Which region did Babur first conquer during his initial campaigns in India?

Correct — D. Babur's own memoir, the Baburnama, describes his campaign of 1519 (925 AH).

His army took Bajaur by storm and then 'went on into Bhira'. In his words: 'Bhira we neither over-ran nor plundered; we imposed a ransom on its people.'

Bajaur is not an option. Of the four places offered, Bhira came first, in 1519 → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Panipat — Panipat was the end of the road, not the start. Babur beat Ibrahim Lodi there in April 1526, on what he himself calls his fifth move on Hindustan.
• (b)
  Lahore — Lahore came later. Babur set out for Lahore in 1524, five years after he ransomed Bhira.
• (c)
  Sialkot — Sialkot was taken on a later expedition, after the 1519 campaign that went from Bajaur into Bhira.

Babur (Zahiruddin Muhammad) had held Kabul since 910 AH (1504), and his memoir says his desire for Hindustan was constant from then on.

The 1519 army that reached Bhira had, he writes, 'at most some 1500 to 2000 men'. He counts the Panipat campaign as his fifth move on Hindustan, with an army written down as 12,000.

Bhira, now spelt Bhera, lies near the Jhelum in present-day Pakistan's Punjab.

Key facts

• In 1519 (925 AH) Babur stormed Bajaur and then entered Bhira, where he took a ransom instead of plundering.
• Bhira (Bhera) is in the Sargodha district of Pakistan's Punjab, near the Jhelum.
• Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in April 1526, on what he counts as his fifth move on Hindustan.
• Babur fought Rana Sanga at Khanwa in 1527.

Common traps

• Answering Panipat because it is the famous battle: it came at the end of Babur's campaigns, in 1526.
• Assuming Lahore fell first because it was the chief city of the Punjab: Babur set out for it only in 1524.

No directly related past PYQ was found.