Babur (February 14, 1483 - December 26, 1530) was a famous conqueror of India and the founder of the Mughal dynasty. His name is Zahir ud-din Muhammad, but he receives the nickname of Bâbur, meaning "the leopard". Descendant of Tamerlane by Miran Shah and Genghis Khan by his mother, he was born on February 14, 1483 in Andijan. His father, Omar Sheikh Mirza, was king of Ferghana, part of Turkestan, now in Uzbekistan. Omar died in 1495, and Babur inherited the throne, although only twelve years old. An attempted overthrow by his uncles fails, and as soon as his throne is assured, he thinks about expanding his territory.
In 1497 he attacked and took Samarkand, over which he believed he had a legitimate hereditary right. A rebellion among his nobles seizes his kingdom. On the way to reconquer him, his troops abandon him and he loses Samarkand again. He regained his lost territories, but was finally driven out in 1501 by his main enemy, Muhammad Shaybânî, the Khan of the Uzbeks. For three years he wandered, trying in vain to recover his lost possessions, then in 1504, gathering a few loyal troops, he crossed the snow-covered Hindu-Kūsh, took the fortified city of Kabul and found himself at the head of a wealthy kingdom.
Again, after the death of Shaibani in 1510, Bâbur reclaimed his original possessions, and received decisive help from the Turkmen Ismail Safavi, and in 1511 made a triumphal entry into Samarkand. But in 1514 he was again defeated by the Uzbeks and returned with difficulty to Kabul.
He now seems to have lost all hope of recovering Ferghana, and as he also fears an invasion of the Uzbeks in the west, he turns to India and in particular the Punjab which he considers his legitimate heritage by Tamerlane. Several preliminary incursions had already been made, when in 1521 an opportunity arose for a more serious expedition. Ibrâhîm Lodî, Sultan of Delhi, is hated by everyone, even by his Afghan nobles, and Bâbur allies himself with a rebel, Alam Khan. He gathers his forces, 12,000 men and some artillery pieces and marches on India. Ibrahim, with 100,000 soldiers and many elephants advanced against him. The great battle takes place in Pânipat on April 21, 1526, Ibrahim is massacred and his army routed. Babur then proclaims himself Padshah Ghazi, emperor of India, then with the help of his son Humâyûn immediately seizes Agra. But, an even more formidable enemy awaits him, Rana Sangha of Chittorgarh who has gathered against him a huge army of 210,000 men. His case seems hopeless, he vows to give up wine, which he consumes without restraint. In Kanwaha, on March 10, 1527, he won a great victory, while his son pacified the Ganges valley, and then became the absolute master of northern India.
He spent the end of his life organizing his new empire and embellishing Agra, its capital. In October 1530, his eldest and favorite son Humâyûn fell ill. While all the doctors agree to announce his imminent death, it is Babur who dies because at the announcement of his son's illness, Babur is devastated. According to legend, he would have given his life to save that of the one he designates as his successor. He died on December 26, 1530 during his forty-eighth year and was buried in Kabul. Humâyûn then succeeds him.
Fine scholar, he loved music, composed poems and dictated his memoirs, the Bâbur Nâmâ, a chronicle of his life and those close to him between 1494 and 1529, probably the first autobiographical text in the Islamic world, written in Chagataï Turkish.
His dynasty ruled India until the 19th century.