From a book called "Invasions of India":-
Quote:
On February 25th the Turks reached Uinballa. On
the 26th Prince Humayon attacked Hamid Khan, the
Shekdar of Hissar-Firozeh (Shekdar is a military governor
of a district), and took him by surprise.
' Our
troops,' writes Baber,
'
brought down one hundred or
two hundred of the enemy, cut off the heads of the one
half, and brought the other half alive into camp, along
with seven or eight elephants. Bey Merak Moghul
brought the news of this victory of Humayon to the
camp at this station on Friday the 18th of the month.
I directed a complete dress of honour, a horse from my
own stable, with a reward in money, to be given to him.'*
On Monday (March 5th), Humayon reached his
father's camp, which was still at the same place,
' with
a hundred prisoners and seven or eight elephants, and
waited on me. I ordered Ustad Ali Kuli and the matchlock
men to shoot all the prisoners as an example. This
was Humayon's first expedition, and the first service he
had seen. It was a very good omen. Some light troops
having followed the fugitives, took Hissar-Firozeh, which,
with its dependencies and subordinate districts, yielded a
kror' (about 25,000 sterling).
On the 12th of March the Turks reached Shahabad.
' We now began also to receive repeated information from
Ibrahim's camp that he was advancing slowly, a kos or
two at a time, and halting two or three days at each encampment.
I, on my side, likewise moved on to meet
him ; and, after the second march from Shahabad, encamped
on the banks of the Jumna, opposite to Siraweh.'
The invaders crossed the Jumna by a ford. Baber used
to sail on the river in a boat.
Now Baber was reaching the crisis of his fate ; either
he would find a grave in a foreign land, or come out of
the impending conflict victorious. On the 12th of April
the Turks arrived within two marches of the city of
Paniput, which lies about fifty miles from Delhi. * At
this station/ writes Baber, 'I directed that, according
to the fashion of Rum '
(that is, of the Ottoman Turks),
1 the gun-carriages should be connected together with
twisted bulls' hides, as with chains. Between every two
gun-carriages were six or seven turas of breastworks.'
(These turas were branches of trees, interwoven like basket-
work, it is supposed.) 'The matchlock-men stood
behind these guns and turas, and discharged their matchlocks.
I halted five or six days in this camp, for the
purpose of getting the apparatus arranged. After every
part of it was in order and ready, I called together all
the Amirs and men of any experience and knowledge,
and held a general council. It was settled that, as Paniput
was a considerable city, it would cover one of our
flanks by its buildings and houses, while we might fortify
our front by turas, or covered defences, and cannon ; and
that the matchlock-men and infantry would be placed in
the rear of the guns and turas/""" This council was held
* ' Memoirs,' p. 304.
30 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
at two days' inarch from Paniput. The Turks moved
forward two inarches on the 12th of April, and reached
that citj.
' On our right were the town and suburbs. In
uiy front I placed the guns and turas which had been
prepared. On the left, and on different other points, we
dug ditches, and made defences of the boughs of trees.
At bowshot-distance spaces were left large enough for a
hundred or a hundred and fifty men to issue forth. Many
of the troops were in great terror and alarm ; trepidation
and fear are always unbecoming. Whatever God Almighty
has decreed from all eternity cannot be reversed ; though,
at the same time, I cannot greatly blame them. They
had some reason ; for they had come two or three months'
journey from their own country ; we had to engage in
arms a strange nation, whose language we did not understand,
and who did not understand ours
7
(Persian).
' We
are all in difficulty, all in distraction, surrounded by a
people, bya strange people. The army of the enemy
opposed to us was estimated at one hundred thousand
men ; the elephants of the emperor and his officers were
said to amount to nearly one thousand. Ibrahim Lodi
possessed the accumulated treasures of his father and his
grandfather in current coin, ready for use. It is a usage
in Hindustan, in situations similar to that in which the
enemy now were, to expend sums of money in bringing
together troops, who engage to serve for hire. These
men are called Bedhindi. Had he chosen to adopt this
course, he might have engaged one or two hundred thotiFROM
PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 31
sand more troops. But God Almighty directed everything
for the best. Ibrahim Lodi had not the heart to
satisfy even his own army, and would not part with any
of his own treasure. Indeed, how was it possible that
he should satisfy his troops, when he was miserly to the
last degree, and beyond measure avaricious 1 He was a
young man of no experience ; he was negligent in all his
movements. He marched without order, retired or halted
without plan, and engaged in battle without forethought.
