The condition of India at the time of Babur's invasion was almost the same as it was during the Ottoman invaders in the 11th century. The process of disintegration of Delhi Sultanate had started from the time of Tughlaq Sultans when the kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Bahmani were established during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The terrible destruction of Timur further accelerated this process of disintegration.
The kingdom of the Lodi sultans had become weak internally because the Lodis lacked firmness and political unity. By the time of the last Lodi Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the boundaries of the Delhi Sultanate had shrunk down to Delhi, Agra, Doab, Jaunpur and Bihar.
In addition to Delhi, many independent states were established in other regions of India and there was an atmosphere of mutual rivalry and conflict in these states. At this time there was no political power in India that would have dared to successfully face an invader like Babur. Babar in his autobiography 'Tuzuke Babri regarding the then political situation. ' It writes that 'When I conquered India, it was ruled by five Muslim and two Kafir kings. These people enjoyed great respect and ruled independently. Apart from these, there were small kingdoms and kings in the hills and forests, but they got less respect and respect.'
The five Muslim states mentioned by Babur are Delhi, Gujarat, Bahmani, Malwa and Bengal. Under the two kingdoms of the Hindus, he mentions the kingdoms of Vijayanagara and Mewar. But apart from these above states, there were many states in India, which Babur has not mentioned. The following states were located in India at the time of Babur's invasion-
Delhi : The Delhi Sultanate was the most powerful state of India at the time of Babur's invasion, but its boundaries were very narrow. Punjab, Gwalior, Dipalpur, Doab, Jaunpur, Tirhut and Bihar were included in this state. The Afghan Sultan Ibrahim Lodi ruled at the time of Babur's invasion. Ibrahim had the qualities of a capable soldier, but he was angry, arrogant and suspicious. He tried to exercise strict control over the nobles and discipline them, due to which his relations with the nobles were not good. He executed the senior and respected Afghan nobles of the state on the basis of mere suspicion. Due to his ruthlessness and tyranny, many Afghan nobles revolted against him. His uncle Alam Khan Lodi claimed his right to the throne of Delhi and was also supported by the rebellious nobles.
Duria Khan Lohani, who was a governor under the Delhi Sultanate in Bihar, started giving refuge to the rebel Afghan chieftains. After his death, his son Bahar Khan Lohani declared himself an independent ruler.
Similarly, the Afghans under the leadership of Nasir Khan and Maruf Khan Formula in Jaunpur wanted to become independent from the Delhi Sultanate. It was a very difficult task for Ibrahim Lodi to face a foreign invader in this period of political chaos.
Although Punjab was also a subordinate province of the Delhi Sultanate, in reality it was only a nominal part of the Delhi Sultanate. Being dissatisfied with the behavior of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, Daulat Khan Lodi was trying to become independent by severing his ties with Delhi. He revolted in 1525 AD and invited Babur to attack Delhi. In this way the gate of India was opened for Babur, which he took full advantage of.
Sindh and Multan : During the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq, the process of disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate had begun and many chieftains in different regions, increasing their power, broke their ties with Delhi and started establishing independent states. At the same time Sindh also separated from Delhi Sultanate and Subhra dynasty was established here. But in the beginning of the sixteenth century (1516 AD), Shah Arghun, the governor of Kandahar, took control of Sindh and the Sumra dynasty collapsed. His successor Shah Hussain also took control of Multan. At the time of Babur's invasion, Shah Hussain of Arghun dynasty was ruling Sindh and Multan.
K : It was a Muslim state located in the north-west of Punjab. This independent state was established by Shah Mirza in 1339 AD. Zainul Abedin He was the best among the rulers of Kashmir. This state made a lot of progress during his reign. That is why he is called 'Akbar of Kashmir ' is called. But after his death in 1470 AD, there was chaos and unrest in Kashmir and the power of this state was weakened.
Malwa : At the time of Babur's invasion, Mahmud II of Khilji dynasty was ruling in Malwa. Malwa was separated from the Delhi Sultanate during the period of Firoz Tughlaq and the Tughlaq Subedar Dilawar Khan Ghori declared his independence and established the Ghori dynasty. In 1435 AD, the Khilji dynasty was established in place of the Ghori dynasty. Mahmud II ascended the throne in 1512 AD. During his reign, the entire power of the kingdom was in the hands of Medinirai. He appointed Rajputs to all the high posts of the state. To oppose this, the Muslim nobles of the state encouraged the Sultan of Gujarat, Muzaffar Shah II, to attack Malwa. In this struggle Medini Rai emerged victorious with the help of Rana Sanga, the Rajput ruler of Mewar and Mahmud Shah II was taken prisoner, who was later freed by Rana Sanga. Even after this, the struggle continued in Malwa and Mewar], due to which the power of Malwa was reduced. Babur in his autobiography 'Tuzuke Babri ' It writes that 'the rulers here are called Khilji Sultans. But Rana Sanga defeated him and took over most of this state. Now this dynasty too had become powerless.'
Gujarat State : In 1401 AD, the governor of Gujarat, Zafar Khan, broke his ties with the Delhi Sultanate and declared himself independent and assumed the title of Sultan Muzaffar Shah. Thus taking advantage of the situation of anarchy created by Timur's invasion, Zafar Khan established an independent Muslim state in Gujarat. Although many powerful sultans ruled there, but Sultan Mahmud Begada (1458-1511 AD) was the most glorious ruler of this dynasty. He expanded the kingdom by conquering Champaner, Junagadh and Kutch and also tried to drive the Portuguese out of the state. After the death of Mahmud Begada in 1511 AD, his successor Muzaffar Shah II became the ruler of Gujarat. He had given shelter to Alam Khan, the uncle of Ibrahim Lodi and a claimant to the throne of Delhi. Muzaffar Shah II had to contend with the independent kingdoms of Malwa and Mewar. After his death in 1526 AD, his son Bahadur Shah became the Sultan of Gujarat. He fought with the Mughal emperor Humayun, son of Babur and gave refuge to his rival Mirzas.
