‘Rana Sanga Didn’t Need Babur To Defeat Lodi; He Had Done It Twice On His Own’

Randhir Singh Bhindar, Umrao of former Mewar state, says history is being distorted to legitimize Mughal invasion which suits a particular political narrative. His views:

In a recent statement in the Rajya Sabha, Samajwadi Party Member Ramji Lal Suman claimed that the legendary Rajput king Rana Sanga of Mewar had invited Babur to India. This assertion is not just misleading but a gross misrepresentation of Indian history. A careful examination of primary sources—Babur’s memoirs, contemporary chronicles, and Mewar’s records—reveals that the claim is entirely unfounded. The truth is that Babur was invited by disgruntled Afghan nobles, Daulat Khan Lodi and Alam Khan Lodi, not by Rana Sanga.

Rana Sanga, one of India’s greatest warrior-kings, had no reason to seek Babur’s help—he had already defeated Ibrahim Lodi twice and crushed the combined armies of Malwa and Gujarat.

Allow me to separate the chaff from the grain. The claim that Rana Sanga invited Babur stems from a single, dubious reference in the Baburnama, where Babur mentions, in passing, that the Rana had sent an envoy expressing goodwill. However, this reference lacks detail; no names of envoys, no terms of alliance, and no corroboration from other contemporary sources. Contrast this with Babur’s detailed description of Daulat Khan Lodi’s embassy, which included gifts and lengthy negotiations.

Historians like Jadunath Sarkar and Gopinath Sharma have long dismissed the idea that Rana Sanga sought Babur’s help. Sarkar notes: “A hundred and twenty-five years after Timur’s invasion, Babur began the Turki conquest of India… Daulat Khan, governor of Punjab, was faithless to his master Ibrahim Lodi and courted Babur in the hope of making himself independent.”

Babur himself admits that Daulat Khan and Alam Khan Lodi sought his assistance against Ibrahim Lodi. Rana Sanga, who had already humbled Lodi in battle, did not need Babur’s help. Rana Sanga was no ordinary ruler. By the time Babur entered India, Sanga had established himself as the most powerful Hindu king in North India, commanding a confederacy of Rajput clans. His military record speaks for itself: 1) Battle of Khatoli (1518): Defeated Ibrahim Lodi’s forces, capturing his commander; 2) Battle of Dholpur (1519) where he crushed a 40,000-strong Afghan army with just 15,000 men and; 3) Battle of Gagron (1519) when he destroyed the combined armies of Malwa and Gujarat, taking Sultan Mahmud Khilji II as prisoner. Babur himself acknowledged Sanga’s might thus: “Rana Sanga had grown great by his own valour and sword… He defeated Sultan Mahmud of Malwa and reduced his dynasty to feebleness.”

The narrative that Babur needed an “invitation” to invade India is also false. He had already launched four raids into India before the Battle of Panipat (1526): First in 1519, he attacked Bajaur and Bhera. In 1519, he marched through the Khyber Pass, then in 1520, he captured Sialkot and Sayyidpur. And finally in 1524 he was invited by Daulat Khan Lodi to attack Lahore though Babur was not waiting for an Indian king’s call.

Babus, a seasoned campaigner looking for an excuse to expand into India, reveal his ambition thus: “As it was always in my heart to possess Hindustan… I pictured these countries as my own, and was resolved to get them into my hands, whether peacefully or by force.”

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The royal diaries of Mewar contain a fascinating detail: Babur actually sent an envoy to Rana Sanga, seeking his support against Ibrahim Lodi. “When Emperor Babur was ruling in Kabul, he thought: ‘The Lodhis rule India. To destroy them and establish my own rule in Delhi, it is better to seek friendship with an ancient kingdom.’ So he sent an envoy to Chittor… Babur wrote: ‘I will come from this side and establish my rule in Delhi. You should come from your side and take Agra’.”

This directly contradicts the claim that Rana Sanga invited Babur. Instead, it shows that Babur sought an alliance with the Rajputs, which Sanga likely ignored, given his own strength.

So, why a false narrative persists? The myth that Rana Sanga invited Babur serves several political purposes: 1) To shift blame for the Mughal invasion onto Indians, as if they “welcomed” foreign conquerors. 2) To undermine Hindu resistance narratives, portraying Rajputs as collaborators rather than defenders. 3) To legitimize Babur’s invasion as a “response” rather than an act of aggression.

But history does not support this distortion. Rana Sanga was a fierce opponent of foreign rule, and his eventual clash with Babur at the Battle of Khanwa (1527)—where he fought to expel the Mughals—proves that he never saw Babur as an ally.

Rana Sanga remains one of India’s greatest heroes—a king who never bowed to invaders and whose military genius kept North India free from foreign domination for decades. History must be based on facts, not political convenience. The evidence is clear: Babur was invited by Afghan rebels, not Rana Sanga. Let us honor the truth and remember Rana Sanga as he truly was—a lion of India who stood unbroken against the storm of invasion.

(The narrator is a two-time MLA from Vallabhnagar (Udaipur). He has drawn references from Baburnama by Annette Beveridge (Translation), Military History of India by Jadunath Sarkar, Mewar and Mughal Emperors by Gopinath Sharma and Mewar Court Chronicles)

As told to Abhishek Anand