Political condition of India at the time of Babur's invasion

We get enough information from Baburnama about the political condition of India at the time of Babur's invasion. Babur writes that "The capital of India is Delhi. From the time of Sultan Shihauddin Ghori till Sultan Firoz Shah, most of India was under the emperor of Delhi. When I conquered this country, it was ruled by five Muslim and two Kafir rulers. So there were many small kings and nobles in the hilly and wooded regions, but these five were big and chieftains.'

Muslim King

1. Delhi - One of the above five states belonged to the Afghans in which the capital was included and which was extended from Bahrah to Bihar. Sultan Bahlol Lodi and his son Sultan Sikander had conquered both Delhi and Jaunpur and made a kingdom.

2. Gujarat - The second ruler of Gujarat was Muhammad Muzaffar. He had left this world a few days before the defeat of Sultan Ibrahim at Panipat in 1526. He was a learned ruler. He was fond of reading hadith. He was always engaged in writing the Quran. His name is Tang. They were the people of Sultan Firoz and his family, as has been mentioned, the 'jamvardar', that is, the cup-bearer. After the death of Firoz, these people snatched the throne of Gujarat.

3. Bahmani - The third kingdom belonged to the Bahmani people in the south, but at this time there was neither authority nor power in the hands of the sultans of the south. The various parganas of his kingdom have been snatched by powerful chieftains. When the ruler needed something, he had to plead with his own Amir.

4. Malwa - The fourth emperor was Sultan Mahmud who was the ruler of Malwa. This dynasty belonged to the Khiljis. Rana Sanga defeated them and snatched many of their territories. This dynasty also became weak.

5. Bengal - The fifth emperor was the ruler of Bengal, Nasrat Shah. His father was also the emperor there. He was Sayyid and his name was Sultan Alauddin. He had inherited the throne from his forefathers. It is a strange practice in Bengal that the state does not get there by lineage. Whoever sits on the throne after killing the ruler, the people immediately accept him as the king. People of Bengal say that we are devotees of the throne. Whoever sits on it, we obey him and treat him truthfully.

Babur writes that the five kings that have been mentioned are great. All are Muslims and they have huge armies.

Hindu Ruler

1. Vijayanagara - The most powerful in terms of country and leader among the Kafir rulers is the king of Vijayanagara. Harihar and Bukka established this independent Hindu state during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq. This state was to the south of the Krishna river. The most powerful king of this kingdom was Krishnadev Raya who was a contemporary of Babur. There was always war between Vijayanagara and Bahmani kingdoms. Krishna Deva Raya defeated the Bahmani Sultan. He extended the boundaries of the Vijayanagara kingdom to the sea in the west and east and to Kanyakumari in the south. He established friendly relations with the Portuguese. During his reign Vijayanagara was at the peak of power and prosperity.

2. Mewar - The second ruler is Rana Sanga. He has attained a very high position in these days by his sword and valor. His initial state was Chittor. When there was disturbance among the rulers of Mandu, he took away many territories of Mandu, such as Ratpur (Ranthambore), Sarangpur, Bhilsa and Chanderi.

Many other nobles and kings rule within India and on its borders. Due to the distance and inaccessibility of their kingdoms, how many of these people have never accepted the suzerainty of Muslim emperors.

Apart from the above states, Khandesh, Orissa, Kashmir and Sindh were also notable states of northern India. Khandesh was under Mir Muhammad. The ruler of Kashmir was Muhammad Shah. He was unfit. At that time the real power of the state was in the hands of its minister Chak. There was a struggle going on between the Sama dynasty and the Afghan dynasty for the ruling power in Sindh. Orissa was also the arena of partisans. At this time the Portuguese had settled on the west coast of India and they had brought instability in the political and business life of India.

Characteristics of the political condition of India at the time of Babur's invasion

The political condition of India at the beginning of the sixteenth century was deplorable. The country was divided into many small states. There was a conflict between them. The central power of Delhi had weakened. He did not have the ability to control the chaotic elements. Thus the political condition of India at the time of Babur's invasion was conceivable. This situation was favorable to Babur.

1. Delhi Sultanate: In the era of disintegration

The process of political disintegration in India had started during the time of Muhammad Tughlaq. Vijayanagara and Bahmani kingdoms were established in South India. Muhammad Tughlaq's successor Firoz Tughlaq was a weak ruler. He did not make any effort to improve the condition of North India. The terrible destruction caused by Timur further accelerated this process of disintegration. The Delhi Sultanate had already died before the invasion of Timur. Now only his ghost spirit was left. Timur inflicted a fatal blow on this ghost spirit and allowed it to scream in pain. Since Timur was not inclined to establish an empire in India, he plundered Delhi and left. The Sayyid rulers were of very short stature like the residents of Lilliput. A contemporary poet has sarcastically said that Shahenshahi Shah Alam, that Delhi ta Palam. The Lodi ruler was the last twinkle of this extinguished lamp.

2. Power: in the age of decentralization

If seen in real sense, before the invasion of Babur, the Delhi Sultanate was declining and not Muslim political dominance, Muslim power was still there but it was decentralized, Bengal, Gujarat and South had become new centers of power. That is, India was divided into many small states. These states used to fight among themselves. There was no sovereign power in the country. The struggle for dominance was going on. Bharatvarsha was not in a position to face any enemy unitedly who had the courage and ambition to build an empire for himself. Describing the political condition of India, Dr. Ishwari Prasad has written that, “India was a group of states in the early 16th century which could easily fall prey to any invader who had the power and desire to conquer it."

3. Army: Lack of skill and capability

Good soldiers were in abundance in India, but they lacked discipline and military education. Indians did not accept the new inventions in the field of military science. As a result it was difficult for them to fight against the latest weapons of the West. There was a feeling of ethnicity among the people. In conclusion, it can be said that the Indian army was not as strong as Babur's army. Also, there was no arrangement for the security of the Khyber Pass.

4. Socio-Cultural Condition: Fertile Land for the New Empire

Edwards and Garrett are of the view that, “Although India was divided politically, it was gradually being organized culturally. Hindus and Muslims were coming closer to each other due to the propagation of Bhakti movement. There was a good cooperation between the two. Ramananda, Vallabhacharya, Chaitanya, Namdev, Kabir and Nanak were the originators of the Bhakti movement and their teachings encouraged Hindu-Muslim unity by eliminating caste discrimination. Now where the Muslims had renounced their inferiority of being a foreigner, the Hindus had now overcome the inferiority complex of the sense of defeat. This is visible in the writings of Amir Khusrau and Kabir Das and the rise of the new ruling class.

Thus this political position of India could encourage any invader to conquer. And it could become a victim of any such attacker, who has the necessary strength and determination to win.