Medieval India from Sultanat to Mughal (Part 2)

295 Pages·1998·2.707 MB·English

by  Satish Chandra

MEDIEVAL
INDIA
FROM SULTANATE TO THE MUGHALS

PART TWO
MUGHAL EMPIRE

(1526-1748)

SATISH CHANDRA
HAR-ANAND PUBLICATIONS PVT LTD
Contents
1. Central Asian Politics and the Advance of Babur towards India
a. The Timurids
b. The Timurid-Uzbek and Uzbek-Iran Conflict and Babur
c. Babur's Advance towards India
2. Struggle for Empire in North India: Afghans, Rajputs and Mughals
a. Struggle between Ibrahim Lodi and Babur, the Battle of Panipat
b. Babur's problems after the Battle of Panipat -- Struggle with Rana Sanga
c. Problems of the Eastern Areas and the Afghans
d. Babur's Contribution and Significance of his Advent into India
3. Struggle for Empire in North India: Humayun and the Afghans
a. Interpreting Humayun's Reign - Some Considerations
b. Early Activities of Humayun, and the Tussle with Bahadur Shah
c. The Gujarat Campaign
d. The Bengal Campaign, and Struggle with Sher Khan
4. The Establishment of the North Indian Empire --The Surs
a. Sher Shah's Early Life
b. Social and Political Background of Bihar and the Rise of Sher Shah to Power.
c. The Sur Empire (1540-56)
d. Contributions of Sher Shah and Islam Shah
5. Consolidation and Expansion of the Empire - Akbar
a. Conflict with the Afghans - Hemu
b. Struggle with the Nobility: Bairam Khan's Regency; Revolt of Uzbek Nobles
c. Early Expansion of the Empire (1560-76) –
i. Malwa,
ii. Garh-Katanga
iii. Rajasthan
iv. Gujarat
v. Eastern India
d. Relations with the Rajputs - Growth of a Composite Ruling Class
e. Rebellions, and Further Expansion of the Empire in the North West
6. State and Government under Akbar
a. Akbar's Concept of Suzerainty
b. Structure of Government,
i. Central and Provincial
1. the Vikalat,
2. the Central Ministries,
ii. Provincial Government
iii. District and Local Government
c. The Working of Government
7. Akbar's Religious Views, Relations with the Ulama and Social Reforms
a. The Early Phase (1556-73)
b. The Second Phase (1573-80)
i. the Ibadat Khana Debates
ii. the Mahzar
iii. Breach with Orthodox Ulama
iv. Re-organisation of Madadd-i-Maash Grants
c. Third or Final Phase
i. Din-i-Ilahi
ii. State Policies and religious toleration
8. The Deccan and the Mughals (Upto 1657)
a. The Deccani States upto 1595
b. Mughal Advance towards the Deccan
c. Mughal Conquest of Berar, Khandesh and Parts of Ahmadnagar
d. Rise of Malik Ambar, and Frustration of Mughal Attempt at Consolidation (1601-27)
e. Extinction of Ahmadnagar, Acceptance of Mughal Suzerainty by Bijapur and Golconda
f. Shah Jahan and the Deccan (1636-57)
g. Cultural Contribution of the Deccani States
9. Foreign Policy of the Mughals
a. Akbar and the Uzbeks
b. The Question of Qandahar and Relations with Iran
c. Shah Jahan's Balkh Campaign
d. Mughal - Persian Relations - the Last Phase
10. India in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century
a. Jahangir's Accession - his Early Difficulties
b. Territorial Consolidation and Expansion of the Empire - Mewar, East India and
Kangra
c. Nur Jahan, and the Nur Jahan 'Junta'
d. The Rebellions of Shah Jahan, and the coup de main of Mahabat Khan
e. Jahangir as a Ruler
f. State and Religion in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century
g. Shah Jahan - Consolidation and Expansion of the Empire
h. Evolution of the Mughal Ruling Class and the Mansabdari System
11. Aurangzeb - Religious Policies, North India and the Rajputs
a. War of Succession
b. Religious Policy: First Phase (1658-79)- Reforms and Puritanical Measures, Hindu
Temples, Jizya;
c. Second Phase (1679-1707)
d. Territorial Consolidation and Expansion of Empire - North India
e. Popular Revolts - Jats, Satnamis, Afghans and Sikhs
f. Breach with Marwar and Mewar
12. Climax and Crisis of the Mughal Empire
a. Rise of the Marathas
b. Early Career of Shivaji
c. Treaty of Purandar - the Agra Visit
d. Shivaji's Swarajya - Administration and Achievements
e. Aurangzeb and the Deccani States (1658-87)
f. Marathas and the Deccan (1687-1707)