While the troops were fortifying their position in Pauiput
and its vicinity with guns, branches of trees, and
ditches, Dervesh Muhammed Sarban' (this, it may be
remembered, was the young soldier who would not
drink)
' said to me,
" You have fortified our ground in
such a way that it is not possible he should ever think
of coming here." I answered,
" You judge of him by
the Khans and Sultans of the Usbegs. It is true that,
the year in which we left Samarkand and came to
Hissar, a body of the Usbeg Khans and Sultans, having
collected and united together, set out from Derbend " '
(a
celebrated hill pass),
' "
in order to fall upon us. I
brought the families and property of all the Moghuls
and soldiers into the town and suburbs, and, closing all
the streets, put them in a defensible state. As these
Khans and Sultans of the Usbegs were perfectly versed
in the proper time and season for attacking and retiring,
they perceived that we were resolved to defend Hissar to
the last drop of our blood, and had fortified it under
32 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
that idea ; and, seeing no hopes of succeeding in their
enterprise, they fell back by Bundah Cheghanian. But
you must not judge of our present enemies by those
\vho were then opposed to us. They have not ability
to discriminate when it is proper to advance, and when
to retreat." God brought everything to pass favourably.
It happened as I foretold.''"
For the next seven or eight days, Ibrahim Lodi
allowed Baber to remain unmolested at Paniput, and to
strengthen his position there. Several minor attacks
were made by the invaders ; and in one of these,
Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, one of Baber's favourite
officers, was wounded by an arrow, but not mortally.
In the course of the night of the 20th of April,
' We
had a false alarm for nearly one geri (twenty-four
minutes) ; the call to arms, and the uproar continued.
Such of the troops as had never before witnessed an
alarm of the kind were in great confusion and dismay. 't
In a short time, however, the alarm subsided. On the
morning of the 21st of April, the battle was fought that
gave India foreign masters for many centuries, and a
form of government that it still retains.
' By the time of early morning prayers, when the
light was such that you could just distinguish one
object from another, notice was brought from the
patrols that the enemy were advancing, drawn up in
order of battle. We, too, immediately braced on our
helmets and our armour, and mounted.'
* '
Memoirs,' pp. 304, 305. f * Memoirs,' p. 305.
FROM PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 33
Baber records the names of the officers who commanded
at Paniput, to the number of forty-three. On
this, as on all occasions, he records the services he received
from the men about him with generous appreciation.
The right division was led by Prince Humayon,
accompanied by Khwajeli Kilan (the follower who had
attended Baber's fortunes for so many years). In this
division also were Sultan Muhauimed Duldai, Baber's
cousin, from the great city of Herat and Hindu Bey, a
man of local experience ; he had for many years served
in Northern India as Turkish governor of Lahore. The
left division was commanded by Muhammed Sultan
Mirza, a prince of the house of Timour, Baber's cousin,
with instructions that, as soon as the enemy approached
sufficiently near, it should take a circuit and come
round upon their rear, a favourite tactics with the
Usbegs.
