In the Indian subcontinent almost everyone is familiar with Babur, the first Mughal ruler. Majority think of him as an outstanding emperor, fine poet, writer and inspiring general while a small section affiliated to the pro-Hindutva groups does not like him to be remembered.
Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad Babur’s name is kept alive now and then in India. A masjid built by him by name Babri Masjid was pulled down by miscreants in 1992 and the case is going on at India’s highest court, the Supreme Court.
Recently, a team of researchers from Uzbekistan, Babur’s native country, visited the National Museum in New Delhi recently to study about him and the era to trace the historical links between the two countries.
National Museum, established in 1949, is one of the largest museums in the country and has a vast collection of information on Mughal rulers, including rare manuscripts on Babur, who founded the Mughal Empire that reigned for over three centuries.
Retracing Babur’s voyage
Five hundred years on, the Uzbeki government is retracing Babur’s journey and rule of India and his Indian connections as part of ‘Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in Art Collections of the World’ project which took off in 2017. The project, of great enlightening and educational value, carries out an extremely important research and educational function, identifying, organising, restoring and publishing the objects of the cultural and historical legacy of Uzbekistan in the format of book-albums in three languages, catalogues, and also video versions, creating a consistent virtual image of historical and cultural monuments of Uzbekistan.
For Uzbek experts who visited the National Museum in New Delhi, the manuscripts of the Holy Quran, scribed in Uzbekistan, which were presented to the Mughal emperors, as is evident from the royal seals on the cover page, was of great interest. Besides, the 15 illustrated folios of the Baburnama excited the Uzbek delegation.
The Uzbeki researchers are also looking at resources beyond the National Museum. “It is gratifying to realise that the culture of such a great country is connected with ours. Plans to publish a couple of albums in India will be implemented depending on the results of our work,” averred Professor Andrey Zybkin, the Uzbeki project coordinator.
A few sites of the Babur era have stood the test of time. India and Uzbekistan go as far back as the Kushan Dynasty. Apart from the Mughals and Kushans, there are other points of convergence between the two nations. The Gujaratis are believed to have had close trade ties with the Uzbekis, so were the Parsis and the Armenian Christians. Professor A.K. Pasha from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) explains that somewhere this search for their history is part of a “resurgence of old identity”. “For years, the Uzbeki culture was subjugated and overpowered by the Russians. The Islamic feeling is growing which is why they want to resurrect their old identity,” observed Pasha.
Andrey Zybkin further commented, “India and Uzbekistan have strong cultural and historical bonds. We were delighted being in India as it is one of the friendliest countries for us. So far, work with India has just begun. We are planning to publish 1-2 albums in India depending on the results of the work.”
Knotting pieces of history
In a determined bid to weave together the country’s history, researchers are connecting with international museums documenting the antiquity and artefact connected to them. As of now, the government of Uzbekistan has released 10 volumes and several short films on the cultural legacy of Uzbekistan with the help of information from leading museums in Russia, North America and Australia. “What they are doing is a first. They are not raising a dispute or demanding return of any antiquity. Instead, they are taking a holistic approach – using the common heritage to create a dialogue instead of stoking controversy,” opined commentator Shashtri Ramachandaran, who was part of the two-day congress on the study organised by the Uzbek government.
The experts are working on the project ‘Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the Art Collections of the World’ where teams are engaged in gathering Uzbeki historical material from across the world including India.
Babur wrote his autobiography in the Chagatai language, the spoken language of the Andija-Timurids. It was during the reign of Akbar that the work was completely translated into Persian. Babur never returned to his home country, i.e., Uzbekistan after he came to India and spent his life in his adopted country. Uzbekistan taking pride in Babur’s contribution has declared February 14 as Babur Day.
We learn from the pages of history that Babur lived in India for only about four or five years and died at the age of 47 in 1530 after successfully ousting Ibrahim Lodhi (1517–1526), the last ruler of the Lodhi dynasty, in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. But Babur’s legacy lived on.
