South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 166

KASHMIR

BABURíS
KINGDOM OF
KABUL

Khyb er Pass

Panipat

MULTAN

Delhi

RAJPUT Agra

SIND

Varanasi

g e s

MAL WA

GUJARAT

BENGAL

KHANDESH

Surat

GONDWANA

BERAR Bubaneshwar

Arabian Sea

Puri

AHMADNAGAR

BIDAR

GOLCONDA

Bay of
Bengal

a

BIJAPUR

Goa

Vijayanagara

VIJAYANAGAR

Lodi kingdom
Other “states”

Cannanore
Calicut

Portuguese settlements

Cochin

Other cities/towns

0 250 500 mi

Colombo
Galla

Indian Ocean

0 250 500 km

Matara

Figure 6-10
South Asia, ca 1525. While the north was unified under the Delhi sultanate, the west and
south were fragmented among various rulers. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set
up trading posts, most of which were on the Arabian Sea.

India's Modern Era

dead, his massive army crushed by an onslaught of
artillery , a cavalry attack from the rear, and elephants
run amok. Babur' s mobile artillery overwhelmed army
after army , including the Rajputs. After besieging
Delhi and other fortified sites, he swept victoriously
into Bengal. Babur “The Tiger,” direct descendent of
Timur and Chinghis (Genghis) Khan, thus became the

In 1526, on the traditional battlefield of Panipat, 50
miles (80 km) from Delhi, thousands of elephants,
horsemen, and footmen of the Sultan of Delhi,
Ibrahim Lodi, amassed to face the impending terror,
Babur (1483-1530). In only a few hours Lodi was