Babur
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Use Indian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox royalty Template:Campaignbox Babur
Babur ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 14 February 1483Template:Spaced ndash26 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor">Template:Iranica</ref><ref name="Robert L. Canfield 1991 p.20">Template:Cite book</ref> He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani ('Dwelling in Paradise').<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Born in Andijan in the Fergana Valley (now in Uzbekistan), Babur was the eldest son of Umar Shaikh Mirza II (1456–1494, Timurid governor of Fergana from 1469 to 1494) and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur (1336–1405). Babur ascended the throne of Fergana in its capital Akhsikath in 1494 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion. He conquered Samarkand two years later, only to lose Fergana soon after. In his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to recapture both the regions failed when the Uzbek prince Muhammad Shaybani defeated him and founded the Khanate of Bukhara.
In 1504, he conquered Kabul, which was under the putative rule of Abdur Razaq Mirza, the infant heir of Ulugh Beg II. Babur formed a partnership with the Safavid emperor Ismail I and reconquered parts of Turkestan, including Samarkand, only to again lose it and the other newly conquered lands to the Shaybanids.
After losing Samarkand for the third time, Babur turned his attention to India and employed aid from the neighbouring Safavid and Ottoman empires.<ref name="Gilbert2017">Template:Citation Quote: "Babur then adroitly gave the Ottomans his promise not to attack them in return for their military aid, which he received in the form of the newest of battlefield inventions, the matchlock gun and cast cannons, as well as instructors to train his men to use them."</ref> He defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 and founded the Mughal Empire. Before the defeat of Lodi at Delhi, the Sultanate of Delhi had been a spent force, long in a state of decline.
The rival adjacent Kingdom of Mewar under the rule of Rana Sanga had become one of the most powerful states in North India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Sanga unified several Rajput clans for the first time since Prithviraj Chauhan and advanced on Babur with a grand coalition of 80,000-100,000 Rajputs, engaging Babur in the Battle of Khanwa. Babur arrived at Khanwa with 40,000-50,000 soldiers. Nonetheless, Sanga suffered a major defeat due to Babur's skillful troop positioning and use of gunpowder, specifically matchlocks and small cannons.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The battle was one of the most decisive events in Indian history, more so than the First Battle of Panipat, as the defeat of Rana Sanga was a watershed event in the Mughal conquest of North India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn
Religiously, Babur started his life as a staunch Sunni Muslim, but he underwent significant evolution. Babur became more tolerant as he conquered new territories and grew older, allowing other religions to peacefully coexist in his empire and at his court.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He also displayed a certain attraction to theology, poetry, geography, history, and biology—disciplines he promoted at his court—earning him a frequent association with representatives of the Timurid Renaissance.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His religious and philosophical stances are characterized as humanistic.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Babur married several times. Notable among his children were Humayun, Kamran Mirza, Hindal Mirza, Masuma Sultan Begum, and the author Gulbadan Begum. Babur died in 1530 in Agra and Humayun succeeded him. Babur was first buried in Agra but, as per his wishes, his remains were moved to Kabul and reburied.<ref name="Necipoğlu" /> He ranks as a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Many of his poems have become popular folk songs. He wrote the Baburnama in Chaghatai Turkic; it was translated into Persian during the reign (1556–1605) of his grandson, the emperor Akbar.
