0020-7438|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Babur married several times. Notable among his children were [[Humayun]], [[Kamran Mirza]], [[Hindal Mirza]], [[Masuma Sultan Begum (daughter of Babur)|Masuma Sultan Begum]], and the author [[Gulbadan Begum]]. Babur died in 1530 in [[Agra]] and Humayun succeeded him. Babur was first buried in Agra but, as per his wishes, his remains were moved to Kabul and reburied.<ref name="Necipoğlu" /> He ranks as a national hero in [[Uzbekistan]] and [[Kyrgyzstan]]. Many of his poems have become popular folk songs. He wrote the ''[[Baburnama]]'' in [[Chaghatai Turkic]]; it was translated into Persian during the reign (1556–1605) of his grandson, the emperor [[Akbar]].

{{anchor|Etymology|Word}}

== Name ==
''Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn'' is Arabic for "Defender of the Faith" (of [[Islam]]), and ''[[Muhammad]]'' honours the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Islamic prophet]]. The name was chosen for Babur by the [[Sufi]] saint [[Khwaja Ahrar]], who was the spiritual master of his father.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noshahi |first=Arif |title=خواجہ احرار |publisher=پورب اکیڈمی |year=2005 |location=Lahore, Pakistan}}</ref> The difficulty of pronouncing the name for his Central Asian Turco-Mongol army may have been responsible for the greater popularity of his nickname Babur,{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} also variously spelled '''Baber''',{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} '''Babar''',{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} and '''Bābor'''.<ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor" /> The name is generally taken in reference to the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''babur'' ({{Wikt-lang|fa|ببر}}), meaning "tiger" or "panther".<ref name="Dale2004" />{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Babur |title=Le livre de Babur: le Babur-nama de Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur |last2=Bacqué-Grammont |first2=Jean-Louis |last3=Taha Hussein-Okada |first3=Amina |date=2022 |publisher=les Belles lettres |isbn=978-2-251-45370-5 |series=Série indienne |location=Paris |pages=3}}</ref> The word repeatedly appears in [[Ferdowsi]]'s ''[[Shahnameh]]'' and was borrowed into the [[Turkic languages]] of Central Asia.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}}<ref>Thumb, Albert, ''Handbuch des Sanskrit, mit Texten und Glossar'', German original, ed. C. Winter, 1953, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kMeAAAAIAAJ&q=babr+sanskrit Snippet, p. 318] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127152316/https://books.google.com/books?id=_kMeAAAAIAAJ&q=babr%20sanskrit |date=27 November 2023 }}</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Babur's Genealogical Order.jpg|thumb|Babur Family Tree]]
Babur's memoirs form the main source for details of his life. They are known as the ''[[Baburnama]]'' and were written in [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]], his [[first language]],<ref name="Babur Nama">{{cite book |title=Babur Nama: Journal of Emperor Babur |year=2006 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] India |location=Mumbai |isbn=978-0-14-400149-1 |page=xviii |last=Hiro |first=Dilip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VW2HJL689wgC}}</ref> though, according to Dale, "his Turkic prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology or word formation and vocabulary."<ref name="Dale2004">{{cite book |first=Stephen Frederic |last=Dale |title=The garden of the eight paradises: Bābur and the culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483–1530) |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |pages=15, 150 |isbn=90-04-13707-6}}</ref> ''Baburnama'' was translated into Persian during the rule of Babur's grandson Akbar.<ref name="Babur Nama" />

Babur was born on 14 February 1483 in the city of [[Andijan]], [[Fergana Valley]], contemporary Uzbekistan. He was the eldest son of [[Umar Shaikh Mirza II]],<ref>{{cite web |quote=On the occasion of the birth of Babar Padishah (the son of Omar Shaikh) |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rash1.html |title=Mirza Muhammad Haidar |work=Silk Road Seattle |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |access-date=7 November 2006 |archive-date=16 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416044122/http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rash1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ruler of the Fergana Valley, the son of [[Abu Sa'id (Timurid dynasty)|Abū Saʿīd Mirza]] (and grandson of [[Miran Shah]], who was himself son of [[Timur]]) and his wife [[Qutlugh Nigar Khanum]], daughter of [[Yunus Khan]], the ruler of [[Moghulistan]] (a descendant of [[Genghis Khan]]).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Babur|title=Babur Nama|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-400149-1|page=vii|year=2006}}</ref>

Babur hailed from the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Barlas]] tribe, which was of [[Mongol]] origin and had embraced the [[Turco-Persian tradition]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babur |title=Bābur (Mughal emperor) |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=29 August 2016 |archive-date=5 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305124145/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babur |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Iranica" /> They had also converted to Islam centuries earlier and resided in [[Turkestan]] and [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].

Aside from the [[Chaghatai Turkic]], Babur was equally fluent in [[Classical Persian]], the [[lingua franca]] of the Timurid elite.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/The-Timurids-and-Turkmen |title=Iran: The Timurids and Turkmen |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=29 August 2016 |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618001818/https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/The-Timurids-and-Turkmen |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some of Babur's relatives, such as his uncles [[Mahmud Khan (Moghul Khan)]] and Ahmad Khan, continued to identify as Mongols, and allowed him to use their Mongol troops to help recover his fortunes in the turbulent years that followed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dale |first=Stephen F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyluDwAAQBAJ&dq=dughlat+kashgar+mongol&pg=PA33 |page=35 |title=Babur:Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, 1483-1530 |year=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781316996379}}</ref>

Hence, Babur, though nominally a Mongol (or ''Moghul'' in Persian language), drew much of his support from the local Turkic and Iranian people of Central Asia, and his army was diverse in its ethnic makeup. It included [[Sart]]s, [[Tājik people|Tajiks]], [[Pashtun people|ethnic Afghans]], [[History of Arabs in Afghanistan|Arabs]], as well as Barlas and Chaghatayid Turko-Mongols from Central Asia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Central Asia in Historical Perspective |last=Manz |first=Beatrice Forbes |chapter=The Symbiosis of Turk and Tajik |publisher=Boulder, Colorado & Oxford |year=1994 |page=58 |isbn=0-8133-3638-4}}</ref>

== Ruler of Central Asia ==

=== As Timurid ruler of Fergana ===
In 1494, eleven-year-old Babur became the [[Timurid Empire|Timurid]] ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after his father [[Umar Shaikh Mirza II|Umar Sheikh Mirza]] died "while [[Pigeon keeping|tending pigeons]] in an ill-constructed [[dovecote]] that toppled into the [[ravine]] below the palace".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Babur, the first Moghul emperor: Wine and tulips in Kabul |url=http://www.economist.com/node/17723207 |magazine=The Economist |date=16 December 2010 |pages=80–82 |access-date=12 June 2015 |archive-date=15 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170115140216/http://www.economist.com/node/17723207 |url-status=live }}</ref> During this time, two of his uncles from the neighbouring kingdoms, who were hostile to his father, and a group of nobles who wanted his younger brother Jahangir to be the ruler, threatened his succession to the throne.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as from many of his other territorial possessions to come.<ref>{{cite book|title=Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World |last=Lal |first=Ruby |isbn=0-521-85022-3 |year=2005 |page=69 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=It was over these possessions, provinces controlled by uncles, or cousins of varying degrees, that Babur fought with close and distant relatives for much of his life.}}</ref> Babur was able to secure his throne mainly because of help from his maternal grandmother, [[Aisan Daulat Begum]], although there was also some luck involved.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}}

