History of Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled themselves as "padishah", a title usually translated as "emperor". The Mughal state was established by the Sultan Babur in the sixteenth century, with his legendary victory over the Lodhi Sultan in 1526. Babur used 20 cannons to defeat an army twice the size of his own.