' When the enemy first came in sight, they seemed to
bend their force most against the right division. I
therefore detached Abdul-Aziz, who was stationed with
the reserve, to reinforce the right. Sultan Ibrahim's
army, from the time it first appeared in sight, never
made a halt, but advanced right upon us at a quick
pace. When they came closer, and, on getting view of
my troops, found them drawn up in order and with the
defences that have been mentioned, they were brought
up and stood for a while, as if considering whether to
3
34 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
halt or advance. They could not halt, and they were
unable to advance with the same speed as before. I
sent orders to the troops stationed as flankers on the
extremes of the right and left divisions, to wheel round
the enemy's flank with all possible speed, and instantly
to attack them in rear ; the right and left divisions were
also ordered to charge the enemy.''''" The Moghul
flankers accordingly wheeled upon the rear of the enemy,
and began to discharge arrows at them. Mehdi Khwajeh
(Baber's son-in-law), who commanded them, was in
danger of being taken 'by a body of men with one
elephant. Ustadi Ali Kuli discharged his guns many
times in front of the line to good effect ; Mustafa, the
cannoneer on the left centre, managed his artillery with
great effect. 't The calibre of this artillery is doubtful.
Baber mentions elsewhere cannon that took five hundred
men to draw ; and of a gun, cast by Ustal Ali Kuli,
which carried sixteen hundred paces. The battle continued
for two or three hours,
l the enemy made several
poor charges,'
'
they were huddled together in confusion,
and, while totally unable to advance, found also no road
by which they could flee.'
'The sun had mounted spear-high when the onset
began, and the combat lasted until midday, when the
enemy were completely broken and routed, and my
friends victorious and exulting. By the grace and mercy
of Almighty God, this arduous undertaking was ren-
*
'Memoirs,' p. 306. t Ibid. p. 307.
fROM PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 35
dered easy for ine, and this mighty army, in the space
of half a day, laid in the dust.' Sultan Ibrahim was
found lying dead, on a spot where five or six thousand
men were slain ; his head was brought to Baber, more
than one Rajpoot Rajah was killed. Many elephants
and Pathan Amirs were also taken. The same night,
without a minute's delay, Prince Ilumayon and Khwajeh
Kilan, with three or four other nobles, and some troops,
were despatched to take the Fort of Agra, seventy miles
away, the place where Ibrahim Lodi generally lived; while
Baber himself marched for the great city of Delhi.
Delhi for three thousand years had been a great city ;
it was contemporaneous with Nineveh and Babylon.
The city of Delhi of that day was called Firosabad ;
it was six miles round. On the rocky hill, which extends
on one side of the city, was a citadel, built by King
Feroze a hundred years before the Turkish invasion.
At the Bagdad gate was a large brass bull, taken from
the Hindoos by Ibrahim's father. On another side of
the city was King Feroze's other palace, in which stood
another trophy of war, a large monolith of stone, surmounted
by the Moslem emblem of the Crescent, shining
in brass ; on it were inscriptions in the Pali tongue,
which recalled a long- forgotten king, Asoka, the King
Alfred of Hindoo history. He was a Buddhist, who
impressed on his people kindness to kindred, the preservation
of animal life to the extent of not killing them
even for food, courtesy and gentleness to all men, which
32
36 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
remained characteristics of the Hindoos, ages after King
Asoka and his gentle Buddhist creed were forgotten bj
them.
Many mosques were in the city ; one, the ' Black
Mosque/ is still standing, grim and dark. A smaller
mosque, which also still exists, a hundred years before
had so much struck Baber's great ancestor, Tamerlane,
that he took the workmen away to Samarcand to erect
one like it in that city.
Baber expresses no surprise at the strength, splendour,
and extent of the mausoleums, palaces, and gardens that
strike Europeans of the present day with wonder and
surprise. The cities of Samarcand and Herat, which he
describes in his diary, must have exceeded even Delhi in
splendour.
One of the features of the architecture of the time
was that the buildings were decorated and ornamented
with encaustic tiles of the most beautiful shades of light
and dark blue, on which were drawn beautiful and most
artistic designs. In Persia and Samarcand, mosques of
the same period were also decorated with these blue
encaustic tiles.
The forty miles covered with remains of palaces,
mosques, gardens, mausoleums, caravansaries, wells,
bridges, around Delhi are the most wonderful and beautiful
ruins in the world. Such is the opinion of Fergusson,
the great writer on architecture. Bishop Heber said of
the Mohammedan builders in India, that '
they built like
FROM PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 37
giants, and finished like jewellers.' This tersely describes
the extraordinary strength of the masses of
wrought stone and their delicate finish, a strength that
has withstood five centuries of neglect. These Saracenic
builders used no wood in their buildings ; their cement is
as hard as iron, and this is the reason of its stability.