NameEdit
Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn is Arabic for "Defender of the Faith" (of Islam), and Muhammad honours the Islamic prophet. The name was chosen for Babur by the Sufi saint Khwaja Ahrar, who was the spiritual master of his father.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The difficulty of pronouncing the name for his Central Asian Turco-Mongol army may have been responsible for the greater popularity of his nickname Babur,Template:Sfn also variously spelled Baber,Template:Sfnp Babar,Template:Sfnp and Bābor.<ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor" /> The name is generally taken in reference to the Persian word babur (Template:Wikt-lang), meaning "tiger" or "panther".<ref name="Dale2004" />Template:Sfnp<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The word repeatedly appears in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and was borrowed into the Turkic languages of Central Asia.Template:Sfnp<ref>Thumb, Albert, Handbuch des Sanskrit, mit Texten und Glossar, German original, ed. C. Winter, 1953, Snippet, p. 318 Template:Webarchive</ref>
BackgroundEdit
Babur's memoirs form the main source for details of his life. They are known as the Baburnama and were written in Chagatai, his first language,<ref name="Babur Nama">Template:Cite book</ref> though, according to Dale, "his Turkic prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology or word formation and vocabulary."<ref name="Dale2004">Template:Cite book</ref> Baburnama was translated into Persian during the rule of Babur's grandson Akbar.<ref name="Babur Nama" />
Babur was born on 14 February 1483 in the city of Andijan, Fergana Valley, contemporary Uzbekistan. He was the eldest son of Umar Shaikh Mirza II,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> ruler of the Fergana Valley, the son of Abū Saʿīd Mirza (and grandson of Miran Shah, who was himself son of Timur) and his wife Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, daughter of Yunus Khan, the ruler of Moghulistan (a descendant of Genghis Khan).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Babur hailed from the Turkic Barlas tribe, which was of Mongol origin and had embraced the Turco-Persian tradition<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Iranica" /> They had also converted to Islam centuries earlier and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan.
Aside from the Chaghatai Turkic, Babur was equally fluent in Classical Persian, the lingua franca of the Timurid elite.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Some of Babur's relatives, such as his uncles Mahmud Khan (Moghul Khan) and Ahmad Khan, continued to identify as Mongols, and allowed him to use their Mongol troops to help recover his fortunes in the turbulent years that followed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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 Sarts, Tajiks, ethnic Afghans, Arabs, as well as Barlas and Chaghatayid Turko-Mongols from Central Asia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ruler of Central AsiaEdit
As Timurid ruler of FerganaEdit
In 1494, eleven-year-old Babur became the Timurid ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after his father Umar Sheikh Mirza died "while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled into the ravine below the palace".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Babur was able to secure his throne mainly because of help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum, although there was also some luck involved.Template:Sfn
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Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict.Template:Sfn At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin.Template:Sfn Babur had a great ambition to capture the city.Template:Sfn In 1497, he besieged Samarkand for seven months before eventually gaining control over it.<ref name="Afghanistan">Template:Cite book</ref> He was fifteen years old and for him the campaign was a huge achievement.Template:Sfn Babur was able to hold the city despite desertions in his army, but he later fell seriously ill.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, a rebellion back home, approximately Template:Convert away, amongst nobles who favoured his brother, robbed him of Fergana.<ref name="Afghanistan" /> As he was marching to recover it, he left Samarkand to Sultan Mahmud Mirza, leaving him with neither territory in his possession.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
For three years, Babur concentrated on building a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of Badakhshan in particular. In 1500–1501, he again laid siege to Samarkand, and indeed he took the city briefly, but he was in turn besieged by his most formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani, Khan of the Uzbeks.<ref name="Afghanistan" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The situation became such that Babar was compelled to give his sister, Khanzada, to Shaybani in marriage as part of the peace settlement. Only after this were Babur and his troops allowed to depart the city in safety. Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was thus lost again. He then tried to reclaim Fergana, but lost the battle there also and, escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana; he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck elsewhere.<ref name="VDM0">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn He finally went to Tashkent, which was ruled by his maternal uncle, but he found himself less than welcome there. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!"Template:Sfn 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.
