Ustad Ali Quli

Ustad Ali Quli was a commander of the Mughal Empire. Under the reign of Babur, he commanded artillery for his army. At the Battle of Khanwa against the Hindu Rajputs, he commanded his cannon batteries.

Introduction of Ustad Ali Quli to Babur

Babur began relations with the Safavids when he met Ali Mirza Safavi at Samarkand; their good relations lasted even after Babur was approached by the Ottomans. The Safavids army led by Najm-e Sani massacred civilians in Central Asia and then sought the assistance of Babur, who advised the Safavids to withdraw. The Safavids, however, refused and were defeated during the Battle of Ghazdewan by the warlord Ubaydullah Khan.[1]

Babur's early relations with the Ottomans were poor because the Ottoman Sultan Selim I provided his rival Ubaydullah Khan with powerful matchlocks and cannons.[2] In 1507, when ordered to accept Selim I as his rightful suzerain, Babur refused and gathered Qizilbash servicemen in order to counter the forces of Ubaydullah Khan during the Battle of Ghazdewan. In 1513, Selim I reconciled with Babur (fearing that he would join the Safavids), dispatched Ustad Ali Quli and Mustafa Rumi the matchlock marksman, and many other Ottoman Turks, in order to assist Babur in his conquests; this particular assistance proved to be the basis of future Mughal-Ottoman relations.[2] From them, he also adopted the tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in field (rather than only in sieges), which would give him an important advantage in India.[3]

References

  1. Stuart Cary Welch. The Emperors' Album: Images of Mughal India. Metroplitian Museum of Art. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-87099-499-9.
  2. 1 2 Farooqi, Naimur Rahman (2008). Mughal-Ottoman relations: a study of political & diplomatic relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556-1748. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  3. Eraly, Abraham (2007), Emperors Of The Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Moghuls, Penguin Books Limited, pp. 27–29, ISBN 978-93-5118-093-7
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