Babur had attained the throne of Delhi after his victory over Ibrahim Lodhi in the battle of Panipat on 21 April 1526. He consolidated his hold over North India in the battle of Khanua the very next year with the defeat of the Rajputs under Rana Sangha. Yet, the Mughal Empire was still on shaky foundations. In the East, the Afghans were regrouping under Sultan Mahmud Lodhi (the brother of Ibrahim Lodhi) and Sultan Nusrat Lodhi of Bengal. They had assembled an army of around 100000 which was poised in Bengal to challenge Babur’s claims to India. It was a threat he could not ignore.
Babur set out on his campaign to subjugate the Afghans in early 1529. He marched towards Bengal, defeating several minor Afghan chiefs along the way. Unlike his earlier campaigns on flat open ground, here he encountered a series of vast, wide rivers. It was behind one of them – the Ghaghra River, that the Afghan Army was deployed.
As always his army was outnumbered, with a combined strength of just around 60-70,0000 troopers and as always he depended on his excellent cannon and ever better tactics to save the day. The Afghan army were just north of the confluence of the Ganga and the Ghaghra Rivers and he divided his army into two parts. The main contingent under General Askari moved with four divisions (around 40,000 men), while Babur himself moved with around two divisions towards the confluence of rivers. Nusrat Lodhi had deployed on the East bank of the Ghaghra River with defenses on a fortified island in the river. A flotilla of boats were also positioned near his banks to enable him to move his troops rapidly. The Ghaghra River was over half a mile wide and though not so deep at this time of the year, it was a formidable obstacle. Getting across with the Afghans holding the other side in strength would be a difficult proposition.
Babur resorted to the classical stratagem in the crossing of rivers. He moved Askari with his 40,000 men to attempt a crossing around 20 kilometers to the north. He himself deployed with two divisions opposite Nusrat Lodhi’s force. His precious guns were raised on huge ramparts from where they could bring down fire on the Afghan positions on the other side. Their fire destroyed many of the boats anchored there and pinned down the Afghans, diverting attention from the main crossing which Askari was attempting elsewhere.
Around 20 kilometers to the North, Askari’s four divisions crossed the Ghaghra River near the village of Haldi on the night of 05 -06 May and were across by early morning on 06 May. With the major threat now behind him, Nusrat Lodhi moved the bulk of his forces to counter them, thinning out his defences. Babur ordered his two divisions to cross, using reed rafts, small boats, and even swimming across on their horses. His cannon provided a steady barrage of fire and by mid-morning both his divisions were across and he had established a bridgehead on the other side.
Nusrat Lodhi’s army was in the process of engaging Askari’s four divisions when it was violently attacked by Babur’s two divisions from the rear. In spite of the exhaustion of executing a major river crossing just one night earlier, the Mughals still had the strength to launch their wheeling cavalry attacks that hemmed in the Afghans and comprehensively defeated it on the open plains by the banks of the Ghaghra.
Nusrat Lodhi capitulated and with this victory, Babur extended his empire from Kandahar to Bengal. In a period of three years, his army had won three major victories in spite of being heavily outnumbered in each case. Ghaghra would be his last major battle. He died next year (1530) leaving the fledging Empire to his son Humayun, hold, consolidate, and develop into the mightiest Empire of the sub-continent.