At KabulEdit
Kabul was ruled by Babur's paternal uncle Ulugh Beg II, who died leaving only an infant as heir.Template:Sfn The city was then claimed by Mukin Begh, who was considered to be a usurper and was opposed by the local populace. In 1504, Babur was able to cross the snowy Hindu Kush mountains and capture Kabul from the remaining Arghunids, who were forced to retreat to Kandahar.<ref name="Afghanistan" /> With this move, he gained a new kingdom, re-established his fortunes and would remain its ruler until 1526.<ref name="VDM0" /> 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.Template:Sfn
In the same year, Babur united with Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqarah of Herat, a fellow Timurid and distant relative, against their common enemy, the Uzbek Shaybani.<ref name="perspect">Template:Cite book</ref> However, this venture did not take place because Husayn Mirza died in 1506 and his two sons were reluctant to go to war.Template:Sfn Babur instead stayed at Herat after being invited by the two Mirza brothers. It was then the cultural capital of the eastern Muslim world. Though he was disgusted by the vices and luxuries of the city,Template:Sfn he marvelled at the intellectual abundance there, which he stated was "filled with learned and matched men".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He became acquainted with the work of the Chagatai poet 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,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> may have influenced Babur in his decision to use it for his memoirs. He spent two months there before being forced to leave because of diminishing resources;<ref name="perspect" /> it later was overrun by Shaybani and the Mirzas fled.Template:Sfn Babur became the only reigning ruler of the Timurid dynasty after the loss of Herat, and many princes sought refuge with him at Kabul because of Shaybani's invasion in the west.Template:Sfn He thus assumed the title of Padshah (emperor) among the Timurids—though this title was insignificant since most of his ancestral lands were taken, Kabul itself was in danger and Shaybani continued to be a threat.Template:Sfn Babur prevailed during a potential rebellion in Kabul, but two years later a revolt among some of his leading generals drove him out of Kabul. Escaping with very few companions, Babur soon returned to the city, capturing Kabul again and regaining the allegiance of the rebels. Meanwhile, Shaybani was defeated and killed by Ismail I, Shah of Shia Safavid Persia, in 1510.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, in 1513, after leaving his brother Nasir Mirza to rule Kabul, he managed to take Samarkand for the third time; he also took Bokhara but lost both again to the Uzbeks.<ref name="VDM0" />Template:Sfn Shah Ismail reunited Babur with his sister Khānzāda, who had been imprisoned by and forced to marry the recently deceased Shaybani.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Babur 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.Template:Sfn Babur began to modernise and train his army despite it being, for him, relatively peaceful times.Template:Sfn
Foreign relationsEdit
Determined to conquer the Uzbeks and recapture his ancestral homeland, Babur was wary of their allies the Ottomans, and made no attempt to establish formal diplomatic relations with them. He did, however, employ the matchlock commander Mustafa Rumi and several other Ottomans.<ref name=Farooqi2008>Template:Cite book</ref> From them, he adopted the tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in the field (rather than only in sieges), which gave him an important advantage in India.Template:Sfn
Formation of the Mughal EmpireEdit
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Babur still wanted to escape from the Uzbeks, and he 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."Template:Sfn After his third loss of Samarkand, Babur gave full attention to the conquest of North India, launching a campaign; he reached the Chenab River, now in Pakistan, in 1519.<ref name="VDM0" /> Until 1524, his aim was to only expand his rule to Punjab, mainly to fulfill the legacy of his ancestor Timur, since it used to be part of his empire.Template:Sfn At the time parts of North India were part of the Delhi Sultanate, ruled by Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, but the sultanate was crumbling and there were many defectors. Babur received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab and Ala-ud-Din, uncle of Ibrahim.<ref name="RSCHMI">Template:Cite book</ref> He sent an ambassador to Ibrahim, claiming himself the rightful heir to the throne, but the ambassador was detained at Lahore, Punjab, and released months later.<ref name="VDM0" />
Babur started for Lahore in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When Babur arrived at Lahore, the Lodi army marched out and his army was routed. In response, Babur burned Lahore for two days, then marched to Dibalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi, as governor.<ref>Template:Harvtxt</ref> 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.<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Harvtxt</ref> The sultan easily defeated and drove off Alam's army, and Babur realised that he would not allow him to occupy the Punjab.<ref name="autogenerated1" />
First Battle of PanipatEdit
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In November 1525, Babur got news at Peshawar that Daulat Khan Lodi had switched sides, and Babur drove out Ala-ud-Din. Babur then marched onto Lahore to confront Daulat Khan Lodi, only to see Daulat's army melt away at their approach.<ref name="VDM0" /> Daulat surrendered and was pardoned. Thus within three weeks of crossing the Indus River Babur had become the master of Punjab.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref name="VDM0" /><ref name="RSCHMI" /> In the battle that began on the following day, Babur used the tactic of Tulugma, encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants.<ref name="RSCHMI" /> Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, thus ending the Lodi dynasty.<ref name="VDM0" />
