It has always been a point of concern that of the seven times Lahore has been destroyed, just why did Babur do it the last time in January 1524. This was after he had met Guru Nanak who advised him peace and harmony.

This fact becomes even stranger because Babur’s grandson Akbar the Great completely rebuilt the walled city of Lahore. Surely there were compelling reasons for the poet-intellectual Babur to undertake such a drastic step. In this piece let us go over Babur’s meeting with Guru Nanak and then see the reasons Lahore was burnt.

In 1520 AD, Babur invaded the sub-continent for the third time. Along the way he punished every Afghan he came across. (Firishta, I, 202, 46-47). He did the same thing at Bhera, including any local who assisted the Afghans, whom he just did not trust. His interpretation of history led him to this conclusion. He then set off for Sialkot, where the population completely surrendered and was spared.

But it was the nearby Eminabad (formerly known as Sayyedpur) where the population, then ruled by the Lodhis, refused to surrender. The town was demolished and over 3,000 men and women made slaves. Any person siding with the Lodhis was beheaded, and the remaining made slaves.

Among them was Guru Nanak and his disciple Mardana (Baburnama p389, and also Firishta 201). Mughal guards informed Babur that he was performing miracles. The ‘Janam Sakhis’ states that Guru Nanak and Mardana were present when Babur called them. When Babur allegedly first saw Nanak, his whole body shook up.

Nanak asked Babur to release all the prisoners and restore their properties. The invading Mughal obliged. One episode in the ‘Purutam Janam Sakhi’ tells of Nanak carrying a very heavy load, which seemed to be floating in the air. Babur remarked: The face of the Faqir is like seeing God himself. (Nimatullah p257).

Now on to Babur heading towards Lahore. In the fourth invasion of Babur, it seems that the extreme disunity in the country between the Afghans and the Rajputs was the main reason. His advisers were of the opinion that they would not unite to meet any invader. The Afghan Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi was brave and courageous, but then he was very arrogant and suspicious by nature.

Babur was of the opinion that Afghans are suspicious and unreliable and need to be put down. This opinion was supported by the fact the Ibrahim Lodhi was suspicious of the Punjab Governor Daulat Khan Lodhi. The reason seems that he was not, allegedly, opposing Babur enough. Daulat was summoned to Lahore by Ibrahim, but he refused to go and sent his son Dilawar Khan instead.

Ibrahim Lodhi instead showed him the dungeons of Lahore Fort and the torture going on there. An alarmed Dilawar managed to escape and Daulat Khan decided to overthrow Ibrahim. He sent Dilawar to Kabul to invite Babur to invade.

So, it was in January 1524 (Firishta p98) that Babur set off to meet Ibrahim Lodhi at Lahore. He crossed the Indus and went through Ghakkar territory defeating several small warlike tribes. Parallel to Babur’s movement towards Lahore, Ibrahim sent his commander Bahar Khan to defeat Daulat Khan lest he joined forces with Babur. But Daulat Khan rushed southwards and sought refuge with Baluchi chiefs in Multan. This created a situation where the forces of Babur faced the forces of Ibrahim Lodhi at Lahore.

The commanders leading the forces of Babur were from his Barlas Timur tribe, which included Shah Mansur Barlas and Sultan Junaid Barlas. The Barlas tribal leaders made it clear that they would attack in suicide mode and win and finish off Ibrahim and Lahore. (Babur, Mohibbul Hasan, p57). The descendants of the Barlas families still live in Lahore. In my PT days our colleague was Safiruddin Barlas, a thorough gentleman.

The Timurid attack all around Lahore saw that within half an hour the entire army of Ibrahim Lodhi was devastated. The Timurid forces of the Barlas tribe, according to Firishta, entered Lahore’s bazaars and in true Chingizi fashion burnt down every shop and house, killing any human being they came across. The Afghans were beheaded and their heads placed on poles.

After the forces of Babur had completely burnt down Lahore and emptied its population, they moved on towards Dipalpur on January 22, 1524. They destroyed the small city. In the meantime, Daulat Khan and his son Dilawar heard of the defeat of Bahadar Khan and returned to join Babur.

But suddenly, and this has never been understood, Babur decided to return to Kabul. Most scholars think that the pressure of the Uzbeks on Balkh was the reason. Another reason could be that the Afghan Daulat Khan had turned against him. It was no wonder that Babur did not trust the Afghans.

The reason for Daulat Khan turning against Babur could well be that though he was given charge of Jullundur, Babur did not hand over Lahore to him. There are many reasons for this decision, but the main one given was that Daulat Khan had advised Babur to send a third of his army to Ferozpur, and another third to Ludhiana and the last third to defend Lahore.

Babur’s advisers of the Barlas tribe convinced him that this was a scheme to divide his strength. Babur accepted it and suddenly the crafty Daulat Khan and his son and their army of Afghans ran away to the hills to the north, waiting for a time to return to take over Lahore. But the city was handed over to Abdul Aziz and Babur conferred on him the title of ‘Mir Akhwar’.

In the meantime, Daulat Khan got assistance from Ibrahim Lodhi’s commander and attempted to retake Lahore, only to fail. Lahore remained in the hands of Babur’s appointee. In Kabul Babur set off to defeat the Uzbeks, who fled, and Babur returned to Kabul to plan his fifth and final invasion of the Indian sub-continent.

The Lahore that Babur destroyed was mostly with mud-baked bricks. The houses had wooden supports, and, amazingly, most shopkeepers were Afghans. Babur through his experience of Afghans was convinced that if the old shopkeepers returned, they would conspire against him. It was his perception – right or wrong one can debate.

The role of Afghans in the life of Lahore, after Akbar the Great rebuilt it, should be researched. Over time, especially in the Sikh era, these very traders played a role that even the later British found difficult to handle. Come Pakistan and today the old ‘once walled’ city has a majority of Afghans. The rest is before our readers.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2025