[[File:Babur meeting Sultan 'Ali Mirza near Samarqand, painted circa 1589 (Baburnama).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Babur as the young Emir of Fergana, joining forces with [[Sultan Ali bin Mahmud Mirza|Sultan Mahmud Mirza]] in 1497 near [[Samarqand]]. Painted circa 1589 (''Baburnama'').]]
Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} Babur had a great ambition to capture the city.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} In 1497, he [[Siege of Samarkand (1497)|besieged Samarkand]] for seven months before eventually gaining control over it.<ref name="Afghanistan">{{cite book |last=Ewans |first=Martin |year=2002 |title=Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00mart |url-access=registration |publisher=HarperCollins |pages=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00mart/page/26 26]–27 |isbn=0-06-050508-7 |quote=Babur, while still in his teens, conceived the ambition of conquering Samarkand. In 1497, after a seven months' siege, he took the city, but his supporters gradually deserted him and Ferghana was taken from him in his absence. Within a few months he was compelled to retire from Samarkand&nbsp;... Eventually he retook Samarkand, but was again forced out, this time by an Usbek leader, Shaibani Khan&nbsp;... Babur decided in 1504 to trek over the Hindu Kush to Kabul, where the current ruler promptly retreated to Kandahar and left him in undisputed control of the city.}}</ref> He was fifteen years old and for him the campaign was a huge achievement.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} Babur was able to hold the city despite desertions in his army, but he later fell seriously ill.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} Meanwhile, a rebellion back home, approximately {{convert|350|km|mi}} away, amongst nobles who favoured his brother, robbed him of Fergana.<ref name="Afghanistan" /> As he was marching to recover it, he left Samarkand to [[Sultan Ali bin Mahmud Mirza|Sultan Mahmud Mirza]], leaving him with neither territory in his possession.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} He had held Samarkand for 100 days, and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss, obsessing over it even later in his life after his conquests in India.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}}

For three years, Babur concentrated on building a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of [[Badakhshan]] in particular. In 1500–1501, he again laid [[Siege of Samarkand (1501)|siege to Samarkand]], and indeed he took the city briefly, but he was in turn besieged by his most formidable rival, [[Muhammad Shaybani]], [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the Uzbeks.<ref name="Afghanistan" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html |quote=After being driven out of Samarkand in 1501 by the Uzbek Shaibanids&nbsp;... |title=The Memoirs of Babur |access-date=8 November 2006 |work=Silk Road Seattle |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021154433/https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The situation became such that Babar was compelled to give his sister, Khanzada, to Shaybani in marriage as part of the peace settlement. Only after this were Babur and his troops allowed to depart the city in safety. Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was thus lost again. He then tried to reclaim Fergana, but lost the battle there also and, escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana; he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck elsewhere.<ref name="VDM0">{{cite book|last=Mahajan|first=V.D.|title=History of medieval India|year=2007|publisher=S Chand|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-219-0364-6|edition=10th|pages=428–29}}</ref>{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} He finally went to [[Tashkent]], which was ruled by his maternal uncle, but he found himself less than welcome there. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!"{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} Thus, during the ten years since becoming the ruler of Fergana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants.

=== At Kabul ===
[[File:Coin of Babur, as ruler of Kabul.jpg|thumb|right|Coin minted by Babur during his time as ruler of [[Kabul]]. Dated 1507/8]]
Kabul was ruled by Babur's paternal uncle [[Ulugh Beg II]], who died leaving only an infant as heir.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} The city was then claimed by Mukin Begh, who was considered to be a usurper and was opposed by the local populace. In 1504, Babur was able to cross the snowy [[Hindu Kush]] mountains and [[Siege of Kabul (1504)|capture Kabul]] from the remaining Arghunids, who were forced to retreat to [[Kandahar]].<ref name="Afghanistan" /> With this move, he gained a new kingdom, re-established his fortunes and would remain its ruler until 1526.<ref name="VDM0" /> In 1505, because of the low revenue generated by his new mountain kingdom, Babur began his first expedition to India; in his memoirs, he wrote, "My desire for Hindustan had been constant. It was in the month of Shaban, the Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kabul for Hindustan". It was a brief raid across the [[Khyber Pass]].{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}}

[[File:Babur Marches from Kabul to Hindustan in 1507.JPG|thumb|Babur leaves for Hindustan from Kabul]]

In the same year, Babur united with [[Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqarah]] of [[Herat]], a fellow Timurid and distant relative, against their common enemy, the Uzbek Shaybani.<ref name="perspect">{{cite book |title=Perspectives on Persian Painting: Illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah |last=Brend |first=Barbara |year=2002 |isbn=0-7007-1467-7 |publisher=Routledge (UK) |page=188 }}</ref> However, this venture did not take place because Husayn Mirza died in 1506 and his two sons were reluctant to go to war.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} Babur instead stayed at Herat after being invited by the two Mirza brothers. It was then the cultural capital of the eastern Muslim world. Though he was disgusted by the vices and luxuries of the city,{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} he marvelled at the intellectual abundance there, which he stated was "filled with learned and matched men".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan |last=Lamb |first=Christina |page=[https://archive.org/details/sewingcirclesofh00chri/page/153 153] |isbn=0-06-050527-3 |publisher=HarperCollins |year= 2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/sewingcirclesofh00chri/page/153 }}</ref> He became acquainted with the work of the Chagatai poet [[Mir Ali Shir Nava'i]], who encouraged the use of [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] as a [[literary language]]. Nava'i's proficiency with the language, which he is credited with founding,<ref>{{cite book |title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time |last=Hickmann |first=William C. |year= 1992 |isbn=0-691-01078-1 |page=473 |publisher=Princeton University Press |quote=Eastern Turk Mir Ali Shir Neva'i (1441–1501), founder of the Chagatai literary language}}</ref> may have influenced Babur in his decision to use it for his memoirs. He spent two months there before being forced to leave because of diminishing resources;<ref name="perspect" /> it later was overrun by Shaybani and the Mirzas fled.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}}
Babur became the only reigning ruler of the Timurid dynasty after the loss of Herat, and many princes sought refuge with him at Kabul because of Shaybani's invasion in the west.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} He thus assumed the title of ''[[Padshah]]'' (emperor) among the Timurids—though this title was insignificant since most of his ancestral lands were taken, Kabul itself was in danger and Shaybani continued to be a threat.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} Babur prevailed during a potential rebellion in Kabul, but two years later a revolt among some of his leading generals drove him out of Kabul. Escaping with very few companions, Babur soon returned to the city, capturing Kabul again and regaining the allegiance of the rebels. Meanwhile, Shaybani was defeated and killed by [[Ismail I]], Shah of [[Shia]] Safavid Persia, in 1510.<ref>{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |isbn=0-87779-044-2 |date= 1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/539 539] |publisher=Merriam-Webster |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/539 }}</ref>

