Uzbek Literature Project , Poetry

Zahiriddin Mohammad Babur (1483-1530)

"In the twelfth year of my age, I became ruler in the country of Farghana". So does Zahiriddin Mohammed Babur begin his famous autobiography, the Babumama, a lively account of a remarkable career as soldier of fortune, empire-builder and poet. Born in Andijan on 14 February 1483, Bobur enjoyed distinguished ancestry, for on his father''s side he claimed fifth-generation descendent of Tamerlane and on his mother''s side he claimed fifteenth degree descent from Genghis Khan. The death of his father, Umar Sheikh, in 1494 left Babur a troubled legacy of internecine struggle for the spoils of the Timurid empire. By late 1497 this gifted teenager had secured his Farghana throne and occupied Samarkand, but trouble in his Andijan base soon forced him out. Caught up in fraternal squabbles, he was powerless to stop the rise of Uzbek Khan Mohammed Shaybani, lord of Mawarannahr by 1500 Babur''s surprise offensive recovered Samarkand until Shaybani counter-attacked from Bukhara in 1501, starving Babur into life in on the run. Gathering other refugees he made for Afghanistan, tatting Kabul in 1504 and Kandahar in 1507.
Once the Persian Shah Ismail had crafted Shaybani''s skull into a golden goblet, Babur joined forces with him for a triumphal re-entry into Samarkand in October 1511. The people rejoiced at the restoration of Timurid authority, yet the honeymoon dissolved after eight months for Babur''s sponsors were Shi''ites, considered heretics by Sunni Samarkand, loyal to the rival sect of Islam. A crushing defeat by Shaybani''s cousin Ubaydullah forces Babur out of Transoxiana for the last time. Wisely heeding the dictum Ten dervishes may sleep under one blanket, but two kings cannot share one country'', he turned south from Kabul in pursuit of India. In 1526 he overcame the Sultan of Delhi to found the Mogul empire, over which his descendants ruled until 1857.
Babur himself combined the resilience and courage of an ambitious warrior with the humanity of the poet. The colorful literature of the Babumama reveals his deep interest in people and at. He wrote fondly of the natural and architectural beauties of Farghana, Samarkand ar d Kabul. In verses of Chagatai Turkish he ranks high after Alisher Navoi, for his songs of love and wine were borne of a life lived to the full: he married seven times, held drinking partie''» and was not averse to the calamities common at court. Several years after his death at Agra on 26 December 1530, his body was moved to a Kabul garden.