Ibrahim ascended the throne in November 1517 after the death of his father Sikandar Lodi. He was a weak Sultan. His reign is marked with the intrigues of the Afghan nobles. At the time of Sikandar’s death, the princes and grandees of the Lodi Dynasty were in Agra. They unanimously decided to divide sovereignty between Ibrahim and his brother Jalal in order to guard their own interests. It was agreed that Ibrahim would occupy Delhi and Agra and the boundary of his kingdom would extend up to the border of former Jaunpur. The Afghan tradition was averse to the centralized monarchy and a similar experiment was attempted after the death of Buhlul in the case of Sikandar and Barbek. The feud among the various sections of Afghans was once again responsible for division of the kingdom but in this step laid hidden the seed of a future civil war. Within one month a war between both the brothers started, which strengthened Rajputs under Rana Sanga of Chittor and Sultan’s own nobility started rebelling against him. Eventually he was able to control the rebellions. He dealt with his rebellious governors with iron hand, which proved to be disastrous for his rule. Consequently, Sultan’s cousin and governor of Lahore Daulat Khan Lodi was also called in the court for the same purpose. Daulat Khan perceived the danger and invited Babur to invade India.
On 21 April 1526, Mughals and Lodies fought the first battle of Panipat. Ibrahim’s army though numerically superior could not combat Babar’s highly mobilized army. Ibrahim was defeated and Babur laid the foundation of Mughal rule.
This article was last updated on Monday, Jan 03, 2005