Babur wrote in his memoirs about his victory:
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After the battle, Babur occupied Delhi, Gwalior and Agra, took the throne of Lodi, and laid the foundation for the eventual rise of Mughal rule in India. However, before he became North India's ruler, he had to fend off challengers, such as Rana Sanga.<ref name="VDM1">Template:Harvtxt</ref>
Many of Babur's men allegedly wanted to leave India due to its warm climate, but Babur motivated them to stay and expand his empire.Template:Citation needed
Battle of KhanwaEdit
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The Battle of Khanwa was fought between Babur and the Rajput ruler of Mewar, Rana Sanga on 16 March 1527. Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur, whom he considered to be a foreigner ruling in India, and also to extend the Rajput territories by annexing Delhi and Agra. He was supported by Afghan chiefs who felt Babur had been deceptive by refusing to fulfil promises made to them. Upon receiving news of Rana Sangha's advance towards Agra, Babur after annexing Gwalior and Bayana took a defensive position at Khanwa (currently in the Indian state of Rajasthan), from where he hoped to launch a counterattack later. According to K.V. Krishna Rao, Babur won the battle because of his "superior generalship" and modern tactics; the battle was one of the first in India that featured cannons and muskets. Rao also notes that Rana Sanga faced "treachery" when the Hindu chief Silhadi joined Babur's army with a garrison of 6,000 soldiers.<ref name="Rao">Template:Cite book</ref>
Battle of ChanderiEdit
The Battle of Chanderi took place the year after the Battle of Khanwa. On receiving news that Rana Sanga had made preparations to renew the conflict with him, Babur decided to isolate the Rana by defeating one of his staunchest allies, Medini Rai, who was the ruler of Malwa.<ref name="Lane-Poole">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Chandra">Template:Cite book</ref>
Upon reaching Chanderi, on 20 January 1528,<ref name="Lane-Poole" /> Babur offered Shamsabad to Medini Rao in exchange for Chanderi as a peace overture, but the offer was rejected.<ref name="Chandra" /> The outer fortress of Chanderi was taken by Babur's army at night, and the next morning the upper fort was captured. Babur himself expressed surprise that the upper fort had fallen within an hour of the final assault.<ref name = "Lane-Poole" /> Seeing no hope of victory, Medini Rai organized a jauhar, during which women and children within the fortress immolated themselves.<ref name="Lane-Poole"/><ref name="Chandra" /> A small number of soldiers also collected in Medini Rao's house and killed each other in collective suicide. This sacrifice does not seem to have impressed Babur, who did not express a word of admiration for the enemy in his autobiography.<ref name="Lane-Poole" />
Religious policyEdit
Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty, in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and was succeeded by his son Humayun whose reign was temporarily usurped by the Suri dynasty. During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in Sikh literature of the 16th century.<ref name=johnhinnells>Template:Cite book</ref> The violence of Babur in the 1520s was witnessed by Guru Nanak, who commented upon it in four hymns.Template:Citation needed Historians suggest the early Mughal period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then the transformation in Sikhism from pacifism to militancy for self-defense.<ref name=johnhinnells/> According to Babur's autobiography, Baburnama, his campaign in northwest India targeted Hindus and Sikhs as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and an immense number were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of the infidels" on hillocks.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Babur's secret will, in the year 935AH, 1529 AD, to Humayun, Babur advises Humayun to administer justice according to the ways of every religion, avoid sacrifice of the cow, not to ruin the temples and shrines of any law obeying community, overlook the dissensions of the Shias and the Sunnis.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Personal life and relationshipsEdit
There are no descriptions about Babur's physical appearance, except from the paintings in the translation of the Baburnama prepared during the reign of Akbar.Template:Sfn In his autobiography, Babur claimed to be strong and physically fit, and that he had swum across every major river he encountered, including twice across the Ganges River in North India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Babur did not initially know Old Hindi; however, his Turkic poetry indicates that he picked up some of its vocabulary later in life.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Unlike his father, he had ascetic tendencies and did not have any great interest in women. In his first marriage, he was "bashful" towards Aisha Sultan Begum, later losing his affection for her.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Babur showed similar shyness in his interactions with Baburi, a boy in his camp with whom he had an infatuation around this time, recounting that: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
"Occasionally Baburi came to me, but I was so bashful that I could not look him in the face, much less converse freely with him. In my excitement and agitation I could not thank him for coming, much less complain of his leaving. Who could bear to demand the ceremonies of fealty?"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Harvtxt</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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However, Babur acquired several more wives and concubines over the years, and as required for a prince, he was able to ensure the continuity of his line.