Their delicate carving was learnt from the Hindoos, who
executed the Saracenic designs. The Moslem creed
admits of no representation of human life. By the more
rigid Moslems, even pictures of butterflies and flowers
are considered idolatrous. The Hindoos, like the Greeks,
of whom they were the forefathers, idealised nature.
Baber entered Delhi, the capital of India, by the
south ; it took him two days to march from the field of
Paniput. He went over an ancient bridge, which still
stands, and passed by the handsome mausoleum of
Secunder Lodi, and visited the sights of the place, as
so many conquerors have done since. He wandered to
the Kootub, that strange, tall, unrivalled pillar, which
was raised to call the faithful to prayer in the splendid
mosque, open to the blue heavens, below ; a mosque
built of carved stones, from the ruined fanes of the
Hindoo idols. He visited the palace of Alla-o-deen (an
early Pathan king), an unrivalled work of art, now in
ruins, all except one gateway. It is one of the best
representations of the form and design of the Moslem
conquerors, with the wonderful carving of the patient
and industrious Hindoo.
38 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
Baber also saw a grave which to this day is kept up
and visited : the grave of Nizam Ed-din Aulia. This
man was supposed to be the founder of the Thugs, possibly
to have been connected with the Old Man of the
Mountain, the head of the assassins. The palace of
Nizam Ed- din still stands in ruins, massively built, without
arches, near the spot where he lies. Near the grave
of the author of so many political murders, stands the
grave of the poet Khousroo, whose songs are still
heard in the mouths of the peasantry of India.
Baber also visited the palace of his vanquished foe,
built round a lake, and his gardens, the ruins of which
still remain. But the house of Lodi, during their tenure
of power for sixty years, had mostly lived at Agra ; and
to Agra, leaving the capital of India, Baber hastened.
His last day at Delhi was spent in his usual manner, in
a boat on the river Jumna, where he drank ' arak' with
his friends.
Baber was justly proud of his great victory, and writes
of it thus :
' The most high God, of His grace and mercy, cast
down and defeated an enemy so mighty as Sultan Ibrahim,
and made me master and conqueror of the powerful
empire of Hindustan. From the time - of the blessed
Prophet (on whom, and on his family, be peace and salvation
!) down to the present time, three foreign kings
had subdued the country and acquired the sovereignty of
Hindustan. One of these was Sultan Mahmud Ghazi,
FROM PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 39
whose family long continued to fill the throne of that
country. The second was Sultan Shehabeddin Ghuri ;
and for many years his slaves and dependents swayed
the sceptre of these realms. I am the third ; but my
achievement is not to be put on a level with theirs ; for
Sultan Mahmud, at the time when he conquered Hindustan,
occupied the throne of Khorasan, and had absolute
power and dominion over the Sultans of Khwarizm, and
the surrounding chiefs. The King of Samarcand, too, was
subject to him. If his army did not amount to two
hundred thousand, yet, grant that it was only one hundred
thousand, and it is plain that the comparison between
the two conquests must cease. Moreover, his enemies
were Rajahs. All Hindustan was not at that period
subject to a single emperor ; every Rajah set up for a
monarch on his own account in his own petty territories.
Again, though Sultan Shehabeddin Ghuri did not himself
enjoy the sovereignty of Khorasan, yet his elder brother,
Sultan Ghiaseddin Ghuri held it. In the Tabakat-e-
Nasiri (a very good history of the Mussulman world) it
is said that on one occasion he marched into Hindustan
with one hundred and twenty thousand Cataphract horse.
His enemies, too, were Rais and Rajahs. A single
monarch did not govern the whole of Hindustan. When
I marched into Behreh, we might amount to one thousand
five hundred, or two thousand men at the utmost.
When I invaded the country for the fifth time, overthrew
Sultan Ibrahim, and subdued the empire of Hindustan, I
40 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
had a larger army than I had ever before brought into it.
