First Battle of Panipat

The First Battle of Panipat, on 21 April 1526, was fought between the invading
First Battle of Panipat
forces of Babur and the Lodi Kingdom. It took place in north India and marked the
beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the earliest battles involving Part of Mughal conquests
gunpowder firearms and field artillery in the Indian subcontinent which were
introduced by Mughals in this battle.[2]

Contents
1 Background
2 Battle
2.1 Advantage of cannons in the battle
2.2 Tactics
3 Aftermath
4 See also
5 References
6 Sources

Background The battle of Panipat and

the death of Sultan Ibrhm
After losing Samarkand for the second time, Babur gave attention to conquer India
Date 21 April 1526
as he reached the banks of the Chenab in 1519.[4] Until 1524, his aim was to only
expand his rule to Punjab, mainly to fulfil his ancestor Timur's legacy, since it used Location Panipat
to be part of his empire.[5] At the time parts of north India were under the rule of (in present-day
Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, but the empire was crumbling and there were Haryana, India)
many defectors. He received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab 29.39N 76.97E
and Ala-ud-Din, uncle of Ibrahim.[6] He sent an ambassador to Ibrahim, claiming Result Decisive Mughal
himself the rightful heir to the throne of the country, however the ambassador was Victory
detained at Lahore and released months later.[7] End of the Lodi
dynasty
Babur started for Lahore, Punjab, in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been Establishment of the
driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi.[8] When Babur arrived at Lahore, the Mughal Empire
Lodi army marched out and his army was routed.[8] In response, Babur burned
Territorial Delhi Sultanate
Lahore for two days, then marched to Dipalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel
changes annexed by Mughals
uncle of Lodi's, as governor.[8] Alam Khan was quickly overthrown and fled to
Kabul. In response, Babur supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Belligerents
Daulat Khan Lodi and together with about 30,000 troops, they besieged Ibrahim Babur Lodi dynasty and
Lodi at Delhi.[9] He defeated them and drove off Alam's army and Babur realised Afghans
Lodhi would not allow him to occupy the Punjab.[9]
Commanders and leaders
Babur Ibrahim Lodi
Battle Humayun Vikramjit
Chin Timur Khan
Ustad Ali Quli
Hearing of the size of Ibrahim's army, Babur secured his right flank against the city Mustafa Rumi
of Panipat, while digging a trench covered with tree branches to secure his left flank. Asad Malik Hast
In the center, he placed 700 carts tied together with ropes. Between every two carts Raja Sanghar Ali
there were breastworks for his matchlockmen. Babur also ensured there was enough Khan
space for his cavalry to charge between these carts.[3] Strength
When Ibrahim's army arrived, he found the approach to Babur's army too narrow to 25,000 Mughals 100,000
attack. While Ibrahim redeployed his forces to allow for the narrower front, Babur Field artillery 100 war
quickly took advantage of the situation to flank (tulghuma) the Lodi army.[3] Many elephants
of Ibrahim's troops were unable to get into action, and fled when the battle turned Casualties and losses
against Ibrahim.[10] Faced with musket fire, cannon fire and cavalry attacks from all
Few 15,00020,000 [1]
[3]
sides, Ibrahim Lodi fought and died with 6,000 of his remaining troops.

Advantage of cannons in the battle

Babur's guns proved decisive in battle, firstly because Ibrahim lacked any field
artillery, but also because the sound of the cannon frightened Ibrahim's elephants,
causing them to trample his own men.[10]

Tactics
New tactics introduced by Babur
were the tulghuma and the araba.
Tulghuma meant dividing the whole
army into various units, viz. the
Left, the Right and the Centre. The
Left and Right divisions were
further subdivided into Forward
and Rear divisions. Through this a
Babur introduced field guns at small army could be used to
Panipat, 1526 surround the enemy from all sides.
The Centre Forward division was The battle of Panipat between the
armies of Babur and Ibrahim Lodi
then provided with carts (araba)
(1526). Babur was invited by Daulat
which were placed in rows facing the enemy and tied to each other with animal hide Khan Lodi to enter India and defeat
ropes. Behind them were placed cannons protected and supported by mantlets which Ibrahim Lodi.[3] An illustration to the
could be used to easily maneuver the cannons. These two tactics made Babur's Vaqi 'at-i Baburi, by Deo Gujarati, c.
artillery lethal. The cannons could be fired without any fear of being hit, as they 1590
were shielded by the bullock carts held in place by hide ropes. The heavy cannons
could also be easily traversed onto new targets, as they could be maneuvered by the
mantlets which were on wheels.

Aftermath
Ibrahim Lodi died on the field of battle along with 15,000 of his troops. Vikramajit, ruler of Gwaliyar, was killed as well. The battle
of Panipat was militarily a decisive victory. Politically it gained Babur little, and initiated a new phase of his establishment of the
Mughal empire.[3]

See also
Battle of Khanwa
 Second Battle of Panipat
Third Battle of Panipat
Battle of Ghaghra which was the last battle Babur fought in India and consolidated his empire

References
1. (Davis 1999, pp. 181, 18384)
2. Butalia, Romesh C. The Evolution of the Artillery in India: From the Battle of Plassey to the Revolt of 1857
, (Allied
Publishing Limited, 1998), p. 16.
3. Chandra, Satish. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals, Vol. 2, (Har-Anand, 2009), pp. 2731.
4. VD Mahajan. History of medieval India (10th ed.). S. Chand. p. 429. ISBN 8121903645.
5. Eraly 2007, p. 2729.
6. Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2002).History of medieval India : from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D
. New Delhi: Atlantic Publ.
pp. 8990. ISBN 8126901233.
7. VD Mahajan. History of medieval India (10th ed.). S Chand. p. 429. ISBN 8121903645.
8. Chandra 2007, p. 27.
9. Chandra 2007, p. 28.
10. Watts, Tim J. "Battles of Panipat". In Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed.)Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A
Historical Encyclopedia, (ABC-CLIO, 2011), p. 707.

Sources
Davis, Paul K. (1999),100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present, Oxford University Press, ISBN 1-
57607-075-1
Satish Chandra. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals, Part .IIHar-Anand Publications.
ISBN 9788124110669.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=First_Battle_of_Panipat&oldid=814248800

"

This page was last edited on 7 December 2017, at 17:57.

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.