Battle of khanwa

Hello readers, happy to see you back here again. I hope you have read my previous blog which was on 1st  battle of Panipat which took place in 1526. Now covering that series I will try to explain about next battle which is the battle of khanwa that took place on March 17, 1527. these battles could be considered as a turning point in the history of India because they put a mark for the establishment of Mughal rule in India. If these events could not have been taken place then the history of India would have been different. there would not have been any taj mahal, laal Kila, bibi ka maqbara, and many other tombs. But we have to focus on what happened with the help of sources available. 

• The battle of khanwa was fought between Babur, the 1st mughal emperor and Rana sangha who had defeated Ibrahim Lodi long ago. Beyond any doubt, Babur was the winner of this battle and there were a lot of mistakes done by the great Rana Sangha due to which he got defeated by Babur.
  

             Source: Wikipedia

• Rana sangha also had sent an ambassador in the court of babur and invited him for defeating the lodi dynasty together. However, Babur attacked on the lodis and took over delhi and agra, whereas sangha made no move in this context and changed his mind. As a result both of them accused each other of breach of faith.
• Both rana sangha and babur had very high ambitions and targets of name and fame. Both wanted to capture the whole india. Rana sangha had a dream of controlling the whole india and establish one hindu empire. Each wanted to become the supreme power.
• After the 1st battle of panipat, babur had recognized that his biggest danger is in the way and it is coming from two sides ; Rana Sangha and the afghans ruling eastern india at that time.both of them were trying to attack together on babur who had only 13000 to 15000 troops.
• When Babur get to know that Rana sangha is moving forward to Agra he also sent his military detachments to conquer dholpur, gwaliyar and bayana and after some time they all surrendered to babur.

       

           

         Source: Wikipedia

         War strategy in battle of khanwa by Babur and Rana Sangha 

• On the other hand rana sangha got the support of all the leading rajput kings from rajasthan, including the kings of harauti, jalor, sirohi, dungarpur, dhundhar and amber. Medni rao who was the king of chanderi and was a very important rajput ruler, also supported rana sangha. At the end rana sangha gathered a huge army with the help of alliance and support whereas babur had limited army.
• According to babur, rana sangha’s army consisted of near about 200000 soldiers. There were initial skirmishes between both of them before the final battle. The battle finally started at 9:00 AM on march 17, 1527 and got continued for about 10 hours at khanwa, about 40 kilimeters away from delhi.

     

                                                                                   Source: Wikipedia

         Use of elephants in the battle.

• Babur once again organized his well-trained and experienced army as the same manner as he did in the battle of Panipat. Used bullock carts, and cannons, placed troops on right and left flank, cavalry etc. On the other hand, Rana sangha used the traditional method of warfare which was his mistake that led to defeat of him. One more important reason that he got defeated by Babur was that there was a lack of coordination in his allied army, also the whole army was not disciplined.
• Even some of the military troops of Rana sangha got allied with Babur's army during the battle. Lastly despite having a gallant fight, Rana sangha and his allied forces suffered a catastrophic defeat.

Source: Wikipedia

Pyramid of skulls of enemies constructed by Babur after defeating them in the battle.

The Mughals won the battle and Rana sangha was badly wounded and also was taken away from the battleground. Also, Rana sangha was killed by his own men. They gave him poison to death.

After the war, Babur ordered for the construction of a tower/pyramid of the enemy’s skulls which motivated him and it was also a practice formulated by his ancestor Timur against his rivals.