g. Assessment of Aurangzeb and the Jagirdari Crisis
13. Society - Structure and Growth
a. Rural Society
b. Towns and Town Life
c. Artisans and Master-Craftsmen
d. Women
e. Servants and Slaves
f. Standard of Living
g. The Ruling Classes - Nobility, Rural Gentry
h. The Middle Strata
i. The Commercial Classes
14. Economic Life-Patterns and Prospects
a. Inland Trade
b. Overseas Trade
i. Role of Foreign Trading Companies
ii. Position of Indian Merchants
iii. Over-land Trade
c. The Mughal State and Commerce
d. Trend of India's Economy and Prospects during the First Half of the Eighteenth
Century
15. Religion, Fine Arts, Science and Technology
a. Religion- Hindu Religion, Sikh Religion, Islam
b. Fine Arts - Architecture, Painting, Language and Literature, Music
c. Science and Technology
16. Northern India in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century
a. Bahadur Shah I, and the Beginning of the Struggle for Wizarat –
i. Party Factionalism
ii. Rajput Affairs
iii. Marathas and the Deccan
iv. Accentuation of the Party Struggle
b. Struggle for 'New' Wizarat: Zulfiqar Khan and Jahandar Shah (1712-13)
c. The Saiyid Brothers' Struggle for 'New' Wizarat
d. The Saiyid 'New' Wizarat
e. The Wizarat of M. Amin Khan and Nizam-ul-Mulk
f. Rise of Regional States, Beginning of Foreign Invasions of India (1725-48)
17. The Maratha Bid for Supremacy
a. The Marathas and their Policy of Expansion
b. The Marathas and Nizam-ul-Mulk
c. The Maratha Advance into Gujarat and Malwa
d. The Maratha Advance into Doab and Punjab: First Phase (1741-52); Second Phase
(1752-61); Third Battle of Panipat
e. Review and Conclusions

Glossary
References
Chapter 1

Central Asian Politics and the Advance of
Babur Towards India
Throughout Indian history, events and developments in Central Asia had a deep and abiding impact on
India. As we have seen, during the 10th and the 12th centuries, developments in Central Asia led to the
advent of the Ghaznavids, and then of the Ghurids into India. Similarly, developments in Central Asia
during the 15th and early 16th centuries, led to a new Turkish incursion into India, this time in the
shape of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur.
The Timurids
The rapid rise and decline of the Mongols, and their mutual squabbles created the climate for the
emergence of a new Central Asian empire during the 14th century. The founder of this empire, Timur,
belonged to the Barlas clan of Turks who had been owners of land in Transoxiana, and had freely
intermarried with the Mongols. Even Timur claimed descent from Genghis by virtue of his marrying a
daughter of the Mongol Khan, Qazan Khan, who was a descendant of Genghis's son, Chagatai.
However, as a modern writer, Gavin Hamby, observes: "In Asia, Genghis Khan's career gave birth to a
new concept of imperium which certainly captured men's imagination, although at first the predominant
sentiment was one of terror ... after the fall of the Mongol empire every princeling in Central Asia
sought, if he could, to legitimize his rule by claiming descent from Genghis Khan."
Timur launched upon a career of conquest which lasted almost a quarter of a century till his death in
1404-05. He over-ran Khurasan (eastern Iran), Iran, Georgia, Iraq and the Ottoman empire in Syria
and Anatolia (Turkey). He also led a series of campaigns against the Mongol ulus called the Golden
Horde, which controlled Southern Russia and parts of modern Sinkiang and Siberia. However, he
made no attempt to incorporate them in his empire. He sacked Delhi, and laid a vague claim over the
Punjab. He was planning an invasion of China at the time of his death.
Timur has been called "one of the boldest and most destructive conquerors in human history." Like
Genghis earlier, he used terror as an instrument of war. He ruthlessly sacked cities which offered
resistance to him, slaughtering and enslaving large numbers and carrying off artisans, craftsmen and
scholars to his capital, Samarqand. He followed this policy in Khurasan and Iran, and in India when he
sacked Delhi.