Babur and the remaining Timurids used this opportunity to reconquer their ancestral territories. Over the following few years, Babur and Shah Ismail formed a partnership in an attempt to take over parts of Central Asia. In return for Ismail's assistance, Babur permitted the Safavids to act as a suzerain over him and his followers.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege in Vienna |last=Sicker |first=Martin |isbn=0-275-96892-8 |year= 2000 |page=189 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |quote=Ismail was quite prepared to lend his support to the displaced Timurid prince, Zahir ad-Din Babur, who offered to accept Safavid suzerainty in return for help in regaining control of Transoxiana.}}</ref> Thus, in 1513, after leaving his brother Nasir Mirza to rule Kabul, he managed to take Samarkand for the third time; he also took Bokhara but lost both again to the Uzbeks.<ref name="VDM0" />{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} Shah Ismail reunited Babur with his sister [[Khanzada Begum|Khānzāda]], who had been imprisoned by and forced to marry the recently deceased Shaybani.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Erdogan |first=Eralp |date=July 2014 |title=Babür İmparatorluğu'nun Kuruluş Safhasında Şah İsmail ile Babür İttifakı |url=http://www.historystudies.net/dergi/tar20151234f99.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.historystudies.net/dergi/tar20151234f99.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal= History Studies: International Journal of History|volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=31–39 |doi=10.9737/historyS1150 |doi-broken-date=21 November 2024 |language=tr}}</ref> Babur returned to Kabul after three years in 1514. The following 11 years of his rule mainly involved dealing with relatively insignificant rebellions from Afghan tribes, his nobles and relatives, in addition to conducting raids across the eastern mountains.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} Babur began to modernise and train his army despite it being, for him, relatively peaceful times.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}}

== Foreign relations ==
Determined to conquer the Uzbeks and recapture his ancestral homeland, Babur was wary of their allies the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], and made no attempt to establish formal diplomatic relations with them. He did, however, employ the [[matchlock]] commander [[Mustafa Rumi]] and several other Ottomans.<ref name=Farooqi2008>{{cite book |last=Farooqi |first=Naimur Rahman |year=2008 |title=Mughal-Ottoman relations: a study of political & diplomatic relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556–1748 |pages=13–14 |oclc=20894584}}</ref> From them, he adopted the tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in the field (rather than only in [[siege]]s), which gave him an important advantage in India.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}}

== Formation of the Mughal Empire ==
{{Main|Lodi dynasty|Delhi Sultanate|Siege of Kabul (1504)}}
[[File:Babar 936.jpg|thumb|Babur's coin, based on [[Bahlol Lodhi]]'s standard, [[Agra Fort|Qila Agra]], [[anno Hegirae|AH]] 936|170x170px]]

Babur still wanted to escape from the Uzbeks, and he chose India as a refuge instead of [[Badakhshan]], which was to the north of Kabul. He wrote, "In the presence of such power and potency, we had to think of some place for ourselves and, at this crisis and in the crack of time there was, put a wider space between us and the strong foeman."{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}} After his third loss of Samarkand, Babur gave full attention to the conquest of North India, launching a campaign; he reached the [[Chenab River]], now in [[Pakistan]], in 1519.<ref name="VDM0" /> Until 1524, his aim was to only expand his rule to [[Punjab region|Punjab]], mainly to fulfill the legacy of his ancestor Timur, since it used to be part of his empire.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}} At the time parts of North India were part of the Delhi Sultanate, ruled by Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, but the sultanate was crumbling and there were many defectors. Babur received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab and Ala-ud-Din, uncle of Ibrahim.<ref name="RSCHMI">{{cite book |last=Chaurasia |first=Radhey Shyam |title=History of medieval India : from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |year=2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publ. |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-269-0123-3 |pages=89–90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC&q=babur%20receiving%20invitations%20from%20Daulat%20Khan%20Lodi&pg=PA89}}</ref> He sent an ambassador to Ibrahim, claiming himself the rightful heir to the throne, but the ambassador was detained at [[Lahore]], Punjab, and released months later.<ref name="VDM0" />

[[File:Babur at Mughal Dastarkhan, 1590 CE.jpg|thumb|Babur at Mughal Dastarkhan in 1507 in a painting from {{circa|1590}}]]
Babur started for Lahore in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chandra |first=Satish |year=2009 |title=Medieval India:From Sultanat to the Mughals |volume=2 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Har-Anand |page=27 |isbn=978-81-241-1268-7}}</ref> When Babur arrived at Lahore, the Lodi army marched out and his army was routed. In response, Babur burned Lahore for two days, then marched to Dibalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi, as governor.<ref>{{harvtxt|Chandra|2009|pp=27–28}}</ref> Alam Khan was quickly overthrown and fled to Kabul. In response, Babur supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Daulat Khan Lodi, and together with about 30,000 troops, they besieged Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{harvtxt|Chandra|2009|p=28}}</ref> The sultan easily defeated and drove off Alam's army, and Babur realised that he would not allow him to occupy the Punjab.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

=== First Battle of Panipat ===
{{Main|First Battle of Panipat}}
[[File:1526-First Battle of Panipat-Ibrahim Lodhi and Babur.jpg|thumb|upright|Mughal artillery and troops in action during the [[Battle of Panipat (1526)]]]]

In November 1525, Babur got news at [[Peshawar]] that Daulat Khan Lodi had switched sides, and Babur drove out Ala-ud-Din. Babur then marched onto Lahore to confront Daulat Khan Lodi, only to see Daulat's army melt away at their approach.<ref name="VDM0" /> Daulat surrendered and was pardoned. Thus within three weeks of crossing the [[Indus River]] Babur had become the master of Punjab.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babur | title=Bābur, Mughal emperor |access-date=2023-11-19 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220132730/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babur | archive-date=2023-02-20 | url-status=live}}</ref>

Babur marched on to Delhi via [[Sirhind-Fategarh|Sirhind]]. He reached [[Panipat]] on 20 April 1526 and there met Ibrahim Lodi's numerically superior army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants.<ref name="VDM0" /><ref name="RSCHMI" /> In the battle that began on the following day, Babur used the tactic of ''Tulugma'', encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants.<ref name="RSCHMI" /> Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, thus ending the Lodi dynasty.<ref name="VDM0" />

Babur wrote in his memoirs about his victory:

{{Blockquote|By the grace of the Almighty God, this difficult task was made easy to me and that mighty army, in the space of a half a day was laid in dust.<ref name="VDM0" />}}

After the battle, Babur occupied Delhi, Gwalior and Agra, took the throne of Lodi, and laid the foundation for the eventual rise of Mughal rule in India. However, before he became North India's ruler, he had to fend off challengers, such as Rana Sanga.<ref name="VDM1">{{harvtxt|Mahajan|2007|p=438}}</ref>

Many of Babur's men allegedly wanted to leave India due to its warm climate, but Babur motivated them to stay and expand his empire.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

=== Battle of Khanwa ===
{{Main|Battle of Khanwa}}
[[File:Babur visiting the Urvah valley in Gwalior 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Babur encounters the Jain Colossal at the [[Siddhachal Caves|Urvahi valley]] in [[Gwalior]] in 1527. He ordered them to be destroyed<ref>"Gwalior Fort: Rock Sculptures", A Cunningham, ''Archaeological Survey of India'', pp. 364–70</ref>]]

