Though very few memorials of Babar's short but brilliant reign stillexist at Agra, the life of this remarkable man is so important apart of the Mogul dynasty that it must not be passed over by theintelligent tourist or student of Mogul art. It was Babar's sunnydisposition, and the love of nature characteristic of his race, thatbrought back into Indian art the note of joyousness which it had notknown since the days of Buddhism. Babar is one of the most strikingfigures in Eastern history. He was descended from Tamerlane, or Timur,on his father's side, and, on his mother's, from Chinghiz Khan. Inthe year 1494, at the age of twelve, he became king of Farghana, asmall kingdom of Central Asia, now known as Kokand. His sovereignty,however, was of a very precarious tenure, for he was surrounded onall sides by a horde of rapacious, intriguing relatives, scramblingfor the fragments of Timur's empire. With hardly a trustworthyally except a remarkably clever and courageous old grandmother, hestruggled for three years to retain his birthright. Then, acting on asudden inspiration, he made a dash for Samarkand, the ancient capitalof Timur, and won it. In his delightful memoirs Babar describes how,with boyish glee, he paced the ramparts himself, wandered from palaceto palace, and revelled in the fruit-gardens of what was then one ofthe finest cities of Asia. But in less than a hundred days, most ofhis shifty Mongol troops, disappointed in not finding as much bootyas they expected, deserted and joined a party of his enemies, whostraightway attacked Andijan, the capital of Farghana, where Babarhad left his mother and grandmother. Before he could come to theirrescue Andijan had fallen, and at the same time Samarkand, which hehad left, was occupied by another of his numerous rivals. This doublemisfortune caused still more of his followers to leave him, and hefound himself without a kingdom, except the little town of Khojend,and with only two hundred men. For almost the only time in his lifehe gave way utterly to despair. "I became a prey to melancholy andvexation; I was reduced to a sore distressed state and wept much."
Before long, however, Babar, rejoined by his mother and grandmother,whom the captors of Andijan had spared, taking advantage of anotherturn in the wheel of fortune, recovered his kingdom of Farghana,but lost the greater part of it again through another desertion ofhis "Mongol rascals." A second time, with only a handful of men, hesurprised and captured Samarkand (A.D. 1500). In the following yearhe rashly sallied out against Shaibani, the most formidable of hisadversaries, was defeated, and, after vainly trying to hold the cityagainst the victors, was forced to fly under cover of the night. Thistime he did not weep, but consoled himself next morning by riding aheadlong race with two of his companions. Reaching a village, wherethey found "nice fat flesh, bread of fine flour well baked, sweetmelons, and excellent grapes in great abundance," Babar declared thatin all his life he never enjoyed himself so much or felt so keenlythe pleasures of peace and plenty.
He now took refuge among the hills near Uratipa, finding amusementin observing the life of the villagers, and especially in conversingwith the mother of the headman, an old lady of a hundred and eleven,whose descendants, to the number of ninety-six, lived in the countryround about. One of her relatives had served in the army with whichTimur had invaded India, and she entertained the future Emperor ofHindustan by telling him stories of his ancestor's adventures.
After several fruitless raids with the few troopers who remainedfaithful to him, he allied himself with his two uncles, Mahmud andAhmad Khan, in an attack against Tambal, one of the powerful nobleswho had revolted against him and set up Jahangir, his brother, onthe throne of Farghana. At a critical moment his uncles left Babar tothe mercy of his enemy, and he was again forced to fly for his life,hotly pursued by Tambal's horsemen. He was overtaken by two of them,who, not daring to pit themselves against Babar's prodigious strengthand courage, tried to inveigle him into a trap. Babar gives a movingdescription of this great crisis in his life. Thoroughly exhausted,and seeing no prospect of escape, he resigned himself to die:--
"There was a stream in the garden, and there I made my ablutionsand recited a prayer of two bowings. Then surrendering myselfto meditation, I was about to ask God for His compassion, whensleep closed my eyes. I saw (in my dream) Khwaja Yakub, the son ofKhwaja Yahya, and grandson of his Eminence the Khwaja 'Obaid-Allah(a famous saint of Samarkand), with a numerous escort, mounted ondappled grey horses, come before me and say, '_Do not be anxious,the Khwaja has sent me to tell you that he will support you and seatyou on the throne of sovereignty; whenever a difficulty occurs to you,remember to beg his help, and he will at once respond to your appeal,and victory and triumph shall straightway lean to your side_.' Iawoke with easy heart, at the very moment when Yusuf the constableand his companions (Tambal's soldiers) were plotting some trick toseize and throttle me. Hearing them discussing it, I said to them,'All you say is very well, but I shall be curious to see which of youdares to approach me,' As I spoke the tramp of a number of horseswas heard outside the garden wall. Yusuf the constable exclaimed,'If we had taken you and brought you to Tambal, our affairs would haveprospered much thereby; as it is, he has sent a large troop to seizeyou; and the noise you hear is the tramp of horses on your track,'At this assertion my face fell, and I knew not what to devise.