Timur did not leave any lasting institutions, and his empire disintegrated rapidly after his death.
However, the state he created, and the new cultural values and norms it generated, influenced not only
the Mughals in India, but also the other states which arose in the area—the Uzbeks, the Safavids, and the
Ottomans. Although the Mongols had embraced Islam like the Turks earlier, they had continued many
Mongol practices and rituals, including the regulations or yassa laid down by Genghis. Timur claimed to
be a pious Muslim. However, according to a contemporary observer, Ibn Arab Shah, the yassal of
Genghis and the traditions of the Mongols were fundamental to Timur's character and policy. He argues
that the Quran and the sharia did not matter to Timur except as external forms. While many of the
successors of Timur tried to pose as orthodox Muslims, and gave patronage to the Muslim religious
classes, made provision for religious endowment, and built shrines, mosques and madrasas, they never
repudiated the yassa. This willingness to treat the yassa as a supplement to the sharia, and to issue royal
edicts (yarligh) to modify the sharia whenever it suited them, gave a broader, more liberal character to
the Timurid state than the states which had preceded. The Timurid rulers also gave support to the new
liberal stream of thought, based on Ibn Arabi's philosophy of wahdat-al-wajud, or unity of God and the
created world, which was given popular expression by a new breed of poets. Thus, Jami, one of the
most popular poets, was patronized by Timur's successor, Shah Rukh, at Herat. The Timurids presided
over what has been called "the last great age of Persian literature." They also encouraged the
development of Chagatai Turkish as a literary language. Another successor of Timur, Sultan Husain
Baiqara, set up a new school of painting at Herat under the master painter, Bihazad.
Thus, the times and the efforts of Timur, and his successors led to the rise of a liberal Muslim state
which did not exclude anyone on the basis of their faiths. Thus, Christians and other non-Muslims were
included in Timur's armies. The state was also to be a champion and promoter of a broad liberal school
of culture. As Gavin Hamby says: "No other dynasty in Central Asia left behind it such a legacy."
Another Mongol tradition which the Timurids inherited was of giving total loyalty and support to the
chief, called Qa-an, or the great chief by the Mongols. Genghis, and following him, the Timurids
claimed the divine right to rule. No ordinary noble or military leader could, therefore, dream of
displacing them. In fact, they were content to be called their servitors or servants (nokar).
It was these traditions which gave greater stability and longevity to the great empires which arose in the
region during the post-Mongol period—the Mughal, the Safavid, the Uzbek, the Ottoman etc., as
compared to the pre-Mongol states. It also helped to shape the Mughal state and culture in India.
The Timurid-Uzbek and the Uzbek-Iranian Conflict and Babur
As we have noted, following the disintegration of the Timurid empire during the second half of the
fifteenth century, three powerful empires arose in Central and West Asia. The Uzbek empire
dominated Transoxiana, the Safavid empire comprised Iran, and the Ottoman empire was based on
Anatolia (modern Turkey) and Syria which extended to Eastern Europe and dominated the
Mediterranean Sea. The Ottomans were the only Asian power which had a large navy. It clashed with
the Safavids for the control of Baghdad, South-Western Iran and Azerbaijan. The Safavids, who
claimed descent from an old order of saints, established themselves towards the beginning of the
sixteenth century. They were fiercely Shi’ite, and persecuted the Sunnis, including the theologians, in
Iran. They also tried to propagate Shiism in Syria and Anatolia. The Ottomans were staunch Sunnis
and retaliated by persecuting Shi’ites in Syria and Anatolia. Thus, sectarian conflict made the political
rivalry between the two more bitter and intense. The Uzbeks who were the main rivals of the Timurids,
consisted of nomadic Turkish and Mongol tribes speaking Turkish, living in what is modern
Kazakhstan. They had established an Uzbek khanate in the area during the middle of the fifteenth
century. However, this khanate had been destroyed, and the Uzbek empire was virtually rebuilt by
Muhammad Shaibani Khan. Starting life as a free-booter and a mercenary, Shaibani Khan served for
some time under the Mongol Khan of Mughalistan, but soon struck out on his own, basing himself on
Uzbek and Mongol soldiers of fortune.
