Punjab has always played a predominant role in the history of India. It was an easy gateway to India. The great Aryans and Scythian swarms, the conquering armies of Alexander, the Kushans, the Muhammadan invaders all entered India across the wide plains of the five rivers from which Punjab takes its name. It was, in prehistoric times, the scene of the great war which Mahabharata describes. In the Second Battle of Tarain in Punjab, Muhammad Ghori defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the then ruler of Delhi, and laid the foundation of Muslim rule in India. It was here that Ibrahim Lodhi fought against Babur in the historic battle of Panipat, which resulted in the victory of Babur and the subsequent foundation of Mughal rule in India. During the Mughal rule, Punjab formed one of the formed ones the most important provinces of the Mughal Empire.
From the early times, Punjab being the North-Western gateway of India , had to suffer due to political upheavals. The brave and the virile Punjabis always have to bear the first fury of the foreign invasions. This rightly gives this land the name " Sword Arm of India." Dr.Budh Parkash remarks," Brought up under the shadows of swords; the Punjabis became alert and strenuous, hard and heroic, enduring and adjustable. They cannot afford to be dreamers, visionaries, and lotus-eaters". They have been the sentinels of national freedom and protectors of the motherland. No wonder a sizeable number of the armed forces in India are now being enrolled from the region.
The Mughal rulers have a special interest in the administration of Punjab owing to three main reasons, are
- The Mughals had come from the trans - Indus lands. They maintained their links with their ancestral lands from time to time and underlook expeditions to Central Asia, Kabul, and Kandhar to suppress rebellions and restore order.
- Punjab was a home of soldiers. Therefore, the Mughal rulers had to keep Punjab under their effective control so that they could easily tap its resources in times of need.
- Lastly, after the Mughals had conquered Kashmir, the importance of Punjab further increased. Kashmir has a special fascination for the Mughal rulers. Their frequent visits to Kashmir implied greater attention to the security and welfare of the Punjab, which lay on the way to Kashmir.
Punjab, at the opening of the 16th century, was in a state of chaos and confusion. Although theoretically, it formed a part of the Lodhi Kingdom, the Sultan has no effective control over the province. It had become a cockpit of the struggle for supremacy among various powers.
- First, Ibrahim Lodhi, the sultan of Delhi, was a weak and incompetent ruler.
- Secondly, Daulat Khan Lodhi, the governor of Punjab, was pitted against the Delhi Sultan, who aspired to carve out an independent kingdom for himself in Punjab.
- Thirdly, Alam Khan Lodhi, the uncle of Ibrahim Lodhi, also aimed to make himself the master of Punjab.
- Lastly, the most important contender for the throne of Delhi was Babur, the king of Kabul. He had already led as many as four expeditions to conquer Punjab.
Thus, there were four Muslim chiefs -three Afghans and one Mughal Who were casting their covetous eyes on Punjab.
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