Babur and King Sangram singh

HistoryFacts : “Betrayal by Afghans & Raja Shiladitya (later Silah-al-din)”

The following chapter hasbeen taken from the historical accounts of :
▪︎Erskine, William (24 May 2012). A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur, Báber and Humáyun. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-04620-6.
▪︎Wink 2012, p. 27 & pp. 157-158
▪︎Spear, Percival (1990). A History of India. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-14-0138368-.
▪︎Sarkar, Jadunath (1960). Military History of India. Orient Longmans. ISBN 978-0-86125-155-1.
▪︎Wink, Andre (2012). Akbar. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-78074-209-0.
▪︎Eraly, Abrahim (2007). Emperors Of The Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls.
▪︎Barua, Pradeep (2005). The State at War in South Asia. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0-80321-344-9.
▪︎Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2002). History of medieval India : from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. New Delhi: Atlantic Publ. pp. 89–90. ISBN 81-269-0123-3.
▪︎Damrosch, David; Alliston, April (2004). The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Longman. ISBN 978-0-321-16980-8.

● Background of the battle: Most of the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent were already under the control of Ibrahim Lodi of the invadaving Afghan Lodi dynasty, but the empire was crumbling & there were many defectors.
Prince of the Uzbeki Timurid Empire, #Babur (born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad), descendant of Timur & Genghis Khan, had already raided Punjab in 1504 & 1518. In 1519 he tried to invade Punjab but had to return to Kabul due to complications there. In 1520-21 Babur again ventured to conquer Punjab, he easily captured Bhira & Sialkot which were known as the “twin gateways to Hindostan”. Babur was able to annex towns & cities till Lahore but was again forced to stop due to rebellions in Qandhar. In 1523 he received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Ibrahim Lodi’s uncle, to attack the Delhi Sultanate. Daulat Khan later betrayed Babur & with a force of 40,000 he captured Sialkot from the Mughal garrison & marched towards Lahore. Daulat Khan was soundly defeated at Lahore and through this victory Babur became the unopposed lord of Punjab. Babur continued his conquest & annihilated the Lodi sultanate’s army in the First Battle of Panipat, where he killed the Sultan & founded the #MughalDynasty.
There is also a segment of historians who claim that Rajput king, Maharana Sangram Singh, famously known as #RanaSanga , also invited Babur to help him defeat the Afghan invaders. However, this claim is rejected by most historians, because Rana Sanga had already defeated the huge armies of Ibrahim Lodhi twice without any foreign assistance in the ‘Battle of Khatoli,1518’ & ‘Battle of Dholpur,1519’ with a very small army. And if Rana Sanga had really invited Babur to help him fight the Afghans, than why did he not allign with Babur against the Afghans in the ‘1st Battle of Panipat,1526’? instead Rana Sanga gave refuge to the retreating Afghan soldiers to save them from Mughals.
On hearing the advancements of Rana Sanga to Agra, Babar sent a strike force to Bayana which was defeated & dispersed by Rana Sanga on 21 February 1527.
Rana Sanga had destroyed all the Mughal contingents that were sent against him, this caused great fear in Babur’s army as Babar has written in his autobiography #Baburnama, “the fierceness and valour of the pagan army” made the troops “anxious and afraid”. The Afghans in the Mughal army started to leave & the Turks started complaining about defending a land that they hated, they requested Babur to leave to Kabul with the rich spoils that they had collected. Babur writes “no manly word or brave council was heard from any one soever”.
Rana Sanga had built a formidable military alliance against Babur. He was joined by all the other leading Rajput kings from #Rajasthan, including those from Harauti, Jalor, Sirohi, Dungarpur & Dhundhar. Rao Ganga of Marwar did not join personally but sent a contingent on his behalf led by his son Maldev Rathore. Rao Medini Rai of Chanderi in Malwa also joined the alliance. Further, Mahmud Lodi, the younger son of Sikandar Lodi, whom the Afghans had proclaimed their new sultan also joined the alliance with a contingent of Afghan horsemen with him. Khanzada Hasan Khan Mewati, the ruler of Mewat, also joined the alliance with his men. The Afghans who earlier considered native Indians as their enemies were aslo given complete respect & honour and merged into Rana Sanga’s Army. Babur denounced that, the Afghans who joined the alliance with the Indians against him as kafirs & murtads (those who had apostatized from Islam).

● The Battle of Khanwa:
Babur had a skilled & experienced Army. He knew that his comparitively small army would have been swept by the huge army(40,000men + 200 War Elephants) of Rana Sanga, if he tried to fight them in the open, he therefore planned a defensive strategy to form a fortified encampment where he would use his muskets & artillery to weaken his foes and then strike when their morale had shattered. Babur had carefully inspected the site. Like in Panipat, he strengthened his front by procuring carts that were fastened by iron chains (not leather straps, as at Panipat) & reinforced by mantlets. Gaps between the carts were used for horsemen to charge at the opponent at an opportune time. To lengthen the line, ropes made of rawhide were placed over wheeled wooden tripods. The flanks were given protection by digging ditches. Foot-musketeers, falconets and mortars were placed behind the carts, from where they could fire and, if required, advance. The heavy Turkic horsemen stood behind them, two contingents of elite horsemen were kept in the reserve for the taulqama (flanking) tactic. Thus, a strong offensive-defensive formation had been prepared by Babur.
Rana Sanga, fighting in a traditional manner, charged the Mughal ranks & had an upper hand in the initial phase of the Battle. The fierce Rajput-Afghan charge left the Mughal army in total shock. But when the soldiers of the Mughal army were retreating from the battlefield, Babar played his master stroke.

● Betrayal by Afghans & Raja Shiladitya(later Silah-al-din):
In order to reorganize his retreating soldiers, Babur pleaded for ‘Jihad’ (Islamic holy war against non-Muslims), he started reading verses from the holy ‘Quran’. His plan worked. Not only the Mughal soldiers, but also the Afghan soldiers of Rana’s army United in the name of Jihad. The Mughal & Afghan troops charged the Rajputs. Now, the #Rajput army was left in total shock. Before Rana Sanga could recover from the shock of betrayal, he got shot multiple times and felt unconscious on the ground.
Assuming that Rana Sanga was dead, a Rajput Chieftain named Shiladitya Raisen (later converted to Islam & became Silah-al-din) also joined hands with Babur & embraced Islam. Now, the moral of the Rajput soldiers was shattered. Thus, the Rajput army was eventually defeated by the Mughal forces with a considerable change in the numbers-game.
Sanga was taken away from battlefield in unconscious state by Prithviraj Singh I Kachwaha and Maldeo Rathore of Marwar. After regaining consciousness he took an oath to never return to Chittor till he defeated Babur and conquered Delhi. He also stopped wearing Turban and used to wrap up cloth over his head. While he was preparing to wage another war against Babur he was poisoned by his own nobles who did not want another Battle with Babur. He died in Kalpi in January 1528. He was succeeded by his son Ratan Singh II.