Babur

Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur (Persian ظهير الدين محمد بابر, DMG Zahir ad -Din Muhammad Babur, also Babur Babur Shah Chan or; * February 14, 1483 in Andijan, Ferghana valley (now Uzbekistan), † December 26, 1530 in Agra (now India) ) was the founder of the Mughal Empire. He claims to dschingisidischer and Timurid descent.

Life

Zahir al-Din Muhammad, known to his family and his followers Babur (presumably " the beaver ") was a Timurid prince free from the Fergana Valley. When his father died in 1493, Omar Sheikh, Muhammad became his successor. 1494 Sultan Ahmad Mirza died and several Timurids were arguing over the control of Bukhara and Samarkand. The young Muhammad Babur conquered in 1497 at the age of 14 years, Samarkand, but could not hold it. He had no support from his family and lost by failures quickly the majority of his followers.

Meanwhile the Uzbeks agreed under Mohammed Sheibani in the northern steppes and occupied in 1500 Bukhara and Samarkand. Babur conquered Samarkand back in a coup, but was again defeated in open battle and gave Samarkand against free retreat on ( 1500-1501 ).

1506 died in Herat Husayn Baiqara, the last major Timuride. Now Mohammed Scheibanis power was almost unassailable. Only after his defeat and death in battle in 1510 against the ( Shiite ) Safavid Shah Ismail Babur could occupy Samarkand with the help of Ishmael on October 12, 1511 again. In contrast to the past, but resistance developed in the population ( possibly as a result of massacres or because of Babur - perhaps only apparent - conversion to the Shia as part of the Covenant with Ishmael ). In the battle of Gadschdiwan in Bukhara conquered 1512 Uzbeks under the tab General Jani Beg ( a cousin Scheibanis ) and Babur lost control of Samarkand a third time.

He then turned south to Afghanistan, Kabul made ​​it his new capital, and led from here smaller campaigns against Afghan tribes from today's North West Frontier Province ( NWF ), and the Sultanate of Delhi. In order to strengthen its alliance with the Afghan Yusuf - zai, Babur 1519 Bibi Mubaraka married ( Aghācha of Gul - Badan ), the daughter of his ally Malik Shah Mansur, son of Malik Shah Sulaimān.

The Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi ( r. 1517-1526 ), was because of his excessive rigor and notorious as soon conspired some of his nobles (eg Daulat Khan, the governor of Punjab ) with Babur. Persian cannons, superior cavalry and the Ottomans modeled defensive tactics ( Rumi - defense ) with the use of carts helped him in the battle of Panipat in April 1526 victory over Ibrahim Lodi, who fell in battle. Babur occupied Delhi and Agra and founded the Mughal Empire. August 1526 was born his son Faruq.

Rana Sangram Singh of Mewar ( reg. 1509-1527 ), the most senior of the Rajputs, however, it attacked at Khanwa. In March 1527 were 15,000 fighters against Babur 201,000 Rajputs. Artillery and cavalry of the Mughals achieved victory Babur. Sangram Singh was severely wounded and poisoned little later.

In his last three years of life, Babur tried to consolidate his power. In 1530 he died in Agra and was buried there. His mausoleum is located in his favorite city of Kabul, in the midst of magnificent gardens today ( Bāgh -e Babur ).

Baburnama

Babur left a Baburnama called autobiography. This is in a Turkic language, namely written Tschagataisch and still has linguistic meaning, as for example, the Uzbek based on this language.

Unlike usual at that time the Baburnama contains neither a religious nor any other discharge or a representation of the previous empires. It is arranged chronologically and in great detail, especially in the representation of the individual actors. Be Hidden among others, the unfavorable negotiations with Mohammed Sheibani in July 1501.

Babur was very interested in natural history, the Baburnameh contains a detailed description of the flora and fauna of Hindustan. At length he describes as the JASUN (Hibiscus rosa sinensis ), with its flower, which is the size of a rose flower and is more intensely colored than that of a pomegranate. He compares the double flower with a space surrounded by the stem axis of petals heart. They wither in a day. He also describes the oleander, which has as the peach five petals, which may be red or white, the fragrant pandanus (Pandanus odoratissimus ) and the jasmine.

As is clear from his autobiography, Babur wrote also numerous poems. The writing satirical poems ( Mubin ) however, he had abjured, since lower performances pollute the mind, which has captured the sacred insights of the Qur'an. When he breaks the oath in 1525 on a raft on the Kabul, this is punished in his view, with a disease, which he renewed his oath.

Gardens

Babur knew the gardens of Timur in Samarkand - in Baburnama he describes the gardens Dilkhoosha and the plane trees garden, which are also known from the work of Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, as well as the gardens Shah Ruch in Herat. These gardens were rectangular, symmetrically laid out and terraced. They contained cypresses and poplars. Babur did invest in Kabul gardens, including the Bāgh -e Babur. For the Bāgh -i - Wafa in Adīnapūr Babur had 1523 bananas from India to import. Later he brought plants from Central Asia to India and was pleased that they flourished here. So built a Belutsche 1528 in Agra melons, grapes also thrived.

Even gardens in Delhi and Agra back to Babur's plans. The Char-Bagh in Agra is situated on the banks of Yamuna River in a very poor and unattractive terrain. " We crossed it a hundred times disgust and horror ... " - but there was no other country. First, a well was dug to supply the bath houses. Then the central basin ( haud ) and its containment was created. The garden also contained an octagonal pool and tamarisk. There beds were created, where roses and daffodils " in perfect order" grew. Babur emphasizes how he introduces order and symmetry in the " ugly and messy India," and how he divided his garden by beds, borders and flowerbeds. Nimla is about 40 km from Jalalabad away. The Bāgh -i - Wafa, "Garden of loyalty " has not yet been located, but is suspected near Jalalabad. Here clover covered the ground, it grew among other things, plantains, pomegranates, apple trees, sugar cane and poplars. A miniature from the Babur Nameh shows from the time of Akbar, as Babur personally supervised the installation of the garden. Babur gathered wild tulips for its gardens and had to create cuttings of oriental plane tree, ivy and cherries.