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Khandesh : Establishment of Khandesh state situated in the valley of Tapti river Malik Raja Farooqui had done. But from the very beginning the relations between the rulers of Khandesh and Gujarat were not good. The reason for this was the ambition of the Sultans of Gujarat to take over Khandesh. After Sultan Dawood of Khandesh in 1508 AD, the war of succession started there and the rival claimants to the throne tried to occupy the throne with the help of the Sultans of Gujarat and Bahmani. Finally, Adilshah III, a candidate of the Sultan of Gujarat Mahmud Begada, ascended the throne of Khandesh. After his death in 1520 AD, his son ascended the throne in the name of Muhammad I, who was the ruler of Khandesh at the time of Babur's invasion. His power was nominal and he accepted the suzerainty of Gujarat.
Bengal State : At this time there was an independent state of Hussaini dynasty in Bengal. Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah (1493-1519 AD) was the first Sultan of this dynasty. He expanded the extent of Bengal on the strength of his ability. Sultan Alauddin also had to fight with the Sultan of Delhi, Sikandar Lodi as he had given refuge to Hussain Shah of Jaunpur. Finally, Sikandar Lodi accepted the independent authority of Alauddin Hussain, the ruler of Bengal. Babur's contemporary was Nusrat Shah, son of Alauddin Hussain, the ruler of Bengal who ascended the throne in 1519 AD. Peace and prosperity prevailed in Bengal during the reign of this worthy Sultan. He was the patron of Bengali literature and patron of scholars.
Mewar State : At the time of Babur's invasion, Mewar was a powerful Rajput kingdom of Rajasthan, with its capital at Chittor. At the time of Babur's invasion, Mewar was ruled by Rana Sangram Singh, which is known in history as 'Rana Sanga Also known as '. This ambitious great warrior had made Mewar a mighty kingdom with his victories. He wanted to extend Rajput power to Agra and Delhi also, so his relations with the Sultan of Delhi Ibrahim Lodi were not good. Due to this political enmity, he also wrote a letter to Babur in which he had invited Babur to come to India and attack Delhi. Babur writes in his autobiography that 'While we were still in Kabul, the envoy of Rana Sanga had shown allegiance on his behalf and decided that the respected emperor should reach near Delhi from that side. So I (Rana Sanga) will attack Agra from this side.' Perhaps Rana Sanga hoped that the Lodi Sultanate would be completely weakened by Babur's invasion and Rajput control would be established over Agra, Delhi.
Bahmani State: In South India, this kingdom extended from Berar to the Krishna River in the south. This independent Muslim state was established in the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq (1347 AD) Alauddin Bahman Shah had done. The rulers of this dynasty were cruel and fanatic and they always fought with the Hindu kingdom of the south, Vijayanagara. After the assassination of Prime Minister Mahmud Gawan in 1481 AD, the disintegration of the Bahmani kingdom started. last king of Bahmani kingdom Kalimullah Whose death in 1527 AD also ended the Bahmani kingdom.
Bahmani kingdom was divided into five independent kingdoms at the time of Babur's invasion- Imadshahi dynasty in Berar, Nizamshahi dynasty in Ahmednagar, Adilshahi dynasty in Bijapur, Qutubshahi in Golconda and Bidar Baridshahi dynasty. Due to mutual animosity and enmity in these five kingdoms, there were frequent wars. Thus the power of the Bahmani kingdom was also ended at the time of Babur's invasion.
Vijayanagar State : This state was to the south of the Krishna river. Establishment of the independent Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq Harihara and Bukka Two brothers named Babur in his autobiography 'Tuzuke Babri ' Vijayanagara kingdom is also one of the two Hindu kingdoms mentioned in it. Krishnadevaraya in Vijayanagara at the time when Babur invaded India. who defeated the Sultan of Bahmani.
Initially Vijayanagara was a powerful kingdom and Portuguese traveler Peiz and Iranian Ambassador Abdurzzaq has given an account of the splendor of Vijayanagara and the power of the king. But his power was weakened due to his constant struggle with the Bahmani sultans. Vijayanagara was a powerless kingdom at the time of Babur's invasions.
In addition to these states, there were also the states of Kashmir in the far north and Orissa in the east, but they did not have any important place in the politics of India.
Thus at the time of Babur's invasion India was politically disintegrated. The prestige and glory of the Delhi Sultanate had come to an end. Many small independent states had been established in northern India in which mutual conflict was going on. Almost the same condition was in South India as well. India's north-west border was unprotected and there was no power to stop the invaders. In addition, political animosity, conspiracy and enmity were widespread in these states. The level of political morality had reached such a low level that Daulat Khan Lodi and Alam Khan Lodi invited Babur to attack Delhi. It is strange that the Lodi Sultan's duty was to protect the North-West Frontier and the border officials of the same were inviting from the invaders. This was a golden opportunity for a capable, brave and ambitious soldier like Babur, which he did not want to lose. In the vast states like Delhi, Gujarat and Mandu, there was not a single high-ranking ruler who would have been able to stand against him. After the invitation of Rana Sanga and Daulat Khan, Babur became eager for Indian conquest. His luck favored him and he was credited for establishing the Mughal Empire in India.
Nadir Shah's Invasion (Nadir Shah’s Invasion)
दिल्ली सल्तनत:सैय्यद और लोदी वंश, 1414-1450 ई. (Delhi Sultanate:Syed and Lodi Dynasty,1414-1450 AD)