Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur, a Chagtai Turkish ruler was the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. He invaded India several times through the boarder of Punjab during the Lodi government. He used to conduct the invasion from his capital at Kabul. Finally he won at the battle of Panipath that brought a decisive victory for him. Though the entry of Babur(which means Tiger in Arabic) was unexpected in the Indian history it created a new era that started with the long time competition with the Afgans and Rajput. The Mughal invasion displaced the dominance of indigenous Hindu Rajputs and Afghans. Turks and Uzbeks from Central Asia took active part in the political history of India.

In his youth he tried for 10 years to gain control of Samarkand, Timur`s old capital. Those efforts ended in losing his own principality in Fergana, but he consoled himself by seizing and holding Kabul.After four failed attempts, he successfully occupied Delhi.

In the year 1526, the Battle of Panipat took place at Panipat, few miles away from Delhi. Babur had only twelve thousand army while the opponent Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi had a much larger force. Babur was equipped with more advanced weapons, both matchlockmen and field cannon, which came to very useful against the Afghan cavalry. Like the other Indian rulers Lodi was not also introduced with firearms. Ibrahim Lodi was killed in the battle along with dozens of other Indian chiefs. Babur won the battle and occupied Delhi. Then he sent his son Humayun to Agra, the capital of Lodi to capture the Royal palace and the treasure. Shortly after that Babur joined Humayun at Agra, distributed the seized treasures among his followers. Then he ascended the throne of Agra and turned it to his capital.

The very next war there was a battle between Babur and Rajput confederacy at Kanua. The Rajputs were led by Rana Sanga, ruler of the State of Mewar in Rajasthan. The Rajput cavalry was huge with eighty thousand soldiers and five hundred armored war elephants while the Mughal force was much smaller in size. But Babur had guns and the cavalry was well practiced with Central Asian tactics, which proved to be very effective against the Rajput. This battle also brought victory to Babur. Rana Sanga and many other renowned Rajput leaders died at battle of Kanua that ended the possibility of resurgence of Rajput power in the north India. In the year 1528 Babur marched to the great bastion of Chandiri, that was the fort of a feudal leader under the Rana of Mewar. The Mughal army attacked the fort and slaughtered many lives there.

These great victories achieved over the main powers of northern India were the base for Babur`s kingdom. From which he could consolidate his rule in Northern India. He could have withdrawn to Kabul, taking this culmination of plundering in the land of Hindustan to his own motherland. Infact, many of his followers probably wished this withdrawal. But Babur`s idea was quite different. Humayun was already sent back to Kabul to defend the city and the country against further Uzbek invasions. Babur decided to stay in the fertile land of Hindusthan and to strengthen his hold over the wealthy cities.

Babur was a gifted poet and a lover of nature who constructed gardens wherever he went. His prose memoirs, the Babur-nameh have become a world classic of autobiography.Babur died in December, 1530. His kingdom included Central Asian territories, Kabul, the Punjab, Delhi, part of Bihar at the east and Gwalior at the South. It was the newly conquested land so Babur could do a little to consolidate Mughal Rule in this newly won territories of Hindusthan.

Babur was the descendant of great Cental Asian conqueror Timur, and also his lineage can be traced back to the Chaghtai Turk Chingiz Khan. Through Timur, the Mughal dynasty could claim certification as rulers and conquerors of extraordinary glory. So the term Timurid denotes the Mughal.in addition, Babur`s legacy included central Asian horsemanship and tactics in the battlefield. He could lead his life comfortable in tents. Turki was his mother tongue. He was a believer of Sunni Islamic faith and had a familial connection with the orthodox Naqshbandi Sufi, which had a central Asian origin. He inherited a sophisticated cultural style derived from Timur`s patronage at Samarkhand and that was refined at the courts of his successor in Central Asia. Babur`s most notable work was his memoirs, written in Turki, which narrates his life`s early adventure in the valley of Ferghana to the conquest of India. The biography was copied by renowned calligraphers and was illustrated by the expert painters. This manuscript copy of Journal describing Babur`s life became the primary source of information of the Mughal`s or Timurid dynasty.