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Emperor Babur (1483-1530), the founder of the great Mughal dynasty, was descended from both Genghis Khan and Timur. At the age of twelve, he became the ruler of Farghana, a small principality in present-day Soviet Central Asia. In 1504, Babur captured the important Afghan stronghold of Kabul and began to move toward India, which he entered in 1524. Two years later, he defeated the Sultan of Delhi at the decisive battle of Panipat, and in 1527 he defeated the powerful Rajput coalition led by Rana Sanga. Babur’s victories were partially due to his use of artillery and match-fired muskets of European manufacture. He died in 1530 before he could consolidate his conquests, but his conquest and retention of India was itself a great achievement. Babur was also a poet of distinction; his prose memoirs, the Babur Nameh, have been translated from Turkic into Persian and English, and are considered a masterpiece by many critics.

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