Siege of Sambhal
| Siege of Sambhal | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mughal conquests | |||||||||
|
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Mughal Empire | Western Afghan Confederates | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Babur Hindu Baig |
Malik Baban Jilwani Kasim Sambhali |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| ~150 | Larger | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Heavy | High | ||||||||
Babur and his army were strangers to the people whom he had subdued in India and a mutual dislike soon manifested itself between his soldiers and the inhabitants of Agra his headquarters. The invasion was regarded as a temporary inundation that would speedily pass off. Every man in authority raised troops and put himself in a condition to act. Those who held delegated authority or Jagirs being generally Afghans were consequently hostile to the new state of things. They soon came to an understanding among themselves and took measures for mutual cooperation.
Hasan Khan of Mewat in the neighborhood of Agra was the grand instigator of the opposition which was supported by Nizam Khan in Biana; Muhammad Zaitoon of Dholpur; Tatar Khan Sarang khani in Gwalior; Hussein Khan Lohani in Raberi; Kutb Khan in Etawah; Alim Khan Jilal Khan Jighat in Kalpi; Kasim Sambhali in Sambhal and Marghoob a slave in Mahawan within 20 km of Agra. Indeed, all of these chiefs were immediately around Agra or close upon its borders. They looked for aid from Maharana Sangram Singh better known as Rana Sanga, the ruler of Mewar, who on his part laid claim to a great part of the right bank of the Yamuna River including Delhi. These Western Afghans wished to place Sultan Mahmud Lodi a brother of the late Sultan Ibrahim Lodi on the throne of Delhi and so to preserve the Afghan and the Lodi dynasty.
Babur's first active operation in the field was to dispatch a force to the relief of Sambhal a district lying beyond the Ganges in what is now called Rohilkhand. It was held by Kasim Sambhali who had formerly shown himself hostile to Babur but was glad to solicit his aid when at this time besieged in his chief town by Malik Baban Jilwani. This powerful and active Pathan chief had joined Babur after he had passed Sirhind but subsequently left him under circumstances which are not clear, but he probably was not satisfied with his reception as Babur complains with bitterness of his presumption and pretensions and of the rudeness and stupid forwardness of the Pathans in general. However that may be, Baban had withdrawn himself from Babur's camp had collected an army and now besieged Kasim in Sambhal which he had discovered was ill garrisoned. Kasim reduced to the last extremity applied to Babur for assistance. The Emperor dispatched Hindu Baig with a body of Turks-Mughals along with Sheikh Kuren and his Doab Turkishbunds to his succor.
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Wikipedia