Babur
[Emperor of North India]
1. Paternal Lineage of Babur
The Mughal dynasty (known to themselves as the Timurids) traced their male line directly back to the Turco-Mongol conqueror Amir Timur (Tamerlane).
· Amir Timur (Founder of the Timurid Empire)
Miranshah (Son of Timur)
Sultan Muhammad Mirza (Son of Miranshah)
Sultan Abu Sa’id Mirza (Emperor of the Timurid Empire)
Sultan Ahmed Mirza (King of Samarkand & Bukhara)
Umar Shaikh Mirza II (King of Fergana , Babur’s Father)
Babur
+ Ayesha, daughter of the chief of the Mangligh clan (spouse 1)
+ Maham, Baburs favorite wife and mother of Humayun (spouse 2)
+ Gulrukh, mother of Kamran & Askari (spouse 3)
+ Bibi Mubarak, daughter of the chief of the Yusufzai clan (spouse 4)
Babur’s Children:
§ Humayun
§ Kamran
§ Askari
§ Hindal
4 Cousins: 1 Azar Khan, nobleman of Ferghana, 2 Mahmud, Prince of Kunduz, 3 Mirza Khan, Chieftain of Ferghana, 4 Tambal, Nobleman of Ferghana
2. Maternal Lineage (The Genghisids)
Babur’s mother belonged to the house of Chagatai Khan, the second son of Genghis Khan. This is where the name “Mughal” (a Persian corruption of “Mongol”) originates.
· Genghis Khan (Founder of the Mongol Empire)
Chagatai Khan
(Several generations of the Moghulistan Khans)
Yunis Khan (Great Khan of Moghulistan)
Qutlugh Nigar Khanum (Babur’s Mother)
3. The Immediate Connection: Ahmed and Babur
How the brothers divided the empire after their father Abu Sa’id Mirza died:
Ruler/Territory/Relationship to Babur
Sultan Ahmed Mirza/Samarkand & Bukhara/Paternal Uncle
Sultan Mahmud Mirza/Kunduz & Termez/Paternal Uncle
Umar Shaikh Mirza II/Fergana Valley/Father
4. Summary of the Genealogy of Babur
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur
· Father: Umar Shaikh Mirza II (Direct descendant of Timur)
· Mother: Qutlugh Nigar Khanum (Direct descendant of Genghis Khan)
· Paternal Uncle: Sultan Ahmed Mirza (The King of Samarkand you referenced)
The Historical Note:
When Babur’s father, Umar Shaikh, died in a freak accident (falling from a pigeon house in 1494), the young 12-year-old Babur inherited the small kingdom of Fergana. His uncle, Sultan Ahmed Mirza, actually attempted to invade Babur’s lands shortly after his brother’s death to seize control, but Ahmed died later that same year. This power vacuum eventually led to Babur’s lifelong obsession with capturing his uncle’s former capital, Samarkand.
Tamerlane’s great-great-great-grandson, Babur, founded the Mughal Empire in India in 1526. However, how he ruled India was dramatically different from how his successors (like Akbar or Shah Jahan) did.
The Emperor
Babur’s rule in India was brief, lasting only four years (1526–1530). Because his time was short, he ruled less as an administrative reformer and more as a military commander in a state of constant consolidation.
His style of governance was defined by several key approaches:
1. A Military Conquest State
Babur did not inherit a peaceful empire; he had to carve one out through continuous warfare. His governance was entirely centered around maintaining a highly disciplined, technologically advanced army. He introduced Ottoman-style artillery (cannons) and the Tulughma (flanking) strategy to India. To keep his crown, he spent his entire four-year reign fighting:
· 1526: Defeated Ibrahim Lodi (Battle of Panipat) to take Delhi.
· 1527: Defeated Rana Sanga and the Rajput Confederacy (Battle of Khanwa).
· 1528: Captured the strategic fort of Chanderi.
· 1529: Defeated Afghan rebels in Bihar and Bengal (Battle of Ghaghra).
2. Ruling Through Tribal Loyalty (The Baigs)
Babur brought a Central Asian style of decentralized tribal governance with him. He relied heavily on his baigs (Turco-Mongol noblemen and generals).
To govern India’s vast territories, he divided conquered lands into large assignments or grants (jagirs) and handed them over to his trusted generals. These generals acted as local military governors. They collected the revenue, maintained local law and order, and kept troops ready whenever Babur needed to march. This meant civil administration remained basic and decentralized.
3. Absolute Monarchy Independent of the Caliph
Unlike the Delhi Sultans who ruled before him, Babur shifted the concept of kingship in India. He dropped the traditional title of “Sultan” and assumed the title of Padshah (Emperor). Crucially, he severed political allegiance to the Caliph in the Middle East. He established that the Mughal Emperor was an absolute monarch answerable to no external theological authority, significantly raising the prestige of the crown.
4. Pragmatic Religious and Local Tolerance
While Babur used religious rhetoric to motivate his troops during tough battles (such as declaring his war against the Rajputs a Jihad and taking the title Ghazi), his practical rule was highly pragmatic.
· He quickly realized that ruling a massive, diverse Hindu-majority population required stability rather than forced conversion.
· He largely left local Indian village systems, local customary laws, and Hindu zamindars (landlords) untouched, provided they paid their taxes to his governors.
5. Cultural Governance: Introducing the Charbagh
Babur famously disliked the climate, architecture, and lack of refinement he initially found in North India. He chose to “rule by culture,” transforming the landscape of his new capital, Agra, by introducing Persian Islamic culture. He ordered the construction of formal, symmetrical Charbagh gardens (four-part gardens with flowing water channels) and brought in Persian-style architecture, poetry, and fruit cultivation to make India feel like his lost home in Central Asia.
Summary
Ultimately, Babur’s rule was a bridge between Central Asian nomadic warfare and the structured Indian empire. He died in 1530 before he could build a lasting legal or bureaucratic system. His true legacy as a ruler was that he successfully cleared the board, crushed the competing powers in Northern India, and left a blank slate, and a massive treasure chest, for his descendants to build upon.