The Battle of Khanwa was fought between Babur and the [[Rajput]] ruler of [[Mewar]], [[Rana Sanga]] on 16 March 1527. Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur, whom he considered to be a foreigner ruling in India, and also to extend the Rajput territories by annexing Delhi and [[Agra]]. He was supported by Afghan chiefs who felt Babur had been deceptive by refusing to fulfil promises made to them. Upon receiving news of Rana Sangha's advance towards Agra, Babur after annexing Gwalior and Bayana took a defensive position at [[Khanwa]] (currently in the Indian state of [[Rajasthan]]), from where he hoped to launch a counterattack later. According to K.V. Krishna Rao, Babur won the battle because of his "superior generalship" and modern tactics; the battle was one of the first in India that featured cannons and muskets. Rao also notes that Rana Sanga faced "treachery" when the Hindu chief [[Silhadi]] joined Babur's army with a garrison of 6,000 soldiers.<ref name="Rao">{{cite book |first=K. V. Krishna |last=Rao |title=Prepare Or Perish: A Study of National Security |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7xPaJomYsEC&pg=PA453 |isbn=978-81-7212-001-6 |publisher=Lancer Publishers |page=453 |year=1991 |access-date=7 October 2020 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205161458/https://books.google.com/books?id=G7xPaJomYsEC&pg=PA453#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Battle of Chanderi ===
The [[Battle of Chanderi]] took place the year after the Battle of Khanwa. On receiving news that Rana Sanga had made preparations to renew the conflict with him, Babur decided to isolate the Rana by defeating one of his staunchest allies, [[Medini Rai]], who was the ruler of Malwa.<ref name="Lane-Poole">{{cite book |last=Lane-Poole |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Lane-Poole |year=1899 |title=Babar |url=https://archive.org/details/babar035008mbp |pages=182–83 |publisher=The Clarendon Press}}</ref><ref name="Chandra">{{cite book |last=Chandra |first=Satish |author-link=Satish Chandra (historian) |year=1999 |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals |volume=2 |edition=1st |location=New Delhi |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |page=36 |oclc=36806798}}</ref>

Upon reaching Chanderi, on 20 January 1528,<ref name="Lane-Poole" /> Babur offered Shamsabad to Medini Rao in exchange for Chanderi as a peace overture, but the offer was rejected.<ref name="Chandra" /> The outer fortress of Chanderi was taken by Babur's army at night, and the next morning the upper fort was captured. Babur himself expressed surprise that the upper fort had fallen within an hour of the final assault.<ref name = "Lane-Poole" /> Seeing no hope of victory, Medini Rai organized a ''[[jauhar]]'', during which women and children within the fortress [[Self-immolation|immolated themselves]].<ref name="Lane-Poole"/><ref name="Chandra" /> A small number of soldiers also collected in Medini Rao's house and killed each other in collective suicide. This sacrifice does not seem to have impressed Babur, who did not express a word of admiration for the enemy in his autobiography.<ref name="Lane-Poole" />

==Religious policy==
Babur defeated and killed [[Ibrahim Lodi]], the last Sultan of the [[Lodi dynasty]], in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and was succeeded by his son [[Humayun]] whose reign was temporarily usurped by the [[Suri dynasty]]. During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in [[Sikhism|Sikh]] literature of the 16th century.<ref name=johnhinnells>{{cite book |last1=Hinnells |first1=John |last2=King |first2=Richard |title=Religion and Violence in South Asia: Theory and Practice |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-37291-6 |pages=101–114}}</ref> The violence of Babur in the 1520s was witnessed by [[Guru Nanak]], who commented upon it in four hymns.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} Historians suggest the early Mughal period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then the transformation in Sikhism from pacifism to militancy for self-defense.<ref name=johnhinnells/> According to Babur's autobiography, ''[[Baburnama]]'', his campaign in northwest India targeted Hindus and Sikhs as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and an immense number were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of the infidels" on hillocks.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Elliot |editor-first1=H. M. |editor-link1=Henry Miers Elliot |editor-last2=Dowson |editor-first2=John |editor-link2=John Dowson |translator-last1=Leyden |translator-first1=John |translator-link1=John Leyden |translator-last2=Erskine |translator-first2=William |translator-link2=William Erskine (historian) |year=1872 |chapter=Tuzak-i Babari |trans-chapter=The Autobiography of Babur |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924073036745/page/n285/mode/1up |title=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians |title-link=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians |volume=IV |location=London |publisher=Trübner and Co. |pages=272, 275}}</ref>  In Babur's secret will, in the year 935AH, 1529 AD, to Humayun, Babur advises Humayun to administer justice according to the ways of every religion, avoid sacrifice of the cow, not to ruin the temples and shrines of any law obeying community, overlook the dissensions of the [[Shia Islam|Shias]] and the [[Sunni Islam|Sunnis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prasad |first=Rajendra |title=India Divided |publisher=[[Hind Kitabs Ltd.]] |edition=3rd |pages=38–39}}</ref>

== Personal life and relationships ==
There are no descriptions about Babur's physical appearance, except from the paintings in the translation of the ''Baburnama'' prepared during the reign of [[Akbar]].{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} In his autobiography, Babur claimed to be strong and physically fit, and that he had swum across every major river he encountered, including twice across the [[Ganges River]] in [[North India]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Elliot |first=Henry Miers |editor=John Dowson |title=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians |chapter=The Muhammadan Period |chapter-url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian//pf?file=80201014&ct=56 |access-date=2 April 2008 |date=1867–1877 |publisher=Trubner |location=London |quote=...&nbsp;and on the same journey, he swam twice across the Ganges, as he said he had done with every other river he had met with. |archive-date=22 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622122152/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=80201014&ct=56 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Babur did not initially know [[Old Hindi]]; however, his Turkic poetry indicates that he picked up some of its vocabulary later in life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rahman |first=Tariq |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/731974235 |title=From Hindi to Urdu : a social and political history |year=2011 |location=Karachi |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=73–74 |isbn=978-0-19-906313-0|oclc=731974235 }}</ref>

Unlike his father, he had [[:wikt:ascetic|ascetic]] tendencies and did not have any great interest in women. In his first marriage, he was "bashful" towards [[Aisha Sultan Begum]], later losing his affection for her.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D03501050%26ct%3D0 |title=Memoirs of Zehīr-ed-Dīn Muhammed Bābur Emperor of Hindustan, Written by himself, in the Chaghatāi Tūrki |others=Translated by John Leyden and William Erskine, Annotated and Revised by Lucas King |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1921 |chapter=The Memoirs of Babur, Volume 1, chpt. 71 |chapter-url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D03501051%26ct%3D70%26rqs%3D187%26rqs%3D196 |quote=Āisha Sultan Begum, the daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, to whom I had been betrothed in the lifetime of my father and uncle, having arrived in [[Khujand]], I now married her, in the month of Shābān. In the first period of my being a married man, though I had no small affection for her, yet, from modesty and bashfulness, I went to her only once in ten, fifteen, or twenty days. My affection afterwards declined, and my shyness increased; in so much, that my mother the Khanum, used to fall upon me and scold me with great fury, sending me off like a criminal to visit her once in a month or forty days. |access-date=2 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205161213/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D03501050%26ct%3D0 |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Babur showed similar shyness in his interactions with [[Baburi Andijani|Baburi]], a boy in his camp with whom he had an infatuation around this time, recounting that: {{Blockquote|"Occasionally Baburi came to me, but I was so bashful that I could not look him in the face, much less converse freely with him. In my excitement and agitation I could not thank him for coming, much less complain of his leaving. Who could bear to demand the ceremonies of fealty?"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Babur |first1=Emperor of Hindustan |last2=Beveridge |first2=Annette Susannah |title=The Babur-nama in English (Memoirs of Babur) |date=1922 |publisher=London, Luzac |page=120 |url=https://archive.org/details/baburnamainengli01babuuoft/page/120/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|Babur, Emperor of Hindustan|2002|p=89}}</ref>}}
However, Babur acquired several more wives and concubines over the years, and as required for a prince, he was able to ensure the continuity of his line.

