MUGHUL-AFGHAN CONTEST FOR SUPREMACY IN INDIA, A.D. 1526-1556

During the four years that Babur spent in Hindustan, the Punjab, the territory covered by the modern United Provinces, and North Bihar, were conquered by him, and the leading Rajput state of Mewar also submitted to him. But he could effect nothing more than conquests, which alone do not suffice to stabilize an Empire, unless the work of administrative consolidation goes hand in hand with, or immediately follows, them. Thus, as a modern writer has remarked, ” what he had left undone was of greater importance ” than what he had done. Though his military conquests gave him an extensive dominion, ” there was “, writes Erskine, “little uniformity in the political situation of the different parts of this vast empire. Hardly any law could be regarded as universal but that of the unrestrained power of the prince. Each kingdom, each province, each district, and (we may almost say) every village, was governed, in ordinary matters, by its peculiar customs. . . . There were no regular courts of law spread over the kingdom for the administration of justice. . . . All differences relating to land, where they were not settled by the village officers, were decided by the district authorities, the collectors, the Zamidars or Jagirdars. The higher officers of government exercised not only civil but also criminal jurisdiction, even in capital cases, with little form or under little restraint”. In fact, after his conquests, Babur had hardly any time to enact new laws, or to reorganize the administratation, which continued to retain its medieval feudal nature with all its defects. He could not build a sound financial system. He spent much wealth in offering presents and gifts to his followers, and remitted certain duties for the Muslims. Nor could he leave behind him any “remarkable public and philanthropic institutions” to win the goodwill of the governed. Thus, taking these defects of Babur’s work into consideration, it can very well be said that he “bequeathed to his son a monarchy which could be held together only by the continuance of war conditions, which in times of peace was weak, structureless and invertebrate”. Nevertheless, he occupies an important place in the history of India, as he was the first architect to lay the foundation stone of the edifice of the Mughul Empire in India, on which the superstructure was raised by his illustrious grandson, Akbar.

Babur is one of the most romantic and interesting personalities in the history of Asia. A man of indomitable spirit and remarkable military prowess, he was no ruthless conqueror exulting in needless massacres and wanton destruction. An affectionate father, a kind master, a generous friend and a firm believer in God, he was an ardent lover of Nature and truth and “excelled in music and other arts”. He probably inherited from his father the restless spirit of adventure and geniality of temperament that he did not lose even in the most troublesome period of his life, and derived his literary tastes from his maternal grandfather. As LanePoole observes: “He is the link between Central Asia and India, between predatory hordes and imperial government, between Timur and Akbar. The blood of the two great scourges of Asia, Chingiz and Timur, mixed in his veins, and to the daring and restlessness of the nomad Tartar he joined the culture and urbanity of the Persian. He brought the energy of the Mongol, the courage and capacity of the Turk, to the subjection of the listless Hindu; and, himself a soldier of fortune and no architect of empire, he yet laid the first stone of the splendid fabric which his grandson Akbar completed. . . . His permanent place in history rests upon his Indian conquests, which opened the way for an imperial line; but his place in biography and in literature is determined rather by his daring adventures and persevering efforts in his earlier days, and by the delightful Memoirs in which he related them. Soldier of fortune as he was, Babur was not the less a man of fine literary taste and fastidious critical perception. In Persian, the language of culture, the Latin of Central Asia, as it is of India, he was an accomplished poet, and in his native Turki he was master of a pure and unaffected style alike in prose and verse.

 His Memoirs, which deservedly hold a high place in the history of human literature, were translated into Persian by ‘Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan in the time of Akbar in 1590, into English by Leyden and Erskine in 1826, and into French in 1871. Annette Susannah Beveridge has published a revised English version of these. There is also a small collection of his fine Turki lyrics.
Humayun and his Early Wars

Three days after the death of Babur, Humayun ascended the throne of Hindustan at the age of twenty-three. The situation at his accession was not indeed a very easy one. He was confronted with several hostile forces on all sides, disguised and so the more dangerous. There was hardly any unity in the royal family, and his cousins, Muhammad Zaman and Muhammad Sultan, were pretenders to the throne. Moreover, as the law of primogeniture was not strictly enforced among the Musalmans, his three brothers, Kamran, Hindal and ‘Askari, also coveted the throne. As Erskine remarks: “The sword was the grand arbiter of right, and every son was prepared to try his fortune against his brothers.” His court was also full of nobles who engineered plans for the possession of the throne. Further, the army at his disposal was a mixed body, composed of adventurers of diverse nationalities having conflicting interests. Thus, he could not safely count on the support of his relatives, his court, or his army. Again, Babur’s legacy to Humayun was of a precarious nature. The former, as we have already noted, did not leave behind him a consolidated and well – organized Empire. In fact, “he had defeated the armies and broken the power of the reigning dynasty; but the only hold which he, or his race, yet had upon the people of India was military force”. The Rajputs had been only temporarily subdued. Though the Afghans had been defeated, they were far from being permanently crushed. The numerous scattered Afghan nobles, always ripe for revolt, required only a strong and able leader to galvanize them into life, and this they found in Sher Shah. The growing power of Gujarat under Bahadur Shah was also a serious menace to Humayun.

A ruler, possessed of military genius, diplomatic skill, and political wisdom, was the need of the hour. But Humayun lacked all of these. In fact, he himself proved to be his worst enemy. Though endowed with intellectual tastes and love of culture, he was devoid of the wisdom and discretion, as well as strong determination and perseverance, of his father. As Lane-Poole observes, “he was incapable of sustained effort and after a moment of triumph would bury himself in his harem and dream away the precious hours in the opium-eater’s paradise whilst his enemies were thundering at the gate. Naturally kind, he forgave when he should have punished; light-hearted and sociable, he revelled at the table when he ought to have been in the saddle. His character attracts but never dominates. In private life he might have been a delightful companion and a staunch friend. But as a king he was a failure. His name means ‘fortunate’ and never was an unlucky sovereign more miscalled”.