Babur's first wife, Aisha Sultan Begum, was his paternal cousin, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad Mirza, his father's brother. She was an infant when betrothed to Babur, who was himself five years old. They married eleven years later, Template:Circa. The couple had one daughter, Fakhr-un-Nissa, who died within a year in 1500. Three years later, after Babur's first defeat at Fergana, Aisha left him and returned to her father's household.<ref name="Babur's wives and children">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn In 1504, Babur married Zaynab Sultan Begum, who died childless within two years. In the period 1506–08, Babur married four women, Maham Begum (in 1506), Masuma Sultan Begum, Gulrukh Begum and Dildar Begum.<ref name="Babur's wives and children" /> Babur had four children by Maham Begum, of whom only one survived infancy. This was his eldest son and heir, Humayun. Masuma Sultan Begum died during childbirth; the year of her death is disputed (either 1508 or 1519). Gulrukh bore Babur two sons, Kamran and Askari, and Dildar Begum was the mother of Babur's youngest son, Hindal.<ref name="Babur's wives and children" /> Babur later married Mubaraka Yusufzai, a Pashtun woman of the Yusufzai tribe. Gulnar Aghacha and Nargul Aghacha were two Circassian slaves given to Babur as gifts by Tahmasp Shah Safavi, the Shah of Persia. They became "recognized ladies of the royal household."<ref name="Babur's wives and children" />
During his rule in Kabul, when there was a time of relative peace, Babur pursued his interests in literature, art, music and gardening.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn 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."<ref>Pope, Hugh (2005). Sons of the Conquerors, Overlook Duckworth, pp. 234–35.</ref>
Babur was opposed to the blind obedience towards the Chinggisid laws and customs that were influential in Turco-Mongol society:
"Previously our ancestors had shown unusual respect for the Chingizid code ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). They did not violate this code sitting and rising at councils and court, at feasts and dinners. [However] Chingez Khan's code is not a nass qati (categorical text) that a person must follow. Whenever one leaves a good custom, it should be followed. If ancestors leave a bad custom, however it is necessary to substitute a good one."
Making clear that to him, the categorical text (i.e. the Quran) had displaced Genghis Khan's Yassa in moral and legal matters.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
PoetryEdit
Babur was an acclaimed writer, who had a profound love for literature. His library was one of his most beloved possessions that he always carried around with him, and books were one of the treasures he searched for in new conquered lands. In his memoirs, when he listed sovereigns and nobles of a conquered land, he also mentioned poets, musicians and other educated people.<ref name="Eraly">Template:Cite book</ref>
Even though he died aged 47, Babur left a rich literary and scientific heritage. He authored his famous memoir the Bāburnāma, as well as beautiful lyrical works or ghazals, treatises on Muslim jurisprudence (Mubayyin), poetics (Aruz risolasi), music, and a special calligraphy, known as khatt-i Baburi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Hasanov, S. (1981). Bobirning "Aruz risolasi" asari (in Uzbek). pp. 1-4. Uzbekistan: Fan.</ref><ref>Schimmel, A. (2004). The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. p. 26. India: Reaktion Books.</ref><ref>Eraly, A. (2000). Last Spring: The Lives and Times of Great Mughals. pp. 30-41. India: Penguin Books Limited.</ref>
Babur's Bāburnāma is a collection of memoirs, written in the Chagatai language and later translated into Persian, the usual literary language of the Mughal court, during the rule of emperor Akbar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, Babur's Turkic prose in Bāburnāma is already highly Persianized in its sentence structure, vocabulary, and morphology,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and also consists of several phrases and minor poems in Persian.
