It was fought between the invading Timurid forces of Babur and the Kingdom of Mewar led by Rana Sanga for supremacy of Northern India.

[8] The battle was a major event in Medieval Indian history although Timurids won at Panipat but at the time, the sultanate at Delhi was a spent force that was long crumbling.

To the contrary, Kingdom of Mewar under the able rule of Rana Sanga and his predecessors, had turned into one of the strongest powers of northern India.

[13] Until 1524, Babur's aim was to expand his rule to Punjab, primarily to fulfil the legacy of his ancestor Timur, since it used to be part of his empire.

Babur was able to annex towns and cities till Lahore but was again forced to stop due to rebellions in Qandhar.

Alam demanded that Babur give Delhi to him after it was conquered, as he was instrumental in inviting the Mughals to invade the weakened Lodi Sultanate.

However Rajput sources claim the opposite and say that Sanga was successful against the Lodi Empire and did not require Baburs aid.

Alternatively, writes Chandra, Sanga may have thought that in the event of a Mughal victory, Babur would withdraw from Delhi and Agra, like Timur, once he had seized the treasures of these cities.

[22] Indologist Gopinath Sharma who is well known for his scholarly work on Mewar Kings and Mughal Empire[23] ably rejected this theory of Rana Sanga sending his ambassador to Babur by providing various factual contemporary evidences for the same.

The most important aspect of all is that there are no contemporary Hindu or Muslim writer who mentioned Sanga sending an ambassador to Kabul while all of them do that for Lodhi's.

[24] After the First Battle of Panipat, Babur had recognized that his primary threat came from two allied quarters: Rana Sanga and the Afghans ruling eastern India at the time.

Maharana Sangram Singh ordered the drums of war to be beaten and letter of call to duty were sent to all the Rajput vassals serving the Imperial seat of Chittorgarh which was dully responded.

[27] Primarily from Bundi, Kotah, Jalore, Sirohi, Dungarpur, Banswara, Ajmer, Gagraun, Idar, Shekhawati, Pali, Sojat, Merta, Marwar, Amber, Chanderi, Sarangpur and Bikaner.

[29][30] According to historian Har Bilas Sarda, Maharana Sangram was having more than 1,10,000 soldiers under him out of which there was little over 55,000 infantry, 45,000 cavalry and 10,000 adventurers from Mahmud Lodi.

[33] In one of the earliest western scholarly account[34] of the Mughal rulers, 'A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur Baber and Humayun', William Erskine, a 19th-century Scottish historian, quotes:[35] They (Mughals) had some sharp encounters with the Rajputs, ... found that they had now to contend with a foe more formidable than the Afghans or any of the natives of India to whom they had yet been opposed.

Babur proceeded to renounce future consumption of wine, broke his drinking cups, poured out all the stores of liquor on the ground and promulgated a pledge of total abstinence.

[40] On the other side, Babur knew that his army would have been swept by the Rajput charge if he tried to fight them in the open, he therefore planned a defensive strategy to form a fortified encampment where he would use his muskets and artillery to weaken his foes and then strike when their morale had shattered.

[41] Babur writes: Band after band of the Pagan troops followed each other to help their men, so we in our turn sent detachment after detachment to reinforce our fighters on that side.Babur did make attempts to use his famous taulqama or pincer movement, however his men were unable to complete it, twice they pushed the Rajputs back however due to the relentless attacks of the Rajput horsemen they were forced to retreat to their positions.

[43] During this time the Rana was shot by a bullet and fell unconscious, causing great confusion in the Rajput army and a lull in the fighting for a short period.

The Rajputs made a desperate charge on the Mughal left and right flanks like before, "here their bravest were mown down and the battle ended in their irretrievable defeat",[41] dead bodies could be found as far as Bayana, Alwar and Mewat of both sides.

The Mughals were too exhausted and had very heavy casualties after the long fight to give chase and Babur himself gave up the idea of invading Mewar.

[44][page needed] Sanga was taken away from the battlefield in an unconscious state by Prithviraj Kachwaha and Maldev Rathore of Marwar.