The great prize before all the contenders was Transoxiana which was then fragmented among a series of
Timurid princelings. In the hot-house atmosphere of the times, each Timurid prince not only tried to
hold on to what he had, but was always on the look out to seize the territory of a neighbour—brother,
cousin, uncle or nephew. Nor did any of them hesitate in employing Uzbek or Mongol mercenaries, or
calling in outside powers to intervene in their internal struggles. In such a situation, only a bold and
unscrupulous person could hope to succeed. While none of the begs (nobles, leaders of soldiers) could
be relied upon, the worst were the Mongol mercenaries. Years later, Babur, while forced to employ
Mongol mercenaries, wrote: "If they win, they grab at booty; if they lose, they unhorse and pilfer their
own side!"
Apart from the Uzbeks, the Mongol Khans whose kingdoms were in the modern Sinkiang area or
Mughalistan but had a toehold in Transoxiana, were also on the look-out to expand their dominions
there. The two Khans, Muhammad Khan and Ahmad Khan, were maternal uncles of Babur. They
helped Babur on occasions, but could not hold back their own ambitions.
The third party to this conflict was the Timurid Sultan, Husain Baiqara who controlled Khurasan
(eastern Iran). He was always prepared to nibble at Transoxiana without, however, committing a major
part of his forces for the purpose.
The centre point of the struggle for Transoxiana was the control over Samarqand. Samarqand had
immense prestige value because it had been the capital of the Timurids for almost 140 years. It was also
the centre of a rich and prosperous tract. Years later Babur was to say that "Few towns in the whole
habitable world are so pleasant as Samarqand." He dwells on its magnificent buildings and gardens, its
trade and manufactures, the excellent meadows around it, and its fruits and wine.
This is the background against which Babur was born, and in which he spent his early years. As is well
known, Babur ascended the small principality of Farghana in 1494 at the age of twelve, following the
death of his father, Umar Shaikh, when the house from which he was flying pigeons collapsed and fell
upon him. At the time Farghana was being attacked from all quarters, but mainly, by his paternal uncle,
Sultan Ahmad Mirza, aided by his maternal uncle, Sultan Mahmud Khan. With luck, firmness, and the
loyalty of his subjects, Babur was able to stand up to these attacks, and forced his attackers to make
peace with him.
During the next ten years, Babur twice conquered Samarqand to lose it again after a short spell. The
first time, in 1497, when Babur was barely fifteen, he conquered Samarqand after a siege of seven
months. He was aided in the enterprise by a split in the camp of the Timurid ruler of Samarqand,
Baisanghar Mirza, whose brother was with Babur. Baisanghar sent repeated appeals to Shaibani Khan
for help. Shaibani advanced but found Babur's defence to be too strong, and retreated. Babur was
warmly welcomed by the citizens of Samarqand. However, he had to vacate it soon because the city
lacked both supplies and money which Babur could not provide. There was little to plunder, and soon
the Mongol mercenaries of Babur deserted. Many of Babur's own begs left him, and returned to the
comforts of Farghana. Babur's serious illness, and a conspiracy against him in his own dominions
worsened Babur’s position and forced him to leave Samarqand. Meanwhile, some of his begs had
installed his younger half-brother, Jahangir Mirza, at Farghana, while some portions of the kingdom
were seized by his maternal uncle, Mahmud Khan. Thus, Babur lost both Samarqand and his own
kingdom. In great distress, Babur repaired for help to his maternal uncles who fobbed him off with
promises.
While Babur was grappling with his internal problems, Shaibani Khan was invited by the Uzbek mother
of the Timurid Sultan to occupy Samarqand in return for marrying her, and giving her son an
appendage somewhere. This was a golden opportunity which Shaibani Khan seized. He soon made
himself the virtual master of Mawara-un-Nahar, and also captured Bukhara. In an effort not to allow
Shaibani Khan to consolidate his position any further, Babur advanced on Samarqand with a small
force, and captured it with the help of the Samarqandis (1501). Babur says that the Uzbeks were so
unpopular that the Samarqandis killed them with sticks and stones like dogs. But the support of the
citizens alone was of little avail for Babur. His plea to the other Timurids to rally against the Uzbeks fell
on deaf ears: Sultan Baiqara of Herat did not even reply to Babur's plea for help, but sent an envoy to
Shaibani Khan who still controlled Bukhara. The help sent by Babur's maternal uncles, the Mongol
Khans, was too small. It is clear that without resources of his own backed by a kingdom, which would
have attracted other adventurers to his side, Babur had little chance of success against the Uzbeks who
had an able and experienced leader in the person of Shaibani Khan. It does not see that Babur fully
understood the real weakness of his position.