Babur’s adventures
In 1526, a young prince from the Ferghana Valley, a fertile stretch not far from Tashkent in Central Asia, crossed the Pamirs and the Hindukush ranges and came through the Khyber Pass to land in Panipat, a town in the alluvial plains of the Punjab (present state of Haryana). Arriving with 12,000 loyal men and skimpy artillery, Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur, an extraordinary military genius, easily dispatched Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi’s substantial army and changed the course of Hindustan’s history for ever. Babur was from Uzbek Ferghana, a 22,000 square kilometre valley in Central Asia, known as the food bowl of Central Asia. The valley lies in three countries – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Babur’s memoir, Baburnama offers a highly educated Central Asian Muslim’s observations of the world in which he moved. “In the month of Ramadan of the year 899 (June 1494), and in the twelfth year of my age, I became ruler in the country of Farghana,” thus begins Babur in Baburnama.
Babur’s birthplace
Babur was born Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad on February 14, 1483, in Andijon (Andijan), then the capital of Ferghana, which was blessed with agricultural abundance.
Present day Andijon presents an industrial ambience except for a few vestiges of Babur. A madrasa, with a small museum, that was built by Babur’s father, Umar Sheikh is still extant. The museum contains mostly paintings and miniatures of Babur, his life and times, and his conquests. It was in this madrasa the king spent his childhood days.
Then there is a sprawling Babur Memorial Park, opened in 1993, laden with fruit trees and decorative plants spanning over the Bagishamol hillside that Babur was fond of visiting. In the centre stands a larger-than-life statue of Babur. The park also contains a house-museum with colourful wall paintings depicting Babur’s life, and a display of literary works by him and his descendants. Ferghana was an important station on the Silk Road and passing caravans brought more than just goods. Local artisans learnt the art of ceramics and silk weaving from the Chinese, and Ferghana eventually.
The son of a modest chieftain, Babur traces his lineage to the legendary Timur on his father’s side and to the Mongol warrior Genghis Khan on his mother’s. After suffering some reverses in his own homeland, Babur left his native country to seek his fortunes in neighbouring Afghanistan and, eventually, India, where he founded the Mughal empire. Historians say that Babur was a military adventurer of genius and an empire builder of good fortune. Babur was also a gifted Turkish poet and a man fond of nature who built spectacular gardens. Baburnama, his memoirs in the Chagatai language, portrays a ruler unusually magnanimous for his age, cultured, witty and displaying an adventurous spirit.
Zahiruddin Babur founded a centralised state in 1526 in India, which lasted more than three centuries. Babur ruled this empire only for less than five years, but during this period, he held numerous progressive reforms: prospered Agra and Delhi, built palaces on the banks of Yamuna river, cut taxes, upgraded the water supply system. Among the scientific works of Babur “Treatise on Aruz” is of particular importance; the work is devoted to the study of philological poetry foundations.
The Uzbek people are proud of the son of soil and believe he was an outstanding poet and his brilliant masterpieces are the link of cultural relations between the peoples of Central Asia, Afghanistan and India.
They believe that in these countries, hundreds of scientific and literary works, movies are dedicated to their ingenious countryman.
The poet’s script works are kept in museums of France, Britain, the United States and other countries. For example, a unique copy of the work Vakoyi-i-Baburi was discovered in Iran, which includes “Mubayin”, a treatise on Islamic jurisprudence. The manuscript, accompanied by commentary and a Persian translation, served as significant material for further research and as an example of calligraphy and book of art.
The scientific works of Babur allowed creating a comprehensive view of geography, ethnography, flora and fauna of Central Asia, Afghanistan and India at the end of 15th and the beginning of 16th centuries. He was also known as the most prolific garden king in history.
Babur’s death
When Babur, the first Mughal Emperor, died in 1530, his son Humayun became heir to his empire. Babur was first buried temporarily in Ram Bagh, a garden in Agra (India) which he had designed in the Persian style before being moved to his final resting place in Bagh-e Babur (Garden of Babur) located on the slopes of Kuh-e Sher Darwaza, southwest of the old city of Kabul in Afghanistan. This tomb garden is one of the most visited places in Afghanistan.
Indo-Uzbek relations
Only in June this year India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO Summit and the two leaders reviewed the full range of bilateral ties, especially ways to boost economic and cultural links.