The same disposition became more visible after the Rajput resistance at Bayana, when he broke his wine vessels, invoked jihad, and proclaimed:“They shattered them as, Allah willing, soon shall be shattered the idols of the idolaters, distributing the fragments among the poor and needy.”And then came the Battle of Khanwa, after which Babur assumed the title of Ghazi (victor in a jihad fought by the sword) and declared:For Islām’s sake, I roamed the untamed wilds,Ready for battle against the pagans, the Hindūs,Resolved to embrace the Shahid’s martyrdom.Thanks be to Allāh! I became a Ghāzī.The Fathnama (Fatḥ-i-Pādshāh-i-Islām), composed at the hands of Shaikh Zain, further states in Baburnama:Upon hearing the thunderous approach of the forces of Islam, the accursed Kafir enemies of Muḥammad’s religion gathered their ill-fated troops and advanced with a unified resolve, placing their trust in their towering, monstrous elephants, as the Lords of the Elephant once did when they marched to overthrow the sanctuary (Ka‘ba) of Islam.The Battle of Khanwa was clearly framed as a conflict between the armies of Islam and the kafirs (non-Muslims). Equally striking is the reference to the tower of Hindu heads that follows:All the Hindus slain, wretched and lowly, By matchlock fire, as if under elephants’ might, Piles of their bodies rose like hills, From each mound, a fountain of flowing blood. The point I seek to draw here is simple: when Babur fought Muslim armies such as the Lodis, he did not invoke jihad. But against the brave Hindu king Rana Sangram Singh at Khanwa, the language of jihad emerged prominently. Since Rana Sangram Singh is mentioned, another popular claim also deserves clarification. A triangulation of sources suggests that Rana Sanga did not invite Babur into Hindustan; rather, it was Babur who reached out seeking an alliance against the Lodi power. Limits of ‘syncretism’