Babur wrote most of his poems in Chagatai Turkic, known to him as Türki, but he also composed in Persian. However, he was mostly praised for his literary works written in Turkic, which drew comparison with the poetry of Ali-Shir Nava'i.<ref name="Eraly"/>
The following ruba'i is an example of Babur's poetry written in Turkic, composed in the aftermath of his famous victory in North India to celebrate his ghazi status.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break <poem> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</poem> Template:Col-break <poem> I am become a desert wanderer for Islam, Having joined battle with infidels and Hindus I readied myself to become a martyr, God be thanked I am become a ghazi.</poem> Template:Col-end
FamilyEdit
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ConsortsEdit
- Aisha Sultan Begum (Template:Abbr 1499; Template:Abbr 1503), daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza — First wife of Babur
- Zainab Sultan Begum (Template:Abbr 1504; Template:Abbr 1506–07), daughter of Sultan Mahmud Mirza
- Maham Begum (Template:Abbr 1506) — Babur's chief and favourite consort
- Masuma Sultan Begum (Template:Abbr 1507; Template:Abbr 1508), daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza and half-sister of Aisha Sultan Begum
- Bibi Mubarika (Template:Abbr 1519), Pashtun of the Yusufzai tribe
- Gulrukh Begum (not to be confused with Babur's daughter Gulrukh Begum, who was also known as Gulbarg Begum)
- Dildar Begum
- Gulnar Aghacha, Circassian concubine
- Nargul Aghacha, Circassian concubine
The identity of the mother of one of Babur's daughters, Gulrukh Begum is disputed. Gulrukh's mother may have been the daughter of Sultan Mahmud Mirza by his wife Pasha Begum who is referred to as Saliha Sultan Begum in certain secondary sources, however this name is not mentioned in the Baburnama or the works of Gulbadan Begum, which casts doubt on her existence. This woman may never have existed at all or she may even be the same woman as Dildar Begum.
IssueEdit
The sons of Babur were:
- Humayun (Template:Abbr 1508; Template:Abbr 1556) — with Maham Begum — succeeded Babur as the second Mughal Emperor
- Kamran Mirza (Template:Abbr 1512; Template:Abbr 1557) — with Gulrukh Begum
- Askari Mirza (Template:Abbr 1518; Template:Abbr 1557) — with Gulrukh Begum
- Hindal Mirza (Template:Abbr 1519; Template:Abbr 1551) — with Dildar Begum
- Ahmad Mirza (Template:Abbr young) — with Gulrukh Begum
- Shahrukh Mirza (Template:Abbr young) — with Gulrukh Begum
- Barbul Mirza (Template:Abbr infancy) — with Maham Begum
- Alwar Mirza (Template:Abbr young) — with Dildar Begum
- Faruq Mirza (Template:Abbr infancy) — with Maham Begum
The daughters of Babur were:
- Fakhr-un-Nissa Begum (Template:Abbr & Template:Abbr 1501) — with Aisha Sultan Begum
- Aisan Daulat Begum (Template:Abbr infancy) — with Maham Begum
- Mehr Jahan Begum (Template:Abbr infancy) — with Maham Begum
- Masuma Sultan Begum (Template:Abbr 1508) — with Masuma Sultan Begum — Married to Muhammad Zaman Mirza.
- Gulzar Begum (Template:Abbr infancy) — with Gulrukh Begum
- Gulrukh Begum (Gulbarg Begum) — Identity of mother is disputed, may have been Dildar Begum or Saliha Sultan Begum — Married to Nuruddin Muhammad Mirza, son of Khwaja Hasan Naqshbandi, with whom she had Salima Sultan Begum, wife of Bairam Khan and later the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
- Gulbadan Begum (Template:Abbr Template:Circa – Template:Abbr 1603) — with Dildar Begum — Married Khizr Khwaja Khan, son of her father's cousin Aiman Khwajah Sultan of Moghulistan, son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur.
- Gulchehra Begum (Template:Abbr Template:Circa – Template:Abbr 1557) — with Dildar Begum — Married firstly in 1530 to Sultan Tukhta Bugha Khan, son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur. Married secondly to Abbas Sultan Uzbeg.
- Gulrang Begum — with Dildar Begum — Married in 1530 to Isan Timur Sultan, ninth son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur.