"At this very moment the horsemen, who had not at first found the gateof the garden, made a breach in its crumbling wall, through which theyentered. I saw they were Kutluk Muhammad Barlas and Babai Pargari, twoof my most devoted followers, with ten or twenty other persons. Whenthey came near to my person they threw themselves off their horses,and, bending the knee at a respectful distance, fell at my feet,and overwhelmed me with marks of their affection.
"Amazed at this apparition, I felt that God had just restored me tolife. I called to them at once, 'Seize Yusuf the constable, and thewretched traitors who are with him, and bring them to me bound handand foot,' Then, turning to my rescuers, I said, 'Whence come you? Whotold you what was happening?' Kutluk Muhammad Barlas answered, 'AfterI found myself separated from you in the sudden flight from Akhsi,I reached Andijan at the very moment when the Khans themselves weremaking their entry. There I saw, in a dream, Khwaja 'Obaid-Allah,who said, "_Padishah Babar is at this instant in a village calledKarman; fly thither and bring him back with you, for the throne ishis of right_." Rejoicing at this dream, I related it to the big Khanand little Khan.... Three days have we been marching, and thanks beto God for bringing about this meeting.'"
After this exciting adventure Babar rejoined his time-serving uncles,but was forced into exile again in 1503, when, at the battle of Akshi,the Khans were completely defeated by Shaibani. Then he resolvedto depart out of Farghana and to give up the attempt to recoverhis kingdom. Characteristically, when foiled in one enterprise heentered upon another yet more ambitious. Joined by his two brothers,Jahangir and Nasir, and by a motley array of various wandering tribes,he swooped down upon Kabul and captured it.
The description of the new kingdom thus easily won, which fills manypages of the Memoirs, reveals another side of Babar's character--hisintense love of nature. He gives minute accounts of the climate,physical characteristics, the fruits, flowers, birds, and beasts,as well as of the human inhabitants. In the intervals between hisbattles, or between his rollicking drinking parties, which for someyears of his life degenerated into drunken orgies, we often find Babarlost in admiration of some beautiful landscape, or collecting flowersand planting fruit trees. Wherever he came, Babar's first care wasto dig wells and plant fruit and flower gardens. India owes much tothe Great Moguls' love of horticulture.
When Babar had drilled his unruly Afghan subjects into somethinglike order, he made, in 1506, one more unsuccessful attempt to crushShaibani. However, in 1510, when that doughty warrior was defeated andslain by Ismail, Shah of Persia, Samarkand fell once more into Babar'shands, as a vassal of the Shah. Eight months afterwards he was drivenout again. From that time Babar gave up all hopes of re-establishingthe empire of his ancestor Timur, and turned his face towards India. In1519 he gathered an army for his first expedition, which was, however,more of a reconnaissance than a conquest. Four more attempts he made,until at last, in 1526, with only 10,000 men, he defeated the hostsof Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan kings of Delhi, who, with15,000 of his troops, were left dead on the field of Panipat.
Thus, after many struggles, Babar became "master and conqueror of themighty empire of Hindustan," but he had to fight two more great battlesbefore his sovereignty was undisputed--one in 1527 near FatehpurSikri, with the great chief of the Rajputs, Raja Sanga of Chitore,and another in 1529 near Buxar, with the Afghans who had settled inBengal. The next year Babar died in his garden palace at Agra Thenobility of his character was conspicuous in his death as it wasin his life. He was devotedly attached to his eldest son, Humayun,who was seized with malarial fever while staying at his countryestate at Sambhal. Babar had him removed by boat to Agra, but hisphysicians declared that the case was hopeless. Babar's own health hadsuffered much during his life in India, and he was terribly agitatedby the news. When some one suggested that in such circumstances theAlmighty sometimes deigned to accept the thing most valued by onefriend in exchange for the life of another, Babar exclaimed thatof all things his life was dearest to Humayun, as Humayun's was tohim. He would sacrifice his own life to save his son. His courtiersentreated him to give up instead the great diamond taken at Agra,said to be the most valuable on earth. Babar declared that no stonecould compare in value with his own life, and after solemnly walkinground Humayun's couch, as in a religious sacrifice, he retired todevote himself to prayer. Soon afterwards he was heard to exclaim, "Ihave borne it away! I have borne it away!" Humayun began to recover,and, as he improved, Babar gradually sank. Commending his son tothe protection of his friends, and imploring Humayun to be kind andforgiving to his brothers, the first of the "Great Moguls" of Indiapassed away. He was buried at Kabul, in one of his beloved gardens,which, according to Tartar custom, he had chosen for his tomb, in"the sweetest spot of the neighbourhood."
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