With the blood of two legendary warriors in his veins, Babur did not lack courage and ambition, but the enemies who surrounded him were powerful. After years of fighting, he had lost Ferghana and could only claim the city of Kabul and a small army as his own. He realized that his dreams of conquest were not going to come true in Central Asia. Like Chingis Khan and Timur before him, he looked toward wealthy Hindustan. Perhaps there he could make his fortune.

In 1526 he led 12,000 followers over the rugged Hindu Kush mountains and on to the same wide plains in northern Hindustan that Timur had ravaged over a century earlier. On February 19, at a place called Panipat, he found an army of 100,000 men and 1,000 elephants waiting to challenge him. It was a frightening sight, but Babur’s soldiers were tough, disciplined and experienced. Most important, they had guns. By midday the bloody battle was over. Babur moved his court to the city of Agra and claimed it as his capital. The Mughal Empire, whose name comes from the word Mongol, was born. Babur was its first emperor.