Death and legacyEdit
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Babur died in Agra on Template:OldStyleDate and was succeeded by his eldest son, Humayun. He was first buried in Chauburji, Agra.<ref name="Rangan">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Jagaran">Template:Cite news</ref> Later, as per his wishes, his mortal remains were moved to Kabul and reburied in Bagh-e Babur in Kabul sometime between 1539 and 1544.<ref name="Necipoğlu">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="VDM1"/>
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It is generally agreed that, as a Timurid, Babur was not only significantly influenced by the Persian culture, but also that his empire gave rise to the expansion of the Persianate ethos in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor" /><ref name="Robert L. Canfield 1991 p.20" /> He emerged in his own telling as a Timurid Renaissance inheritor, leaving signs of Islamic, artistic literary, and social aspects in India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:New Cambridge History of Islam</ref>
F. Lehmann states in the Encyclopædia Iranica:
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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.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At the same time, during the Soviet Union Uzbek scholars were censored for idealising and praising Babur and other historical figures such as Ali-Shir Nava'i.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Babur is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 14 February 2008, stamps in his name were issued in the country to commemorate his 525th birth anniversary.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many of Babur's poems have become popular Uzbek folk songs, especially by Sherali Joʻrayev.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some sources claim that Babur is a national hero in Kyrgyzstan too.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In October 2005, Pakistan developed the Babur Cruise Missile, named in his honour.
Shahenshah Babar, an Indian film about the emperor directed by Wajahat Mirza was released in 1944. The 1960 Indian biographical film Babar by Hemen Gupta covered the emperor's life with Gajanan Jagirdar in the lead role.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
One of the enduring features of Babur's life was that he left behind the lively and well-written autobiography known as Baburnama.<ref name="baburnama">Template:Cite book</ref> Quoting Henry Beveridge, Stanley Lane-Poole writes:<ref>Template:Harvtxt</ref>
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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.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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Babri MasjidEdit
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The Babri Masjid ("Babur's Mosque") in Ayodhya, was constructed by Mir Baqi (commander of the Babur), according to the mosque's inscriptions, in 1528–29 (935 AH). On 6 December 1992, Babri Masjid was demolished by a large group of Hindutva activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Sangh Parivar.
In 2003, the Allahabad High Court ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a more in-depth study and an excavation to ascertain the type of structure beneath the mosque.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The excavation was conducted from 12 March to 7 August 2003, resulting in 1360 discoveries.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The summary of the ASI report indicated the presence of a 10th-century temple under the mosque.<ref name="trib">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Prasannan, R. (7 September 2003) "Ayodhya: Layers of truth" The Week (India), from Web Archive</ref> The ASI team said that, human activity at the site dates back to the 13th century BCE. The next few layers date back to the Shunga period (second-first century BCE) and the Kushan period. During the early medieval period (11–12th century CE), a huge but short-lived structure of nearly 50 metres north–south orientation was constructed. On the remains of this structure, another massive structure was constructed: this structure had at least three structural phases and three successive floors attached with it. The report concluded that it was over the top of this construction that the disputed structure was constructed during the early 16th century.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Archaeologist KK Muhammed, the only Muslim member in the team of people surveying the excavation, also confirmed individually that there existed a temple like structure before the Babri Masjid was constructed over it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Several Hindu archaeologists disputed ASI findings.Template:Sfn According to archaeologist Supriya Verma and Jaya Menon, who observed the excavations on behalf of the Sunni Waqf Board, "the ASI was operating with a preconceived notion of discovering the remains of a temple beneath the demolished mosque, even selectively altering the evidence to suit its hypothesis." This allegation particularly focused on the "pillar bases" central to the claim of a temple, which Verma and Menon alleged were irregularly shaped, irregularly spaced and largely the result of selective excavation, rather than representing genuine evidence of pillars.<ref>Supriya Verma, Menon Shiv Sunni (2010), "Was There a Temple under the Babri Masjid? Reading the Archaeological 'Evidence'" Template:Webarchive, Economic & Political Weekly</ref>
The Supreme Court judgement of 2019 granted the entire disputed land to the Hindus for construction of a temple, stating that Hindus continue to worship at the site and continued to hold the land outside the yard. It also held that there was nothing to prove that the structure, which was present before the construction of the mosque, was demolished for the purpose of building mosque or was already in ruins.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
CitationsEdit
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External linksEdit
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