Shaibani Khan counter-attacked from Bukhara. In a bold effort, Babur came out from the city in the
open to face him. However, at Sar-i-Pul, Shaibani Khan inflicted a sharp defeat on Babur (1502). It was
in this battle that Shaibani Khan used the wheeling tactics or tulghuma, a well-known Uzbek devise
which Babur was to use against Ibrahim Lodi twenty-five years later. Babur retreated into Samarqand,
but seeing no help from any quarter, and with starvation beginning in the town, and his own begs
slipping away in ones and twos, Babur had no option but to make, what he says, "a sort of peace" with
Shaibani Khan. Although Babur does not say so, one of the terms of the peace was the marriage of
Babur's elder sister, Khanazad Begum, to Shaibani Khan. But this marriage hardly healed the breach
between Shaibani Khan and Babur, or with the Timurids. In fact, Shaibani Khan applied continuous
pressure against the remaining Timurid states in the region.
Babur was again without a kingdom. In the process, he had to suffer, as he says, "great poverty and
humiliation". It was now that the Mongol Khans finally awoke to the danger posed to them by the
growing Uzbek power. Hence, with a large army they marched from Tashkent towards Farghana to
counter Shaibani Khan. Like Babur earlier, the Mongol Khans had hoped that the Timurid princes
would help them to deal with the rising Uzbek danger. Moving quickly to forestall any such combination
of forces, Shaibani Khan met the Khans with 30,000 horses near Archian. In one of the greatest battles
ever fought between the Mongols and the Turks, the Mongol forces were utterly routed (1503), and
both the Mongol Khans taken captive. Shaibani Khan now played a master stroke. He spared the lives
of the Khans, and legitimized his position by entering into matrimonial relations with them.
Simultaneously, he admitted about 30,000 Mongols into the Uzbek army.
The victories of Sar-i-Pul and Archian established the Uzbek supremacy in Transoxiana against both the
Timurids and the Mongols. Babur also realized that his position in the region was now impossible.
Hence, in a bold move, crossing the Hindukush mountains in winter, Babur attacked and conquered
Kabul (1504) and Ghazni. The importance of Kabul was fully understood by Babur and his kinsmen
and begs who now rallied to him in large numbers. Kabul not only provided Babur with a breathing
space from Uzbek attacks, but as a modern writer, Rushbrooke Williams says, ''master of that country
(he) could turn his eyes west to Samarqand, or east to Hindustan." In his Memoirs Babur says," Kabul is
the intermediate point between Hindustan and Khurasan". In 1506, he journeyed to Herat at the
invitation of his uncle, Sultan Husain Baiqara, who wanted him to join in a joint expedition against the
Uzbeks, the latter having occupied Khwarazm, a possession of Sultan Husain Baiqara. But the Sultan
died just then, and Babur returned to Kabul, realizing that the sons of Sultan Hussain were both
incompetent and not serious in fighting the Uzbeks.
As it was, Shaibani Khan also realized this. He soon over-ran Herat, thus extinguishing the last Timurid
kingdom in the area. Babur was now afraid of an Uzbek attack on Kabul itself. To raise the morale of
his followers, in 1506 he decided that all his followers call him 'Padshah'. This was also to demonstrate
that the Timurid dynasty was not dead, thereby claiming the allegiance of all those Chagatai and Mughal
tribesmen, princes and begs who felt a sense of loyalty to the Timurids. However, this was not such an
innovative step as it has been made out to be. The use of the word "Padshah" was common currency in
Central Asia at the time. In his Memoirs, Babur himself shows that in the period following his conquest
of Samarqand, on many occasions his followers called him "Padshah."
It was at this time that the Uzbeks suffered their first serious reverse. Conscious that the Uzbek
conquest of Khurasan would pose a danger to the position of the Safavids in Iran, Shah Ismail Safavi
marched against Shaibani Khan. In the battle near Merv (1508), the Uzbek forces were routed, and
Shaibani Khan himself was found dead in a heap of corpses. The Persian Sultan, whom Shaibani Khan
had earlier insulted by calling him a begging mendicant (dervish) — an allusion to his ancestry from Sufi
saints, revenged himself by ordering Shaibani Khan's skull to be set in gold and made into a drinking
cup!