My servants, the merchants and their servants, and the
followers of all descriptions that were in the camp along
with me, were numbered, and amounted to twelve thousand
men. The kingdoms that depended upon me were
Badakhshan, Kundez, Kabul, and Kandahar; but these
countries did not furnish me with assistance equal to their
resources, and indeed some of them, from their vicinity
to the enemy, were so circumstanced that, far from affording
me assistance, I was obliged to send them extensive
supplies from other territories. Besides this, all Maweralnaher
'
(Baber's native country, Transoxiana)
' was occupied
by the Khans and Sultans of the Usbegs, whose
armies were calculated to amount to about one hundred
thousand men, and who were my ancient foes. Finally,
the whole empire of Hindustan, and Behrer to Behar,
was in the hands of the Afghans. Their prince, Sultan
Ibrahim, from the resources of his kingdom, could bring
into the field an army of five hundred thousand men.
At the time some of the Amirs to the east were in a state
of rebellion. His army on foot was computed -to be a
hundred thousand strong ; his own elephants, and those
of his Amirs, were reckoned as nearly a thousand. Yet,
under such circumstances, and in spite of this power,
placing my trust in God, and leaving behind me nay old
and inveterate enemy, the Usbegs, who had an army of a
hundred thousand men, I advanced to meet so powerful
a prince as Sultan Ibrahim, the lord of numerous armies,
FROM PESHA WUR TO DELHI. 41
and the emperor of extensive territories. I bestowed
the office of Shekdar '
(military collector)
' of Delhi on
Wali Kazil.' (He was the officer who commanded the
flanking party of Moghuls at Paniput. The Shekdar
was an officer, who received the revenue, and also
commanded the troops.)
' I made Dost the Diwan of
Delhi, and directed the different treasures to be sealed
and given into their charge.'"''
On the 26th, six days after his great victory, Baber
started on his march to Agra, sixty miles away, and
passed by Toghlakabad. There is there a very strong
fortress, and the splendid mausoleum of the Afghan ruler
who reigned in the year 1412.
Moulana Mahmud and Sheikh Zin, two priests, went
from Toghlakabad into Delhi for Friday prayers, and read
the Kutbeh in Baber's name, distributed some money
among the Fakirs and beggars, and then returned back.
The reading the Kutbeh (the king's titles and genealogy)
is a religious service usual on a new king coming to the
throne.
On the 4th of May Baber reached the outskirts of
Agra, and went to the palace of Suliman Fermuli, a
Pathan noble of Ibrahim's court. The next day he went
to the palace of Jilal Khan Jighat, another Indian Bey,
nearer the fort. Baber found that the strong fort of
Agra was in the possession of the Hindoo troops of
Bikermajit, Rajah of Gwalior,
c his family and clan/
*
'Memoirs,' pp. 308, 309,
42 THE INVASIONS OF INDIA.
Bikerniajit himself had been ' sent to hell
'
(the charitable
mode in which a good Mussulman signifies the death of
an infidel), fighting at the side of Ibrahim at the fatal
field of Paniput. Baber states that,
' When Humajon
arrived, Bikermajit's people attempted to escape, but
were taken by parties Humajon had placed upon the
watch, and put into custody. Huniayon did not allow
them to be plundered. Of their own free-will, they presented
to Huniayon a peshkesh
'
(tribute),
'
consisting of
a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among these
was one famous diamond which had been acquired by
Sultan Alaeddin. It is so valuable that a judge of
diamonds valued it at half the daily expense of the whole
world. It is about eight miskals
'
(672 carats).
' On
my arrrival, Huniayon presented it to me as a peshkesh,
and I gave it back to him as a present/*
This stone is the Koh-i-noor, now in the possession of
her Majesty. It remained in Baber's family for two
hundred years, when, in 1739, it was taken by Nadir
Shah. The English took it from Runjeet Singh's family,
1848; when the British army presented it to her Majesty.
The Indians have a superstition that the owner of it is
unfortunate.
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