BABURNAMAH

Babur spoke Turkish and was a follower of Islam. He was a staunch Muslim but was not cruel towards the Hindus. He was also kind to his people in the court.

He was highly educated; a master of Turkish and Persian. He himself wrote the story of his life in Turkish, his mother tongue. It is named 'Baburnamah' or 'TUZUK-L-BABURI'. It tells us a lot about Babur.

In his autobiography, he wrote about his personal life as well as the history and geography of the places he lived in.

He loved nature and loved to wander around gardens. He was awed by the flora and fauna of India. He had many gardens made in India.

HE WAs also a great lover of architecture and music.

He has given descriptions of nature and its beauty in this autobiographical work.

The book begins with the fact that Babur became the king of Ferghana, a district of modern Uzbekistan, at the age of twelve.

Babur was a great fighter from the very beginning. He took over the Uzbek city of Samarkand in 1497 and Kabul in 1504.

Babur had to keep fighting to retain this kingdom till he was called to India. He could not stay peacefully in his own kingdom and spent a lot of time away from it.

Babur's daughter, Gulbadan, wrote the biography of Humayun called 'Humayunamah' on Akbar's request. In this biography, she has written a lot about her father Babur and the kind of person he was.

She writes of one incident when Bagur sent few gifts from Delhi for his people in Kabul.

There was an old servant in Kabul who was waiting for babur's gift from the spoils of the Battle of Panipat.

Babur told the messenger to tell the old man that he had sent only one asharfi, or gold coin for him. This made the old man sad for three days. Finally when the Asharfi was to be given to him, he was blind-folded on babur's instructions.

The gold coin was about 15 kilograms in weight. This heavy coin had a hole in it so that it could be worn around the neck.

When the old man was allowed to open his eyes and see it, he was extremely happy.

He said that he would always keep the gold coin with him and never give it to anyone. This gold coin was specially minted when Babur started having gold coins made in India;.

Babur introduced new things in India. He tried to improve the living condition of the people. His efficiency was not limited only to the battlefield, he even improved t basic infrastructure of the empire.