d of an army computed by
Babar to have been a hundred thousand strong, attacked the invader in
his intrenched camp. 'The sun had mounted spear-high,' {34} writes
Babar, 'when the onset of the battle began, and the combat lasted
till midday, when the enemy were completely broken and routed.' The
victory was in all respects decisive. Ibrahim Lodi was killed,
bravely fighting, and Hindustan lay at the feet of the victor. That
very day Babar despatched troops to occupy Delhi and Agra. These
results were accomplished on the 24th of April and 4th of May
respectively.[4]

[Footnote 4: In his _Memoirs_, Babar, after recounting how, from
comparatively small beginnings, he had become conqueror 'of the noble
country of Hindustan,' adds: 'This success I do not ascribe to my own
strength, nor did this good fortune flow from my own efforts, but
from the fountain of the favour and mercy of God.']

{35}

CHAPTER V
THE POSITION OF BABAR IN HINDUSTAN

Master of the two great centres of power in the north-west, Babar,
with the foresight of a statesman, 'took stock' of the actual
situation of Hindustan. He realised at once that he was master of
Northern India, and that was all. The important provinces of Oudh,
Jaunpur, and Western Behar, had revolted against Ibrahim, and though
that prince had sent an army against the revolters, it seemed but too
certain that the two parties would make common cause against the new
invader. Then, Bengal, under its King, Nasrat Shah; Gujarat, under
Sikandar Shah; and Malwa, under Sultan Mahmud, were three powerful
and independent kingdoms. A portion of Malwa, indeed, that
represented by the fortresses, Ranthambor, at the angle formed by the
confluence of the Chambal and the Banas; Sarangpur, on the Kali Sind;
Bhilsa, on the Betwa; Chanderi; and Chitor, very famous in those
days, had been re-conquered by the renowned Hindu prince, Rana Sanga.
In the south of India, too, the Bahmanis had established a kingdom,
and the Raja of Vijayanagar exercised independent authority. There
were, moreover, he found, a considerable number {36} of Rais and
Rajas who had never submitted to Muhammadan kings.

But the independence of these several princes did not, he soon
recognised, constitute his greatest difficulty. That difficulty arose
from the fact that the Hindu population, never conciliated by the
families which had preceded his own, were hostile to the invader.
'The north of India,' writes Erskine, 'still r