the empire of his ancestor Timur, and turned his face towards India. In
1519 he gathered an army for his first expedition, which was, however,
more of a reconnaissance than a conquest. Four more attempts he made,
until at last, in 1526, with only 10,000 men, he defeated the hosts
of Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan kings of Delhi, who, with
15,000 of his troops, were left dead on the field of Panipat.

Thus, after many struggles, Babar became "master and conqueror of the
mighty empire of Hindustan," but he had to fight two more great battles
before his sovereignty was undisputed--one in 1527 near Fatehpur
Sikri, with the great chief of the Rajputs, Raja Sanga of Chitore,
and another in 1529 near Buxar, with the Afghans who had settled in
Bengal. The next year Babar died in his garden palace at Agra The
nobility of his character was conspicuous in his death as it was
in his life. He was devotedly attached to his eldest son, Humayun,
who was seized with malarial fever while staying at his country
estate at Sambhal. Babar had him removed by boat to Agra, but his
physicians declared that the case was hopeless. Babar's own health had
suffered much during his life in India, and he was terribly agitated
by the news. When some one suggested that in such circumstances the
Almighty sometimes deigned to accept the thing most valued by one
friend in exchange for the life of another, Babar exclaimed that
of all things his life was dearest to Humayun, as Humayun's was to
him. He would sacrifice his own life to save his son. His courtiers
entreated him to give up instead the great diamond taken at Agra,
said to be the most valuable on earth. Babar declared that no stone
could compare in value with his own life, and after solemnly walking
round Humayun's couch, as in a religious sacrifice, he retired to
devote himself to prayer. Soon afterwards he was heard to exclaim, "I
have borne it away! I have borne it away!" Humayun began to recover,