Babar didn't like anything of India, but stayed because he got tough time from Uzbeks. Do you know something about Uzbek Sheebani Khan who kidnapped Babar's sister Khanzada Begum and married her. He chased Babar on every front.
Yeah both Shaybanee Khans Uzbeks and Baburs Timurids were supposed to be decendants of Ghengis Khan. Shaybanee Khan was the better warrior no doubt about that he was older than Babur too and had no probelm defeating Baburs Uncle in open battle. He was a ruthless and cruel leader and did indeed run off with Baburs sister or some claim she was surrendered as a token and to humiliate Babur.
Shaybanee made the mistake of taking on the Persians though and the Persian army who's Shah backed Babur helped Babur reconquer much of the Samarkand kingdom (as well as get his sister back after killing Shaybanee) but the Shah demanded Babur become a Shia for the help he got... Babur was again forced to flee. This time from the Kazilbash to India...
Its strange the conquerors were conquered by the land and atmospher, but that did not happen for all invaders. Ghaznavi din't stay here. Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali only came here to loot and went away after destroying to local cities and snatching whatever the valuables locals possessed
Those invaders were not on the run like Babur and hey lacked the power to hold the possesions they took. Also in true Ghengis style they sacked thier enemy nations and made quick gettaways with the belief that was supreme among Steppe Nomads.
"One can milk a goat many times, but kill it only once."
So Babar was not a Shia? What was with these Shah of Iran that whoever went to them for refuge they did so on the condition of conversion. Same happened to Humayon too.
Its strange the conquerors were conquered by the land and atmospher, but that did not happen for all invaders. Ghaznavi din't stay here. Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali only came here to loot and went away after destroying to local cities and snatching whatever the valuables locals possessed
some educated invader came here with long term planning. they built beautiful building and mosques here. established the federal/central government concept first time in the history of India. etc etc
the thread reminds me of Mullah mehmood baqar of Delhi urdu akhbar in 1857, "once these Tilangas(rebel) drink water at chandni chowk and move around the city and taste its exquisities, they lose their will to fight:)"
Delhi was always end of the journey, the star at the end of journey that every invader knew would enrich them:)
^ Actually some invaders bypassed Delhi completely I know in ancient times one wave of Invaders... most likely Sythians or Huns swept through North India and continued like a steam roller all the way to Deccan. Except thier mainly cavalry army was also hindered by the fact the Chariots could no longer roll across open plains and had to make it through narrow passes and valleys unsuitable to that sort of warfare and giving defenders a perfect chance to ambush.
Evidence suggest these ancient invaders got a thrashing after that, and they never seemed to have taken strongholds or cities but merely swept up local ressistance. I am inclined to believe they were Huns and not Sythians becuase the Sythians are supposed to have mastered siege warfare and had better heavy infantry weapons like war axes capable of piercing armour... whereas the Huns were mainly archers and lancers ill suited to close combat... and only good for mobile warfare. Sythians were good fighters even on foot but the Huns were more vulnerable on foot and tended to avoid that sort of fighting as lack of unit cohesion meant they could be outfought by infantry who were well armed.
Scythians, as far as I know, never attacked and ransaked delhi which was ruled by Indo-Greek king menader or mihira then, Meanander was devout hindu viashnav, scythian were dispersed from sindh to punjab to outer delhi, they were good in fighting short war as they were the tribe of professional looters, whose objective was never to rule for long time but just to loot and get away with the bounty and loot again once supplies were little low, scythians used there new terotories for farming purpose and made the arable land more grainful, but looting never stopped till mughals came, and some times scythian tribe by then known as Jats started become formidable and almost became de facto government in the outer delhi region, which they held even sometimes after 1857, which they seized for british by looting every supply meant for delhi along with another nomdic tribe of Gujjars:)
Sythians were pretty smart for most tribes, but it seems they were among the first to settle down as well?
I know some Bulgars, Avars and Huns settled in Europe and Central Asia as farmers.
I think my people were roamers for a long time until the constraints of the industrial age and other factors drove them to ever smaller territory. My Maternal fammily however are still half nomadic and we feel very close to our Native American cousins, in that both of us are being driven towards reservation life.
My Uncle is technically living on a reservation of sorts, he wanders the routes between Gilgit and Skardu as far as Deosai to the East and then wanders West as far as Chitral… but even he is getting old now… perhaps on my return someday I will replace his work.
Scythians/Jats settled around third century AD in this region, many subtribes of jats settled across the region populating in clusters in punjab, sindh, outer delhi and western uttarpradesh till agra and Rajasthan. their late entry in the region is the reason of them being non vedic tribe, but they initially adopted hindusim and were assimilated, later many converted into Islam and Sikhi:)
What was with these Shah of Iran that whoever went to them for refuge they did so on the condition of conversion. Same happened to Humayon too.
