Ibrahim Khan Lodi

Ibrahim Khan Lodi (; 1480 – 21 April 1526) was the last Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, who became Sultan in 1517 after the death of his father Sikandar Khan. He was the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, reigning for nine years until 1526, when he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Panipat by Babur's invading army, giving way to the emergence of the Mughal Empire in India.

Biography After Sikandar Lodi's death in late 1517, his eldest son, Ibrahim Lodi, ascended the throne without opposition. Early in his reign, Ibrahim attempted a power‐sharing arrangement by installing his brother Jalal Khan as the autonomous governor of Jaunpur. But when Jalal began to assert his independence, Ibrahim—acting on the counsel of senior courtiers—reversed his decision. He summoned Jalal to Delhi; upon his refusal, Ibrahim secretly directed provincial governors and leading nobles to withhold recognition of Jalal's authority, forcing him to abandon Jaunpur and fall back to his former stronghold at Kalpi.

Undeterred, Jalal secured the backing of the influential noble Azam Humayun Sarwani and quickly seized Awadh. Yet, when Ibrahim advanced with a large force, Azam defected, re-pledging his loyalty to the Sultan and compelling Jalal to withdraw toward Agra. There, Ibrahim's general Malik Adam negotiated a temporary settlement: Jalal could keep Kalpi in return for renouncing any claim to independent rule. This truce proved short-lived. Ibrahim Khan Lodi was defeated and killed on 21 April 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat, fought near Panipat (present-day Haryana, India), against the invading forces of Babur. His death marked the end of the Lodi dynasty and of the independent Delhi Sultanate, paving the way for the establishment of the Mughal Empire in India.

Tomb

His tomb is often mistaken to be the Shisha Gumbad within Lodi Gardens, Delhi. Rather Ibrahim Khan Lodi's Tomb is actually situated near the tehsil office in Panipat, close to the Dargah of Sufi saint Bu Ali Shah Qalandar. It is a simple rectangular structure on a high platform approached by a flight of steps. In 1866, the British relocated the tomb during construction of the Grand Trunk Road and renovated it with an inscription highlighting Ibrahim Khan Lodi's death in the Battle of Panipat. He also built a Khwaja Khizr Tomb in Sonipat in 1522.

Another memorial of some kind, however, appears to have existed which used to form a place of pilgrimage for the people of Gwalior since Vikramaditya the last Raja of the Tomar dynasty of Gwalior, fell in the same battle. This memorial, according to Alexander Cunningham, was destroyed when the Grand Trunk Road was made.

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