[[File:Babur crossing the Indus in the heat of battle.jpg|thumb|upright|Babur crossing the [[Indus River]]]]
Babur's first wife, Aisha Sultan Begum, was his paternal cousin, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad Mirza, his father's brother. She was an infant when betrothed to Babur, who was himself five years old. They married eleven years later, {{circa|1498–99}}. The couple had one daughter, [[Fakhr-un-Nissa]], who died within a year in 1500. Three years later, after Babur's first defeat at Fergana, Aisha left him and returned to her father's household.<ref name="Babur's wives and children">{{cite book |title=Babur Nama:Journal of Emperor Babur |publisher=Penguin |page=362 |isbn=978-0-14-400149-1 |author=Babur |edition=2006 |editor-last=Hiro |editor-first=Dilip |chapter=Babur's wives and children |year=2006}}</ref>{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}} In 1504, Babur married Zaynab Sultan Begum, who died childless within two years. In the period 1506–08, Babur married four women, [[Maham Begum]] (in 1506), [[Masuma Sultan Begum]], Gulrukh Begum and Dildar Begum.<ref name="Babur's wives and children" /> Babur had four children by Maham Begum, of whom only one survived infancy. This was his eldest son and heir, [[Humayun]]. Masuma Sultan Begum died during childbirth; the year of her death is disputed (either 1508 or 1519). Gulrukh bore Babur two sons, [[Kamran Mirza|Kamran]] and [[Askari Mirza|Askari]], and Dildar Begum was the mother of Babur's youngest son, [[Hindal Mirza|Hindal]].<ref name="Babur's wives and children" /> Babur later married [[Mubaraka Yusufzai]], a [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] woman of the [[Yusufzai]] tribe. Gulnar Aghacha and Nargul Aghacha were two [[Circassian beauties|Circassian slaves]] given to Babur as gifts by Tahmasp Shah Safavi, the Shah of Persia. They became "recognized ladies of the royal household."<ref name="Babur's wives and children" />

During his rule in Kabul, when there was a time of relative peace, Babur pursued his interests in literature, art, music and gardening.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=27–29}} Previously, he never drank alcohol and avoided it when he was in Herat. In Kabul, he first tasted it at the age of thirty. He then began to drink regularly, host wine parties and consume preparations made from [[opium]].{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=24–26}} Though religion had a central place in his life, Babur also approvingly quoted a line of poetry by one of his contemporaries: "I am drunk, officer. Punish me when I am sober". He quit drinking for health reasons before the Battle of Khanwa, just two years before his death, and demanded that his court do the same. But he did not stop chewing narcotic preparations, and did not lose his sense of irony. He wrote, "Everyone regrets drinking and swears an oath (of [[abstinence]]); I swore the oath and regret that."<ref>Pope, Hugh (2005). ''Sons of the Conquerors'', Overlook Duckworth, pp. 234–35.</ref>

Babur was opposed to the blind obedience towards the [[Yassa|Chinggisid laws]] and customs that were influential in Turco-Mongol society:<blockquote>"Previously our ancestors had shown unusual respect for the Chingizid code ({{lang|mn-Latn|törah}}). They did not violate this code sitting and rising at councils and court, at feasts and dinners. [However] Chingez Khan's code is not a ''nass qati'' (categorical text) that a person must follow. Whenever one leaves a good custom, it should be followed. If ancestors leave a bad custom, however it is necessary to substitute a good one."</blockquote>Making clear that to him, the categorical text (i.e. the [[Quran]]) had displaced Genghis Khan's ''[[Yassa]]'' in moral and legal matters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=F. Dale |first=Stephen |title=THE GARDEN OF THE EIGHT PARADISES: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530) |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |pages=171}}</ref>

== Poetry ==
[[File:Illustrations from Babur-namah 1.jpg|thumb|Illustrations in the ''Baburnama'' regarding the fauna of India.]]
Babur was an acclaimed writer, who had a profound love for literature. His library was one of his most beloved possessions that he always carried around with him, and books were one of the treasures he searched for in new conquered lands. In his memoirs, when he listed sovereigns and nobles of a conquered land, he also mentioned poets, musicians and other educated people.<ref name="Eraly">{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Eraly |title=Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls |year=1997 |page=29 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited}}</ref>

Even though he died aged 47, Babur left a rich literary and scientific heritage. He authored his famous memoir the [[Baburnama|Bāburnāma]], as well as beautiful lyrical works or [[Ghazal|''ghazals'']], treatises on Muslim jurisprudence (Mubayyin), poetics (Aruz risolasi), music, and a special [[calligraphy]], known as ''khatt-i Baburi''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Eraly |title=Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls |year=1997 |page=30 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited}}</ref><ref>Hasanov,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;(1981).&nbsp;Bobirning "Aruz risolasi" asari (in Uzbek). pp. 1-4.&nbsp;Uzbekistan:&nbsp;Fan.</ref><ref>Schimmel,&nbsp;A.&nbsp;(2004).&nbsp;The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture.&nbsp;p. 26. India:&nbsp;Reaktion Books.</ref><ref>Eraly,&nbsp;A.&nbsp;(2000).&nbsp;Last Spring: The Lives and Times of Great Mughals.&nbsp;pp. 30-41. India:&nbsp;Penguin Books Limited.</ref>

Babur's Bāburnāma is a collection of memoirs, written in the [[Chagatai language]] and later translated into [[Persian language|Persian]], the usual literary language of the Mughal court, during the rule of emperor [[Akbar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poemhunter.com/abdur-rahim-khankhana/biography/poet-33381/|title=Biography of Abdur Rahim Khankhana|access-date= 2006-10-28|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060117163845/http://www.poemhunter.com/abdur-rahim-khankhana/biography/poet-33381/  |archive-date = 2006-01-17}}</ref> However, Babur's Turkic prose in Bāburnāma is already highly [[Persian language|Persianized]] in its sentence structure, vocabulary, and morphology,<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen Frederic |last=Dale |title=The garden of the eight paradises: Bābur and the culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483–1530) |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |pages=15,150 |isbn=90-04-13707-6 }}</ref> and also consists of several phrases and minor poems in Persian.

