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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

What the celebration of Mughal Empire leaves out—jihad, extraction and imperial plunder

History often arrives draped in marble, poetry, and romance, while concealing its scars beneath silk. Monuments may dazzle the eyes, but chronicles often unsettle the conscience.

Our nation is fascinating—we enthusiastically mark five centuries since the First Battle of Panipat, the event that established Timurid Gūrkāniyān rule in parts of Bharat, still inaccurately remembered as the Mughal Empire. Barely any attention was paid to the 450th anniversary of the Maratha revenge for the Third Battle of Panipat in 2021. Given the manner in which history has been taught here, many may not even know that Panipat was ever avenged.

The issue, however, is not observation itself. History must be remembered, for every triumph and tragedy has shaped who we are. The problem begins when remembrance turns into a celebration of a reign that largely brought difficult times for the nation.

I speak here of the establishment of Timurid rule after the First Battle of Panipat. Even in that battle, one sees early signs of what followed. While Panipat is often remembered for Babur’s cannons and military skill, little is said about his use of villages around Panipat as human shields, drawing non-combatants into war. Baburnama has proof that massive plunder followed, with wealth flowing toward Samarkand, Khurasan, Kashghar, Iraq, Mecca, and Medina. Babur himself acknowledged Bharat’s riches and, after the battle of Chanderi, declared that he had conquered Dar-ul-Harb (territories ruled by non-Muslims). 

The same disposition became more visible after the Rajput resistance at Bayana, when he broke his wine vessels, invoked jihad, and proclaimed:

“They shattered them as, Allah willing, soon shall be shattered the idols of the idolaters, distributing the fragments among the poor and needy.”

And then came the Battle of Khanwa, after which Babur assumed the title of Ghazi (victor in a jihad fought by the sword) and declared:

For Islām’s sake, I roamed the untamed wilds,

Ready for battle against the pagans, the Hindūs,

Resolved to embrace the Shahid’s martyrdom.

Thanks be to Allāh! I became a Ghāzī.

The Fathnama (Fatḥ-i-Pādshāh-i-Islām), composed at the hands of Shaikh Zain, further states in Baburnama:

Upon hearing the thunderous approach of the forces of Islam, the accursed Kafir enemies of Muḥammad’s religion gathered their ill-fated troops and advanced with a unified resolve, placing their trust in their towering, monstrous elephants, as the Lords of the Elephant once did when they marched to overthrow the sanctuary (Ka‘ba) of Islam.

The Battle of Khanwa was clearly framed as a conflict between the armies of Islam and the kafirs (non-Muslims). Equally striking is the reference to the tower of Hindu heads that follows:

All the Hindus slain, wretched and lowly, 

By matchlock fire, as if under elephants’ might, 

Piles of their bodies rose like hills, 

From each mound, a fountain of flowing blood. 

The point I seek to draw here is simple: when Babur fought Muslim armies such as the Lodis, he did not invoke jihad. But against the brave Hindu king Rana Sangram Singh at Khanwa, the language of jihad emerged prominently. Since Rana Sangram Singh is mentioned, another popular claim also deserves clarification. A triangulation of sources suggests that Rana Sanga did not invite Babur into Hindustan; rather, it was Babur who reached out seeking an alliance against the Lodi power. 

Limits of ‘syncretism’ 

Another aspect worth touching upon is the idea of syncretism, a theme many are eager to celebrate. And perhaps there is no better place to begin than the famous rakhi episode of Humayun and the Queen of Mewar Karnavati. What actually transpired, as opposed to the popular tale of Rani Karnavati sending a rakhi and Humayun marching to preserve its honour? The story largely enters popular imagination through James Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan:

When her Amazonian sister, the Rathor queen, was slain,........

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