Babur: Difference between revisions

Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur (14 February 1483 – 26 December 1530; sometimes also spelt Baber or Babar) was a conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the

.

Babur married several times. Notable among his sons are

Chaghatai Turkic and this was later translated to Persian during Akbar

's reign.

Etymology

Babur was born as Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muḥammad (

Arabic: ظهیرالدین محمد), but was more commonly known by his nickname, Bābur (بابر). He had the royal titles Badshah and al-ṣultānu 'l-ʿazam wa 'l-ḫāqān al-mukkarram pādshāh-e ġāzī.^[4] Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn ("Defender of the faith") Muḥammad was an Arabic name and difficult to pronounce for the Central Asian Turko-Mongols, therefore the name Babur was adopted.^[5]

According to historian Stephen Frederic Dale, the name Babur is derived from the Persian word babr, meaning "tiger", a word that repeatedly appears in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh^[6] and had also been borrowed by the Turkic languages of Central Asia.^[7][8] This thesis is supported by the explanation that the Turko-Mongol name Timur underwent a similar evolution, from the Sanskrit word cimara ("iron") via a modified version *čimr to the final Turkicized version timür, with -ür replacing -r due to need to provide vocalic support between m and r. The choice of vowel would nominally be restricted to one of the four front vowels (e, i, ö, ü per the Ottoman vowel harmony rule), hence babr → babür, although the rule is routinely violated for words of Persian or Arabic derivation.^[9]

Contradicting these views, historian W. M. Thackston argues that the name must instead be derived from a word that has evolved out of the Indo-European word for beaver, pointing to the fact that the name is pronounced bāh-bor^[10] in both Persian and Turkic, similar to the Russian word for beaver (бобр – bobr).

Background

Babur's memoirs form the main source for details of his life. They are known as the Baburnama and were written in Chaghatai Turkic, his mother-tongue,^[11] though, according to Dale, "his Turki prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology or word formation and vocabulary."^[6] Baburnama was translated into Persian during the rule of Babur's grandson Akbar.^[11]

Babur was born on 14 February [

Chaghatai Khan, the second born son of Genghis Khan).^[14]

Babur hailed from the Barlas tribe, which was of

Turkic^[15] and Persian culture.^[16] He converted to Islam and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan. Aside from the Chaghatai language, Babur was equally fluent in Persian, the lingua franca of the Timurid elite.^[17]

Hence Babur, though nominally a Mongol (or Moghul in Persian language), drew much of his support from the local Turkic and Iranian people of Central Asia, and his army was diverse in its ethnic makeup. It included

Safavid Persia who later became one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court.^{[citation needed}

]

Rule in Central Asia

As ruler of Fergana

Umar Sheikh Mirza

 – Father of Babur, c. 1875–1900

In 1495, at twelve years old, Babur became the ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after Umar Sheikh Mirza died "while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled into the ravine below the palace".[19] During this time, two of his uncles from the neighbouring kingdoms, who were hostile to his father, and a group of nobles who wanted his younger brother Jahangir to be the ruler, threatened his succession to the throne.^[5] His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as from many of his other territorial possessions to come.^[20] Babur was able to secure his throne mainly due to help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum, although there was also some luck involved.^[5]

Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict.^[5] At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin. Babur had a great ambition to capture it and in 1497, he besieged Samarkand for seven months before eventually gaining control over it.^[21] He was fifteen years old and for him, this campaign was a huge achievement.^[5] Babur was able to hold it despite desertions in his army but later fell seriously ill. Meanwhile, a rebellion amongst nobles who favoured his brother, back home approximately 350 kilometres (220 mi) away robbed him of Fergana.^[21] As he was marching to recover it, he lost the Samarkand to a rival prince, leaving him with neither Fergana nor Samarkand.^[5] He had held Samarkand for 100 days and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss, obsessing over it even later in his life after his conquests in India.^[5]

In 1501, he laid siege on Samarkand once more, but was soon defeated by his most formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani, khan of the Uzbeks.^[21][22] Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was lost again. He tried to reclaim Fergana but lost it too and escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered to the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. Thus, during the ten years since becoming the ruler of Fergana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants.^[23] He finally stayed in Tashkent, which was ruled by his maternal uncle. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!"^[23] For three years Babur concentrated on building up a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of Badakhshan in particular. By 1502, Babur had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana, he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck someplace else.^[24]