Babur wrote most of his poems in Chagatai Turkic, known to him as ''Türki'', but he also composed in Persian. However, he was mostly praised for his literary works written in Turkic, which drew comparison with the poetry of [[Ali-Shir Nava'i]].<ref name="Eraly"/>

The following [[Rubaʿi|ruba'i]] is an example of Babur's poetry written in Turkic, composed in the aftermath of his famous victory in North India to celebrate his [[Ghazi (warrior)|ghazi]] status.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Balabanlilar |first1=Lisa |title=Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire. Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern South and Central Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-857-72081-8 |pages=42–43}}</ref>
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
<poem>
{{lang|chg|Islam ichin avara-i yazi buldim,
Kuffar u hind harbsazi buldim
Jazm aylab idim uzni shahid olmaqqa,
Amminna' lillahi ki gazi buldim}}</poem>
{{col-break}}
<poem>
I am become a desert wanderer for Islam,
Having joined battle with infidels and Hindus
I readied myself to become a martyr,
God be thanked I am become a ghazi.</poem>
{{col-end}}

== Family ==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2020}}

=== Consorts ===
*[[Aisha Sultan Begum]] ({{Abbr|m.|marriage}} 1499; {{Abbr|div.|divorced}} 1503), daughter of [[Sultan Ahmed Mirza]] — First wife of Babur
*[[Zainab Sultan Begum]] ({{Abbr|m.|marriage}} 1504; {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1506–07), daughter of [[Sultan Mahmud Mirza]]
*[[Maham Begum]] ({{Abbr|m.|marriage}} 1506) — Babur's chief and favourite consort
*[[Masuma Sultan Begum]] ({{Abbr|m.|marriage}} 1507; {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1508), daughter of [[Sultan Ahmed Mirza]] and half-sister of [[Aisha Sultan Begum]]
*[[Bibi Mubarika]] ({{Abbr|m.|marriage}} 1519), [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] of the [[Yusufzai]] tribe
*Gulrukh Begum (not to be confused with Babur's daughter [[Gulrukh Begum]], who was also known as Gulbarg Begum)
*Dildar Begum
*Gulnar Aghacha, [[Circassians|Circassian]] concubine
*Nargul Aghacha, [[Circassians|Circassian]] concubine

The identity of the mother of one of Babur's daughters, [[Gulrukh Begum]] is disputed. Gulrukh's mother may have been the daughter of [[Sultan Mahmud Mirza]] by his wife Pasha Begum who is referred to as Saliha Sultan Begum in certain secondary sources, however this name is not mentioned in the [[Baburnama]] or the works of [[Gulbadan Begum]], which casts doubt on her existence. This woman may never have existed at all or she may even be the same woman as Dildar Begum.

=== Issue ===
The sons of Babur were:
*[[Humayun]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} 1508; {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1556) — with [[Maham Begum]] — succeeded Babur as the second [[Mughal Emperor]]
*[[Kamran Mirza]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} 1512; {{Abbr|d.|death}}  1557) — with Gulrukh Begum
*[[Askari Mirza]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} 1518; {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1557) — with Gulrukh Begum
*[[Hindal Mirza]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} 1519; {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1551) — with Dildar Begum
*Ahmad Mirza ({{Abbr|d.|death}} young) — with Gulrukh Begum
*Shahrukh Mirza ({{Abbr|d.|death}} young) — with Gulrukh Begum
*Barbul Mirza ({{Abbr|d.|death}} infancy) — with [[Maham Begum]]
*Alwar Mirza ({{Abbr|d.|death}} young) — with Dildar Begum
*Faruq Mirza ({{Abbr|d.|death}} infancy) — with [[Maham Begum]]

The daughters of Babur were:
*[[Fakhr-un-Nissa]] Begum ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} & {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1501) — with [[Aisha Sultan Begum]]
*Aisan Daulat Begum ({{Abbr|d.|death}} infancy) — with [[Maham Begum]]
*Mehr Jahan Begum ({{Abbr|d.|death}} infancy) — with [[Maham Begum]]
*[[Masuma Sultan Begum (daughter of Babur)|Masuma Sultan Begum]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} 1508) — with [[Masuma Sultan Begum]] — Married to [[Muhammad Zaman Mirza]].
*Gulzar Begum ({{Abbr|d.|death}} infancy) — with Gulrukh Begum
*[[Gulrukh Begum]] (Gulbarg Begum) —  Identity of mother is disputed, may have been Dildar Begum or Saliha Sultan Begum — Married to Nuruddin Muhammad Mirza, son of Khwaja Hasan Naqshbandi, with whom she had [[Salima Sultan Begum]], wife of [[Bairam Khan]] and later the Mughal Emperor [[Akbar]].
*[[Gulbadan Begum]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} {{circa|1523}} – {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1603) — with Dildar Begum — Married Khizr Khwaja Khan, son of her father's cousin [[Aiman Khwajah Sultan]] of [[Moghulistan]], son of [[Ahmad Alaq]] of [[Moghulistan]], the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur.
*[[Gulchehra Begum]] ({{Abbr|b.|birth}} {{circa|1515}} – {{Abbr|d.|death}} 1557) — with Dildar Begum — Married firstly in 1530 to Sultan Tukhta Bugha Khan, son of [[Ahmad Alaq]] of [[Moghulistan]], the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur. Married secondly to Abbas Sultan Uzbeg.
*Gulrang Begum — with Dildar Begum — Married in 1530 to Isan Timur Sultan, ninth son of [[Ahmad Alaq]] of [[Moghulistan]], the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur.

== Death and legacy ==
[[File:Humayun and Babur (Late Shah Jahan Album).jpg|upright=1.5|Babur and his son [[Humayun]]. Painted circa 1640 (''Late Shah Jahan Album'')|thumb]]
Babur died in Agra on {{OldStyleDate|5 January|1531|26 December 1530}} and was succeeded by his eldest son, Humayun. He was first buried in Chauburji, [[Agra]].<ref name="Rangan">{{cite news |last1=Datta |first1=Rangan |title=Agra beyond the Taj: Exploring tombs and gardens on the left bank of Yamuna |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/places/agra-beyond-the-taj-exploring-tombs-and-gardens-on-the-left-bank-of-yamuna/cid/2031729 |access-date=18 July 2024 |agency=My Kolkata |publisher=The Telegraph |date=5 July 2024}}</ref><ref name="Jagaran">{{cite news |last1=Goel |first1=Shrishti |title=Did you know Mughal emperor Babur's body was kept at this place for 6 months before being buried in Kabul? |url=https://english.jagran.com/india/did-you-know-mughal-emperor-baburs-body-was-kept-at-this-place-for-6-months-before-being-buried-in-kabul-10020153 |access-date=18 July 2024 |work=Dainik Jagaran |date=20 November 2020}}</ref> Later, as per his wishes, his mortal remains were moved to Kabul and reburied in [[Bagh-e Babur]] in Kabul sometime between 1539 and 1544.<ref name="Necipoğlu">{{citation |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |title=Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6MN2T9cXNEC&pg=PA135 |year=1997 |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-10872-6 |page=135 |access-date=8 February 2019 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205161343/https://books.google.com/books?id=s6MN2T9cXNEC&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="VDM1"/>

[[File:Navoi Square (Formerly Bobur Square) - Where 2005 Massacre Took Place - Andijon - Uzbekistan (7544000842).jpg|thumb|[[Bobur Square]], Andijan, Uzbekistan in 2012|190x190px]]

