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The First Battle of Panipat, fought on 21 April 1526 CE (corresponding to 8 Rajab 932 AH), was one of the most consequential engagements in Islamic history. It ended the Delhi Sultanate under the Lodi dynasty and established the Mughal Empire, a Muslim polity that would govern the Indian subcontinent for over three centuries and preside over what became the largest Muslim population of any state in history.
By the early sixteenth century, the Delhi Sultanate had fragmented. Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan Lodi dynasty, ruled from Delhi but faced widespread dissent among his own nobles. His authoritarian style alienated the Afghan amirs who had traditionally expected a degree of consultation in governance. Several of these nobles, including Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab, secretly sent envoys to Kabul inviting Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur to invade Hindustan and unseat Ibrahim.
Babur was a prince of remarkable lineage. Through his father he descended from Timur (Tamerlane), and through his mother from Genghis Khan's second son Chagatai. Born in Fergana in 1483 CE, he had spent his youth fighting to reclaim Samarkand, the jewel of his Timurid heritage. After losing both Fergana and Samarkand to the Uzbeks under Shaybani Khan, Babur turned south and captured Kabul in 1504 CE, establishing it as his base.
From Kabul, Babur launched several expeditions into the Punjab between 1519 and 1524 CE. These raids tested Indian defences and familiarised his troops with the terrain. By 1526, the political situation had ripened. With Afghan nobles in open revolt against Ibrahim Lodi, Babur assembled his forces for a decisive campaign.
Babur's army numbered approximately 12,000 seasoned troops, supplemented by some local allies. Though small, this force was disciplined, battle-hardened from years of Central Asian warfare, and equipped with a decisive advantage: gunpowder weapons. Babur had acquired Ottoman-trained gunners, most notably Ustad Ali Quli, who commanded his artillery, and Mustafa Rumi, who managed the matchlock infantry. These men brought with them the military technology that had already transformed warfare in the Ottoman lands.
Ibrahim Lodi commanded a significantly larger force, estimated by Babur himself in the Baburnama at around 100,000, including roughly 1,000 war elephants. However, this army was poorly motivated. Many nobles had already defected or were plotting against their sultan. The sheer size of the force, lacking unified command and tactical coordination, proved more a liability than an asset.
Babur chose his position at Panipat carefully, a town about ninety kilometres north of Delhi that had long served as a gateway to the capital. He anchored his right flank against the town itself, limiting the directions from which Ibrahim could attack. In front of his lines, Babur arranged 700 carts tied together with ropes, creating a barrier behind which his musketeers and artillery could fire with protection. Between the carts, gaps were left wide enough for cavalry to sortie through.
He then deployed the tulughma, a classic Central Asian flanking tactic. Mobile cavalry wings on both sides were tasked with sweeping around the enemy's flanks and attacking from the rear, driving the Lodi forces into the concentrated firepower of the centre.
When Ibrahim's army advanced, the war elephants and dense infantry columns pressed toward Babur's centre. The thunder of cannon and the crack of matchlocks terrified the elephants, which stampeded back into their own ranks. The tulughma wings completed their encirclement, and Ibrahim's forces, compressed into a killing ground, could neither advance nor retreat effectively.
The battle lasted only a few hours. Sultan Ibrahim Lodi fell on the field, fighting among his troops. Approximately 20,000 of his soldiers were killed. Babur's victory was total.
Babur entered Delhi and Agra within days of the battle. He claimed the treasuries of the Lodi sultans, including the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, and distributed wealth generously among his followers. He proclaimed himself Sultan and established what would become the Mughal dynasty.
The empire Babur founded grew under his descendants into one of history's great Muslim civilisations. Under Akbar, it expanded across most of the subcontinent. Under Shah Jahan, it produced architectural wonders including the Taj Mahal. Under Aurangzeb, it reached its greatest territorial extent, ruling over the largest economy in the world and governing a population that included more Muslims than any other polity in history. Aurangzeb was also a patron of Islamic scholarship, commissioning the Fatawa al-Hindiyyah (al-Fatawa al-Alamgiriyyah), a comprehensive Hanafi legal compendium compiled by hundreds of scholars.
The First Battle of Panipat demonstrated how tactical innovation and disciplined leadership could overcome vastly superior numbers. Babur's integration of gunpowder technology with Central Asian cavalry tactics created a military system that dominated the subcontinent for generations. His personal account of the battle in the Baburnama remains one of the most vivid firsthand descriptions of medieval warfare, and stands as a testament to his literary gifts alongside his military ones.
The Mughal Empire that emerged from this battle shaped the religious, cultural, and architectural landscape of South Asia in ways that endure to this day. Mosques, madrasas, and centres of Islamic learning established under Mughal patronage remained pillars of Muslim scholarship for centuries after the empire's decline.