At Kabul

Kabul was ruled by Ulugh Begh Mirza of the

Arghun Dynasty, who died leaving only an infant as heir.^[23] The city was then claimed by Mukin Begh, who was considered to be a usurper and was opposed by the local populace. In 1504, by using the whole situation^{[clarification needed]} to his own advantage, Babur was able to cross the snowy Hindu Kush mountains and capture Kabul;^[21] the remaining Arghunids were forced to retreat to Kandahar. With this move, he gained a new kingdom, re-established his fortunes and would remain its ruler until 1526.^[24] In 1505, because of the low revenue generated by his new mountain kingdom, Babur began his first expedition to India; in his memoirs, he wrote, "My desire for Hindustan had been constant. It was in the month of Shaban, the Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kabul for Hindustan". It was a brief raid across the Khyber Pass.^[23]

In the same year, Babur united with

Mir Ali Shir Nava'i, who encouraged the use of Chagatai as a literary language. Nava'i's proficiency with the language, which he is credited with founding,^[28] may have influenced Babur in his decision to use it for his memoirs. He spent two months there before being forced to leave due to diminishing resources;^[25] it later was overrun by Shaybani and the Mirzas fled.^[26]

Babur became the only reigning ruler of the Timurid dynasty after the loss of Herat, and many princes sought refuge from him at Kabul because of Shaybani's invasion in the west.

Babur and the remaining Timurids used this opportunity to reconquer their ancestral territories. Over the following few years, Babur and Shah Ismail formed a partnership in an attempt to take over parts of Central Asia. In return for Ismail's assistance, Babur permitted the Safavids to act as a suzerain over him and his followers.[30] Thus, in 1513, after leaving his brother Nasir Mirza to rule Kabul, he managed to get Samarkand for the third time and Bokhara but lost both again to the Uzbeks.^[24][26] Shah Ismail reunited Babur with his sister Khānzāda, who had been imprisoned by and forced to marry the recently deceased Shaybani.^[31] He returned to Kabul after three years in 1514. The following 11 years of his rule mainly involved dealing with relatively insignificant rebellions from Afghan tribes, his nobles and relatives, in addition to conducting raids across the eastern mountains.^[26] Babur began to modernise and train his army despite it being, for him, relatively peaceful times.^[32]

Foreign relations

Babur began relations with the Safavids when he met Ali Mirza Safavi at Samarqand; their good relations lasted even after Babur was approached by the Ottomans. The Safavids army led by Najm-e Sani massacred civilians in Central Asia and then sought the assistance of Babur, who advised the Safavids to withdraw. The Safavids, however, refused and were defeated during the Battle of Ghazdewan by the warlord Ubaydullah Khan.^[33]

Babur's early relations with theOttomans were poor because the Ottoman Sultan Selim I provided his rival Ubaydullah Khan with powerful matchlocks and cannons.^[34] In 1507, when ordered to accept Selim I as his rightful suzerain Babur refused, and gathered Qizilbash servicemen in order to counter the forces of Ubaydullah Khan during the Battle of Ghazdewan. In 1513, Selim I reconciled with Babur (fearing that he would join the Safavids), dispatched Ustad Ali Quli the artilleryman and Mustafa Rumi, the matchlock marksman, and many other Ottoman Turks, in order to assist Babur in his conquests; this particular assistance proved to be the basis of future Mughal-Ottoman relations.^[35] From them, he also adopted the tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in field (rather than only in sieges), which would give him an important advantage in India.^[32]

Formation of the Mughal Empire

Babur still wanted to escape from the Uzbeks, and finally chose India as a refuge instead of Badakhshan, which was to the north of Kabul. He wrote, "In the presence of such power and potency, we had to think of some place for ourselves and, at this crisis and in the crack of time there was, put a wider space between us and the strong foeman."