It is generally agreed that, as a Timurid, Babur was not only significantly influenced by the Persian culture, but also that his empire gave rise to the expansion of the [[Persianate]] ethos in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor" /><ref name="Robert L. Canfield 1991 p.20" /> He emerged in his own telling as a [[Timurid Renaissance]] inheritor, leaving signs of Islamic, artistic literary, and social aspects in India.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen Frederic |last=Dale |title=The garden of the eight paradises: Bābur and the culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483–1530) |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |page=216|isbn=90-04-13707-6 }}</ref><ref>{{New Cambridge History of Islam|volume=3}}</ref>

F. Lehmann states in the ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'':
{{Blockquote|His origin, milieu, training, and culture were steeped in Persian culture and so Babur was largely responsible for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, the Mughals of India, and for the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and historiographical results.<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lehmann |first=F. |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babor-zahir-al-din |title=Memoirs of Zehīr-ed-Dīn Muhammed Bābur |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=2 April 2008 |archive-date=17 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117020020/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babor-zahir-al-din |url-status=live}}</ref>}}[[File:Tombstone of Babur.JPG|thumb|Tombstone of Babur in Bagh-e Babur, Kabul, Afghanistan.|177x177px]]Although all applications of modern Central Asian ethnicities to people of Babur's time are anachronistic, Soviet and Uzbek sources regard Babur as an ethnic Uzbek.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=A. M. |editor-last=Prokhorov |encyclopedia=Great Soviet Encyclopedia |title=Babur |url=http://bse-soviet-encyclopedia.info/%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%8D%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F/54583/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80 |access-date=16 September 2013 |language=ru |year=1969–1978 |publisher=Soviet Encyclopedia |location=Moscow |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130916175254/http://bse-soviet-encyclopedia.info/%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%8D%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F/54583/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80 |archive-date=16 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Ibrohim |editor-last=Muminov |encyclopedia=Uzbek Soviet Encyclopedia |title=Bobur |language=uz |year=1972 |volume=2 |location=Tashkent |pages=287–95}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bobur |first=Zahiriddin Muhammad |title=Boburnoma |year=1989 |publisher=Yulduzcha |location=Tashkent |page=3 |editor=A'zam Oʻktam |language=uz |chapter=About This Edition}}</ref> At the same time, during the Soviet Union Uzbek scholars were censored for idealising and praising Babur and other historical figures such as [[Ali-Shir Nava'i]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Fierman |editor-first=William |title=Soviet Central Asia |year=1991 |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=978-0-8133-7907-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sovietcentralasi00fier/page/147 147] |url=https://archive.org/details/sovietcentralasi00fier/page/147}}</ref>

[[File:1842 tomb of Babur by Charles Masson.png|thumb|The tomb of the first Mughal Emperor Babur in [[Kabul]]|176x176px]]Babur is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uzbekistan.or.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=news&wr_id=878 |title=Grandeur and Eternity: Zahiriddin Muhammad Bobur in Minds of People Forever |work=Embassy of Uzbekistan in Korea. |date=22 February 2011 |access-date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522171617/http://www.uzbekistan.or.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=news&wr_id=878 |archive-date=22 May 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> On 14 February 2008, stamps in his name were issued in the country to commemorate his 525th birth anniversary.<ref>{{cite web |title=The country's history on postage miniatures |url=http://old.ut.uz/eng/kaleidoscope/the_countrys_history_on_postage_miniatures.mgr |publisher=Uzbekistan Today |access-date=12 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614180708/https://old.ut.uz/eng/kaleidoscope/the_countrys_history_on_postage_miniatures.mgr |archive-date=14 June 2015}}</ref> Many of Babur's poems have become popular Uzbek folk songs, especially by [[Sherali Joʻrayev]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Sherali Joʻrayev: We Haven't Stopped. We Still Exist |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/uzbek/news/story/2007/04/070412_sherali_juraev_60.shtml |date=13 April 2007 |work=[[BBC]]'s Uzbek Service |language=uz |access-date=8 October 2013 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205161345/https://www.bbc.com/uzbek/news/story/2007/04/070412_sherali_juraev_60 |url-status=live}}</ref> Some sources claim that Babur is a national hero in [[Kyrgyzstan]] too.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wang |first=Zhihong |title=Dust in the Wind: Retracing Dharma Master Xuanzang's Western Pilgrimage |publisher= |page=121}}</ref> In October 2005, Pakistan developed the [[Babur (cruise missile)|Babur Cruise Missile]], named in his honour.

''[[Shahenshah Babar]]'', an Indian film about the emperor directed by [[Wajahat Mirza]] was released in 1944. The 1960 Indian biographical film ''Babar'' by [[Hemen Gupta]] covered the emperor's life with [[Gajanan Jagirdar]] in the lead role.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rangoonwalla |first1=Firoze |last2=Das |first2=Vishwanath |title=Indian Filmography: Silent & Hindi Films, 1897–1969 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26dZAAAAMAAJ |year=1970 |publisher=J. Udeshi |page=370 |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205161451/https://books.google.com/books?id=26dZAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

One of the enduring features of Babur's life was that he left behind the lively and well-written autobiography known as ''Baburnama''.<ref name="baburnama">{{cite book |title=The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor |publisher=Modern Library |isbn=0-375-76137-3 |year=2002 |author=Babur, Emperor of Hindustan |others=translated, edited and annotated by W. M. Thackston |url=https://archive.org/details/babarinizam00babu}}</ref> Quoting [[Henry Beveridge (1837–1929)|Henry Beveridge]], [[Stanley Lane-Poole]] writes:<ref>{{harvtxt|Lane-Poole|1899|pp=12–13}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|His autobiography is one of those priceless records which are for all time, and is fit to rank with the confessions of [[Confessions of Saint Augustine|St. Augustine]] and [[Confessions of Rousseau|Rousseau]], and the memoirs of [[Memoirs of My Life and Writings|Gibbon]] and [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]. In Asia it stands almost alone.}}In his own words, "The cream of my testimony is this, do nothing against your brothers even though they may deserve it." Also, "The new year, the spring, the wine and the beloved are joyful. Babur make merry, for the world will not be there for you a second time."<ref name="sen2">{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra Nath |year=2013 |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |page=151 |isbn=978-93-80607-34-4}}</ref>
=== Babri Masjid ===
{{POV section|date=January 2024}}
{{Main|Babri Masjid}}
{{See also|Demolition of the Babri Masjid}}[[File:Babri Masjid.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Babri masjid image|A 19th century photograph of Babri masjid.]]The Babri Masjid ("Babur's Mosque") in [[Ayodhya]], was constructed by [[Mir Baqi]] (commander of the Babur), according to the mosque's inscriptions, in 1528–29 (935 [[Hijri year|AH]]). On 6 December 1992, Babri Masjid was demolished by a large group of Hindutva activists of the [[Vishva Hindu Parishad]] and [[Sangh Parivar]].