It was this debacle of the Uzbeks which tempted Babur once again to try his luck at Samarqand.
Arriving at the Amu-Darya (Oxus), Babur defeated the Uzbeks in a sharp encounter, but felt that he was
still not strong enough to expel them from Transoxiana. He, therefore, sent an embassy to Shah Ismail.
The Shah had already shown his good-will by escorting back with honour Babur's sister, Khanazad
Begum who, after the death of Shaibani Khan and her second husband, had fallen into the hands of the
Persians. Although the Shah had earlier entered into an agreement with the Uzbeks by which the river
Oxus was fixed as the boundary between them, he had no qualms in assisting the Timurids in expelling
the Uzbeks from Transoxiana. Apparently, he hoped that in this way any potential threat from the side
of the Uzbeks would be effectively removed. As a price of his assistance, he demanded that Babur
substitute the Shah's name in the khutba, stamp coins in the Shah's name, and propagate Shia doctrines
in his dominions. These, however, were to be applied only in the territories conquered with the help of
the Persian, for Babur was permitted to issue coins (sikka) in his own name in Afghanistan, and in his
hereditary dominion, Farghana.
Babur accepted these conditions. With the help of a Persian army, he conquered Bukhara and then
Samarqand where he was welcomed by the begs and the people. In order to assert his independence,
after the fall of Bukhara Babur sent back the Persian army. However, the Persian ruler was determined
to treat Babur as a subordinate ruler. Babur chafed at the intervention of the Persian agent at
Samarqand in day-to-day affairs. Both the Persian rulers and the local population were convinced that at
the first suitable opportunity, Babur would repudiate the khutba and sikka demanded by the Shah, and
declare himself independent.1 Conscious of the Uzbek danger, Babur tried to maintain friendship with
the Shah for the time being by wearing the Persian dress of the Kizilbash, much to the annoyance of the
local population. However, he refused to permit the persecution of the Sunni theologians for their
beliefs.
Muhammad Jan Ishaq, the Shah's chamberlain, who was the Iranian agent at Samarqand, secretly
informed the Shah that Babur was contemplating rebellion. In anger, the Shah sent a Persian army to
punish him. But before the Persian army could reach Samarqand, the Uzbeks rallied, captured
Bukhara, and defeated Babur in a sharp battle fought near it. Faced with a sullen population, Babur had
to abandon Samarqand, and fall back on Hisar on the Amu Darya. The exulting Uzbeks now
encountered and defeated the advancing Persian army under Najm-i-Sani which had been sent to
punish Babur, but had been forced to succour him. Babur was with the Persian forces, but seems to
have stood aloof. Thus, the Amu Darya once again became the boundary between Persia and the
Uzbeks. Babur had no option but to withdraw from Transoxiana, and he returned to Kabul after a gap
of almost three years.
1 Mirza Haider Dughlat, a prominent noble, and the author of Tarikh-i-Rashidi, reflects this, saying,
"Although in the hour of necessity, the Emperor had put on the garments of the Kizilbash (i.e., Shias)
which was pure heresy, nay almost unbelief, the people sincerely hoped that when he mounted the
throne of Samarqand, and place on his head the diadem of the Sunna of Muhammad, he would
remove from it the insignia of the Shah."
The third and last foray of Babur into Samarqand hardly gives him any credit. Babur grossly
overestimated his own strength and ability to retain Samarqand, much less conquer the rest of
Transoxiana without the active aid and support of the Persian armies. In the process, he compromised
his principles, and saddled himself with a treaty which he could neither implement nor repudiate.
Similarly, the Persians grossly underestimated the strength of the Uzbeks, and their capacity to recoup.
It was this which made Shah Ismail treat Babur as a cat's paw against the Uzbeks who could be easily
removed once he had served the purpose of dislodging the Uzbeks from Transoxiana. It was these
wrong perceptions and contradictions on both the sides, rather than the Shia-Sunni strife (which was
real, but was a subordinate factor), which foredoomed Babur's last Samarqand enterprise. The only
positive outcome of the expedition was that Babur was finally forced to turn his attention to India.
Second, that it laid the foundation of Timurid-Safavids cooperation against the Uzbeks, disregarding
sectarian differences.
Babur's Advance Towards India
The dream of conquering India had never been far from Babur's mind. While he was wandering in
Transoxiana without a kingdom, his imagination had been fired by hearing tales about Timur's exploits