ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>B&#256BAR ZAH&#298R UD-D&#298N MUHAMMAD (1483-1530)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BBAR,ZAH*R,D*N,MUHAMMAD,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279B&#256BAR, ZAH&#298R UD-D&#298N MUHAMMAD (1483-1530), soldier of fortune, founder of the Mu <u>gh</u>al dynasty in India, diarist and poet, descending in the fifth generation from Tim&#363r, was born on 14 February 1483. In June 1494, he succeeded his father, 'Umar Shai<u>kh</u>, as ruler of Far<u>gh</u>&#257n&#257, whose revenues supported no more than a few hundred cavalry. With this force of helmeted, mail-clad warriors, B&#257bar began his career of conquest. He joined in the family struggle for power, thrice winning and thrice losing Samarkand, alternately master of a kingdom or a wanderer through the hills. In 1504, he made himself master of K&#257bul and so came in touch with India whose wealth was a standing temptation. In 1517 and again in 1519, he swept down the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n plateau into the plains of India. He entered the Punjab in 1523 on the invitation of Daulat <u>Kh</u>&#257n Lodh&#299, the governor of the province, and '&#256lam <u>Kh</u>&#257n, an uncle of Ibr&#257h&#299m Lodh&#299, the Delhi Sult&#257n. Uzbe<u>gh</u> pressure from Bal<u>kh</u>, however, compelled B&#257bar to return so that his final invasion was not begun until November 1525.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Even then his total force did not exceed 12, 000 men, a tiny army with which to attempt the conquest of Ibr&#257h&#299m Lodh&#299's realm and the vast mass of Hindu India. The hostile armies came to grips on 21 April 1526 on the plain of P&#257n&#299pat. In the fiercely contested battle, Ibr&#257h&#299m Lodh&#299 was killed and B&#257bar carried the day. As a result the kingdom of Delhi and &#256gr&#257 fell into B&#257bar's hands. But B&#257bar's victory at P&#257n&#299pat did not make him the ruler of India. R&#257&#7751&#257 Sa&#7749gr&#257m Si&#7749gh of Mev&#257&#7771 claimed R&#257jp&#363t supremacy over India, and advanced towards &#256gr&#257 with a large army. On 16 March 1527, B&#257bar defeated the R&#257jp&#363ts at Kh&#257nv&#257h. Early next year he carried the fortress of Chander&#299 by storm and defeated Medin&#299 R&#257o. Finally, B&#257bar defeated the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n chiefs of Bih&#257r and Bengal in 1529 at Gh&#257gr&#257, near the junction of that river with the Ga&#7749g&#257 above Pa&#7789n&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Sikh tradition strongly subscribes to a meeting in 1520 between Gur&#363 N&#257nak and B&#257bar during the latter's invasion of Saidpur, now called Emin&#257b&#257d, in Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 district of Pakistan. The town was taken by assault, the garrison put to the sword and the inhabitants carried into captivity. According to the <i>Pur&#257tan Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, Gur&#363 N&#257nak and Mard&#257n&#257, also among the captives, were ordered to be taken to prison as slaves. The Gur&#363 was given a load to carry and Mard&#257n&#257 a horse to lead. But M&#299r <u>Kh</u>&#257n, says the <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, saw that the Gur&#363's bundle was carried without any support and Mard&#257n&#257's horse followed him without the reins. He reported this to Sult&#257n B&#257bar who remarked, "If there was such a holy man here, the town should not have been destroyed. " The <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299</i> continues, "B&#257bar kissed his (Gur&#363 N&#257nak's) feet. He said, 'On the face of this <i>faq&#299r</i> one sees God Himself. ' Then all the people, Hindus and Musalm&#257ns, began to make their salutations. The king spoke again, 'O dervish, accept something'. The Gur&#363 answered, 'I take nothing, but you must release all the prisoners of Saidpur and restore their property to them'. King B&#257bar ordered, 'Those who are in detention be released and their property be returned to them'. All the prisoners of Saidpur were set at liberty. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Though B&#257bar's <i>Tuzk</i>, or Memoirs, a work of high literary quality, gives many interesting details of the campaigns and the events he was involved in and also describes the Indian life and customs very minutely, there is no mention in these recollections that he met Gur&#363 N&#257nak. Nevertheless, the possibility of such a meeting having taken place cannot be ruled out. There are references in Gur&#363 N&#257nak's <i>b&#257&#7751&#299</i> to B&#257bar's invasions. An open tragedy like the one that struck Saidpur moved him profoundly and he described the sorrows of Indians-Hindus and Muslims alike-in words of intense power and suffering. B&#257bar's army, in the words of Gur&#363 N&#257nak, was "the bridal procession of sin. " In fact, Indian literature of that period records no more virile protest against the invading hordes than do Gur&#363 N&#257nak's four hymns of <i>B&#257barv&#257&#7751&#299</i> in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;B&#257bar died on 26 December 1530 at &#256gr&#257. Several years later his body was moved to its present grave in one of the gardens of K&#257bul.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Beveridge, Annette Susannah, trans. , <i>Babur-nama</i>. Delhi, 1989<BR> <li class="C1"> Smith, Vincent A. , <i>The Oxford History of India</i>. Oxford, 1958<BR> <li class="C1"> Jaffar, S. M. , <i>The Mughal Empire</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith</i>. Bombay, 1969<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sr&#299 R&#257m Sharma<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>