Babur started for Lahore, Punjab, in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi.[37] When Babur arrived at Lahore, the Lodi army marched out and was his army was routed.^[38] In response, Babur burned Lahore for two days, then marched to Dipalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi's, as governor.^[39] Alam Khan was quickly overthrown and fled to Kabul. In response, Babur supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Daulat Khan Lodi and together with about 30,000 troops, they besieged Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi.^[40] He easily defeated and drove off Alam's army and Babur realized Lodi would not allow him to occupy the Punjab.^[40]

First battle of Panipat

Babur started his campaign in November 1525. He got news at

Babur marched on to Delhi via Sirhind. He reached Panipat on 20 April 1526 and there met Ibrahim Lodi's numerically superior army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants.^[24][36] In the battle that began on the following day, Babur utilised the tactic of Tulugma, encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants.^[36]

Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle thus ending the Lodi dynasty.^[24]

Babur wrote in his memoirs about his victory :

By the grace of the Almighty God, this difficult task was made easy to me and that mighty army, in the space of a half a day was laid in dust.^[24]

After the battle, Babur occupied Delhi and Agra, took the throne of Lodi, and laid the foundation for the eventual rise of Mughal Rule in India; however, before he became India's ruler, he had to fend off challengers, such as Rana Sanga.^[41]

Battle of Khanwa

The Battle of Khanwa was fought between Babur and a grand alliance comprising Rajputs and Afghans which was headed by the Rajput ruler Rana Sanga. It took place on 17 March 1527. It is widely acknowledged that Babur won the battle because of his superior generalship and modern tactics; the battle was also one of the first in India that featured cannons. After his defeat, Rana Sanga managed to evade capture and escape to Chittor.^[42][40]

Clash with Mewat

After emerging victorious, Babur considered attacking Chittor but decided against it upon taking into account the heat and lack of water on the way. He then attacked Mewat whose ruler, Hasan Khan, had sided with Rana Sanga in the Battle of Khanwa. Babur had earlier decided not to disturb Hasan Khan on account of his family having ruled Mewat for a hundred years, but as a punishment he marched to Mewat, annexed most of the territory including the two capitals, Tijara and Alwar, and bestowed the rest on Hasan Khan's son Nahar Khan.^[40]

Battle of Chanderi

On receiving news that Rana Sanga had renewed war preparations to renew the conflict with Babur, Babur decided to isolate the Rana. Consequently, in December 1527, taking a circumlocutious route Babur marched from Agra to Chanderi, in Malwa region, whose ruler Medini Rao was a close ally of Rana Sanga. Babur reached Chanderi on January 20, 1528, and offered Shamsabad to Medini Rao in exchange for Chanderi, but the offer was spurned by Rao. ^[40]The outer fortress was taken by Babur's forces at night, and the next morning, within an hour of the assault, the upper fort was captured.^[42] Medini Rao died after having organized the terrible jauhar ceremony. ^[42][40]

After the Battle of Chanderi

After the Battle of Chanderi, Babur contemplated campaigning against the kingdoms of Raisin,Bhilsa, and Sarangpur. He also contemplated attacking Chittor, not knowing that Rana Sanga had died on 30th January,1528,apparently poisoned by his own chiefs who thought his plans of renewing the fight with Babur was suicidal. Meanwhile, Babur received news about military activity of Afghans in eastern UP. Consequently, he abandoned his plans for further military campaigns in Malwa and Rajasthan.^[40]

Personal life and relationships

There are no descriptions about Babur's physical appearance, except the paintings from his memoirs which were made during the reign of his grandson Akbar, when he translated it.

During his rule in Kabul, when there was a relative time of peace, Babur pursued his interests in literature, art, music and gardening.[32] Previously, he never drank alcohol and avoided it when he was in Herat. In Kabul, he first tasted it at the age of thirty. He then began to drink regularly, host wine parties and consume preparations made from opium.^[26] Though religion had a central place in his life, Babur also approvingly quoted a line of poetry by one of his contemporaries: "I am drunk, officer. Punish me when I am sober". He quit drinking for health reasons before the Battle of Khanwa, just two years before his death, and demanded that his court do the same. But he did not stop chewing narcotic preparations, and did not lose his sense of irony. He wrote, "Everyone regrets drinking and swears an oath (of abstinence); I swore the oath and regret that."^[47]