In 2003, the [[Allahabad High Court]] ordered the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] (ASI) to conduct a more in-depth study and an [[Archaeological excavation|excavation]] to ascertain the type of structure beneath the mosque.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ratnagar |first=Shereen |date=April 2004 |title=Archaeology at the Heart of a Political Confrontation: The Case of Ayodhya |url=https://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/Documents/Professorships/Visual_and_Media_Anthropology/ForUS/381044.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/Documents/Professorships/Visual_and_Media_Anthropology/ForUS/381044.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=239–59 |doi=10.1086/381044 |s2cid=149773944}}</ref> The excavation was conducted from 12 March to 7 August 2003, resulting in 1360 discoveries.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/22ayo.htm |title=ASI submits report on Ayodhya excavation |work=Rediff.com |agency=Press Trust of India |date=22 August 2003 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026011030/http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/22ayo.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

The summary of the ASI report indicated the presence of a 10th-century temple under the mosque.<ref name="trib">{{cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030826/main6.htm |last=Suryamurthy |first=R |title=ASI findings may not resolve title dispute |newspaper=The Tribune |date=26 August 2003 |access-date=27 October 2016 |archive-date=11 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411193402/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030826/main6.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050323101829/http://www.the-week.com/23sep07/events1.htm Prasannan, R. (7 September 2003) "Ayodhya: Layers of truth"] ''The Week'' (India), from [[Web Archive]]</ref> The ASI team said that, human activity at the site dates back to the 13th century BCE. The next few layers date back to the [[Shunga dynasty|Shunga]] period (second-first century BCE) and the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] period. During the early [[Medieval India|medieval period]] (11–12th century CE), a huge but short-lived structure of nearly 50 metres north–south orientation was constructed. On the remains of this structure, another massive structure was constructed: this structure had at least three structural phases and three successive floors attached with it. The report concluded that it was over the top of this construction that the disputed structure was constructed during the early 16th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/25ayo1.htm |title=Proof of temple found at Ayodhya: ASI report |work=Rediff.com |agency=Press Trust of India |date=25 August 2003 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225023956/http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/25ayo1.htm%20 |url-status=live}}</ref> Archaeologist [[K. K. Muhammed|KK Muhammed]], the only [[Indian Muslims|Muslim]] member in the team of people surveying the excavation, also confirmed individually that there existed a temple like structure before the Babri Masjid was constructed over it.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ram-temple-existed-before-babri-mosque-in-ayodhya-archaeologist-kk-muhammed/articleshow/71391712.cms |title=Ram temple existed before Babri mosque in Ayodhya: Archaeologist KK Muhammed |last=Shekhar |first=Kumar Shakti |work=The Times of India |access-date=7 November 2019 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118221506/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ram-temple-existed-before-babri-mosque-in-ayodhya-archaeologist-kk-muhammed/articleshow/71391712.cms |url-status=live}}</ref>

Several Hindu archaeologists disputed ASI findings.{{sfn|Srivastava|2003}} According to archaeologist Supriya Verma and Jaya Menon, who observed the excavations on behalf of the Sunni Waqf Board, "the [[Archaeological Survey of India|ASI]] was operating with a preconceived notion of discovering the remains of a temple beneath the demolished mosque, even selectively altering the evidence to suit its hypothesis." This allegation particularly focused on the "pillar bases" central to the claim of a temple, which Verma and Menon alleged were irregularly shaped, irregularly spaced and largely the result of selective excavation, rather than representing genuine evidence of pillars.<ref>Supriya Verma, Menon Shiv Sunni (2010), [https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/50/verdict-ayodhya-special-issues/was-there-temple-under-babri-masjid-reading "Was There a Temple under the Babri Masjid? Reading the Archaeological 'Evidence'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126215531/https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/50/verdict-ayodhya-special-issues/was-there-temple-under-babri-masjid-reading|date=26 January 2021}}, ''Economic & Political Weekly''</ref>

The [[2019 Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute#Summary of the verdict|Supreme Court judgement]] of 2019 granted the entire disputed land to the Hindus for construction of a temple, stating that Hindus continue to worship at the site and continued to hold the land outside the yard. It also held that there was nothing to prove that the structure, which was present before the construction of the mosque, was demolished for the purpose of building mosque or was already in ruins.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ayodhya-verdict-ruins-dont-always-indicate-demolition-observes-sc/article29938243.ece |title=Ayodhya verdict {{!}} Ruins don't always indicate demolition, observes Supreme Court |last=Rajagopal |first=Krishnadas |date=10 November 2019 |work=The Hindu |access-date=24 November 2019 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=12 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112003600/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ayodhya-verdict-ruins-dont-always-indicate-demolition-observes-sc/article29938243.ece |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/highlights-of-the-ayodhya-verdict/article29929685.ece |title=Highlights of the Ayodhya verdict |date=9 November 2019 |work=The Hindu |access-date=24 November 2019 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=20 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220005358/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/highlights-of-the-ayodhya-verdict/article29929685.ece |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Baber |volume=3 |ref={{harvid|''EB''|1878}} |page=179}}
* {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Baber |volume=3 |ref={{harvid|''EB''|1911}} |page=92}}
* {{citation |title=Cambridge History of India |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory035492mbp |volume=III |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1928}}
* {{citation |title=Cambridge History of India |volume=IV |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1937}}
* {{citation |first=Abraham |last=Eraly |author-link=Abraham Eraly |title=Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7kPQs8llvkC |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-93-5118-093-7}}
* {{cite news |last=Srivastava |first=Sushil |title=The ASI Report – a review |newspaper=Frontline |date=25 October 2003 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/the-asi-report-a-review/article797088.ece |access-date=2014-12-27 |archive-date=20 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220182615/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/the-asi-report-a-review/article797088.ece |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |title=The Mughal State, 1526–1750 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-563905-6 |editor-last=Alam |editor-first=Muzaffar |editor-link=Muzaffar Alam |editor-last2=Subrahmanyan |editor-first2=Sanjay |editor-link2=Sanjay Subrahmanyam}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thackston |first=W. M. Jr. |title=The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor |publisher=Modern Library |year=2002 |isbn=9780375761379 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Balabanlilar |first=Lisa |title=Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern South and Central Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2012 |location=London}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Bamber Gascoigne |last=Gascoigne |first=Bamber |others=Photographs by Christina Gascoigne |title=The Great Moghuls |location=London |orig-year=1971 |year=1987 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0224024747 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatmoghuls00gasc/}}
* {{cite book |last=Gommans |first=J. L. L. |title=Mughal Warfare |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=9780415239899}}
* {{cite book |last=Gordon |first=Stewart |title=When Asia was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks who created the "Riches of the East" |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-306-81556-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hasan |first=Mohibbul |title=Babur: Founder of the Mughal Empire in India |date=1985 |publisher=Manohar Publications |location=New Delhi}}
* {{cite book |author-link=William Irvine (historian) |last=Irvine |first=William |title=The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration |location=London |year=1902 |publisher=Brill |url=https://archive.org/details/armyofindianmogh00irvirich/}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |last=Jackson |first=Peter |title=The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History |publisher=Cambridge |year=1999}}
* {{cite book |author-link=John F. Richards |last=Richards |first=John F. |title=The Mughal Empire |publisher=Cambridge |year=1993}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wink |first=Andre |author-link=Andre Wink |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zhu9DwAAQBAJ |title=Akbar |date=2012 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-78074-209-0 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Radhey Shyam Chaurasia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |title=History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |date=2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0123-4 |language=en}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42838}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Timurid dynasty]]||14 February 1483||26 December 1530}}
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{{s-new|reason=[[Mughal Empire|Dynasty founded]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mughal Emperor]]|years=20 April 1526&nbsp;– 26 December 1530}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Humayun]]}}
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{{Mughal Empire}}
{{Authority control}}

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