| Issue 26 Vol II, October 31, 2006 | Archive |
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Reading
the Memoirs of Babur
"The flavour of the wine a drinker knows; What chance have sober men to know it?" Kabul as a trading town, its climate, meadows, mountain-passes, its inhabitants, its tribes, revenues, mountain ranges, fauna and flora, in short everything that Babur observed as an outdoorish adventurist is meticulously portrayed.
Babur-Nama is an extremely readable narrative. Here and there it is dotted with couplets composed by Babur himself who in his native land in central Asia is reckoned as a great medieval poet. His memory about names and dates is really amazing so is his concern about the people, plants and animals of the environs of the lands visited by him. The total revenue of Babur's Indian Empire is reckoned as fifty two crores of tankas which according to Erskine was equivalent to 13 lac pounds (one crore tankas being equal to £25,000). Since he was very generous in sharing his largesse with his Begs, he was able to create a huge support base of loyal chieftains and noted warriors that stood BY him in good stead in all his future expeditions. The story about the death of Babur in 1530 is in itself a narrative of myth and miracle, known to every high school child in India. |
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Babur lost control of
Farghana a number of times. Being an ambitious youngman with an impressive
physical bearing, he set out on his south-east exploits to conquer Kabul and
then to capture the fabled Hindustan. So there are three distinct sections
of his autobiography, Babur-Nama. The first deals with his early life in
Farghana country, the second in Kabul and the third in Hindustan. Babur was
fond of giving minute details of every thing that he observed in his
surroundings. His days in Farghana and Samarkand are replete with his
interaction with his kin, some of whom were rulers of the neighbouring
principalities. When he was twenty one he left Farghana to move to Khurasan
and then to descend on Kabul which eventually he captures. He describes
Kabul as a "country situated in the fourth climate and in the midst of
cultivated lands. On the east it has the Lumghanat, Parashwar, Hashnagar and
some of the countries of Hindustan. On the west it has the mountain region
in which are Karnud and Ghur, now the refuge and dwelling places of Hazara
and Nikdiri tribes. On the north, separated from it by the range of
Hindukush... On the south, it has Farmul, Naghr, Bannu and Afghanistan."
Babur praises Kabul wines about which he recites a couplet:-
From 1519 to 1525
Babur made five attempts to capture Hindustan. He was able to conquer a
large part of Punjab but had not yet ventured to take on Ibrahim Lodhi the
emperor of Delhi. Those days he was more interested in consolidating his
authority in the Punjab and in Afghanistan particularly the Kandhar country.
In November,1525 Babur set out for Hindustan. It was his fifth expedition
into this country. But now he was determined to confront Sultan Ibrahim
Lodhi. The route that Babur chose to move towards Delhi was along the
Shiwalik hills so that he should not make any disturbances in the plains. He
had a small army of 12,000 bravesmen who had covered thousands of miles on
horseback and were experienced warriors. Babur also had an elementary form
of artillary consisting of muskets and matchlocks. For the battle of Panipat
he ordered 700 carts to be lined on the left and right flanks of his main
cavalery formations. At places he dug ditches and threw huge tree branches
to raise mentelets. Behind these fortified barriers he deployed his
musketeers, matchlockmen and foot soldiers. The central space was occupied
by the multiple formations of the main cavalery chargers. Ibrahim Lodhi on
the other hand lead an army of 1.00,000 soldiers of different denominations
fortified with an assortment of 1,000 elephants in the front. Babur's
"artillery" wreaked havoc on Ibrahim's front flange of elephants. As the
elephants ran amuck backwards, Babur's brave Begs charged with such a fury
that within hours Ibrahim's forces were routed and the great emperor himself
licking the dust in the battle field. Victorious Babur rode to Delhi and
then to Agra from where after a few months sojourn he proceeded to meet Rana
Sanga in the battle of Kanwa. After having humbled Rana Sanga, Babur was the
undisputed sovereign of a large part of north India.