Goodwill towards Hindus

• The fact that Babur held no prejudice against Hindus is borne by his attitude towards the autonomous Hindu kings. In Punjab, Hati Gakkhar, the hindu chief of the Gakkhars, were permitted to rule his kingdom after he agreed to accept Babur's suzerainty. The Gakkhars had fought alongside Babur in the
  Mahmud Khilji to Babur in exchange for parganas worth 70 lakhs. However, no agreement could be reached since the Rani was also asking for Bayana, while he was only prepared to give her Shamsabad.^[40]
• There are also no references to Babur having ever destroyed a hindu temple. Although the city of Mathura was near Agra and Babur passed through it several times, no temples were broken there. Babur had also visited the temples in the fort of Gwalior, and again he made no attempt to damage them. ^[40]It was only the Jain deities in the Urwa valley which he ordered to be destroyed and the reason for this was that they were completely naked. Babur's officials then damaged the idols in such a way that the Jains were able to restore them later.^{[40] [48]}However, the sexual organs of the naked male deities were not restored, leading Bamber Gascoigne to comment that the modern restorers partially agreed with Babur.^[48]

Death and legacy

Babur died at the age of 47 on 5 January [

It is generally agreed that, as a Timurid, Babur was not only significantly influenced by the Persian culture, but that his empire also gave rise to the expansion of the Persianate ethos in the Indian subcontinent.[2]^[3]

For example, F. Lehmann states in the Encyclopædia Iranica:

His origin, milieu, training, and culture were steeped in Persian culture and so Babur was largely responsible for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, the Mughals of India, and for the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and historiographical results.^[16]

Although all applications of modern Central Asian ethnicities to people of Babur's time are anachronistic, Soviet and Uzbek sources regard Babur as an ethnic Uzbek.^[50][51][52] At the same time, during the Soviet Union Uzbek scholars were censored for idealizing and praising Babur and other historical figures such as Ali-Shir Nava'i.^[53]

Babur is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan.

One of the enduring features of Babur's life was that he left behind the lively and well-written autobiography known as Baburnama.[10] Quoting Henry Beveridge, Stanley Lane-Poole writes:

His autobiography is one of those priceless records which are for all time, and is fit to rank with the confessions of St. Augustine and Rousseau, and the memoirs of Gibbon and Newton. In Asia it stands almost alone.^[42]

Babri Masjid

• Babur is popularly believed to have demolished the Rama Temple at
  Mir Baqi, not Babur. Baqi was one of Babur's generals who led forces sent to the region during his reign. In 2003, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was asked to conduct a more detailed study and an excavation to ascertain the type of structure that was beneath the rubble of Babri Masjid.^[58] According to a news report in The Week, the ASI report indicated "no mention of a temple, only of evidence of a massive structure, fragments of which speak about their association with temple architecture of the Saivite style."^[59]
• Chandra addresses the allegation of Babur constructing mosques at Sambhal and Ayodhya after destroying hindu temples.According to Chandra, the inscriptions at both places credit the building of the mosques to the local governors--Mir Hindu Beg at Sambhal, and Mir Baqi at Ayodhya, while casually mentioning that this was done at the instance of Babur who is described as the ruler. However, no mention is made in these inscriptions of the destruction of any hindu temples. Chandra suggests that the completion of grand mosques in a very short time suggests that the mosques may have existed earlier, although they may have been repaired or remodeled by Babur's governors.[40]

References and sources

References

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Baber" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Cambridge History of India, Vol. III & IV, "Turks and Afghan" and "The Mughal Period". (Cambridge) 1928
• ISBN 978-93-5118-093-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help
  )

Further reading

• Alam, Muzaffar & Subrahmanyan, Sanjay (Eds.) The Mughal State 1526–1750 (Delhi) 1998
• Balabanlilar, Lisa (2012). Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern South and Central Asia. London: I.B. Tauris.
• Gascoigne, Bamber The Great Moghuls (London) 1971. (Last revised 1987)
• Gommans, Jos Mughal Warfare (London) 2002
• Gordon, Stewart. When Asia was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks who created the "Riches of the East" Da Capo Press, Perseus Books, 2008. ISBN 0-306-81556-7.
• Hasan, Mohibbul (1985). Babur: Founder of the Mughal Empire in India. New Delhi: Manohar Publications.
• Irvine, William The Army of the Indian Moghuls. (London) 1902. (Last revised 1985)
• Jackson, Peter The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History (Cambridge) 1999
• Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire (Cambridge) 1993

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ﻇﻬﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﺪﻳﻦ محمد بابر.

• Works by Babur at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Babur at Internet Archive
• Template:Worldcat id

Babur Timurid Dynasty Born: 14 February 1483 Died: 26 December 1530
Regnal titles
Preceded by None	Mughal Emperor 1526–1530	Succeeded by Humayun

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