BABER (1482-1530) BY EDWARD S. HOLDEN HE emperor Baber was sixth in descent from Tamerlane, who died in 1405. Even in his life Half a century they never formed a homogeneous empire. time he parceled them out to sons and grandsons. later Trans-oxiana was divided into many independent kingdoms each governed by a descendant of the great conqueror. When Baber was born (1482), an uncle was King of Samarkand and Bokhara; another uncle ruled Badakhshan; another was King of Kabul. A relative was the powerful King of Khorasan. These princes were of the family of Tamerlane, as was Baber's father,Sultan Omer Sheikh Mirza,- who was the King of Ferghana. Two of Baber's maternal uncles, descendants of Chengiz Khan, ruled the Moghul tribes to the west and north of Ferghana; and two of their sisters had married the Kings of Samarkand and Badakhshan. third sister was Baber's mother, wife of the King of Ferghana. The The capitals of their countries were cities like Samarkand, Bokhara, and Herat. Tamerlane's grandson-Ulugh Beg-built at Samarkand the chief astronomical observatory of the world, a century and a half before Tycho Brahe (1576) erected Uranibourg in Denmark. The town was filled with noble buildings,-mosques, tombs, and colleges. Its walls were five miles in circumference.* Its streets were paved (the streets of Paris were not paved till the time of Henri IV.), and running water was distributed in pipes. Its markets overflowed with fruits. Its cooks and bakers were noted for their skill. Its colleges were full of learned men, poets,† and doctors of the law. The observatory counted more than a hundred observers and calculators in its corps of astronomers. The products of China, of India, and of Persia flowed to the bazaars. Bokhara has always been the home of learning. Herat was at that time the most magnificent and refined city of the world. The court was splendid, polite, intelligent, and liberal. Poetry, history, *Paris was walled in 1358; so Froissart tells us. "In Samarkand, the Odes of Baiesanghar Mirza are so popular, that there is not a house in which a copy of them may not be found."- Baber's Memoirs.) Baber spent twenty days in visiting its various palaces, towers, mosques, gardens, colleges — and gives a list of more than fifty such sights. philosophy, science, and the arts of painting and music were culti vated by noblemen and scholars alike. Baber himself was a poet of no mean rank. The religion was that of Islam, and the sect the orthodox Sunni; but the practice was less precise than in Arabia. Wine was drunk; poetry was prized; artists were encouraged. The mother-language of Baber was Turki (of which the Turkish of Constantinople is a dialect). Arabic was the language of science and of theology. Persian was the accepted literary language, though Baber's verses are in Turki as well. We possess Baber's 'Memoirs' in the original Turki and in Persian translations also. In what follows, the extracts will be taken from Erskine's translation,* which preserves their direct and manly charm. To understand them, the foregoing slight introduction is necessary. A connected sketch of Baber's life and a brief history of his conquests can be found in The Mogul Emperors of Hindustan.'t We are here more especially concerned with his literary work. To compre hend it, something of his history and surroundings must be known. IN FROM BABER'S MEMOIRS' THE month of Ramzan, in the year 899 [A. D. 1494], and in the twelfth year of my age, I became King of Ferghana. The country of Ferghana is situated in the fifth climate, on the extreme boundary of the habitable world. On the east it has Kashgar; on the west, Samarkand; on the south, the hill country; on the north, in former times there were cities, yet at the present time, in consequence of the incursions of the Usbeks, no population remains. Ferghana is a country of small extent, abounding in grain and fruits. The revenues may suffice, without oppressing the country, to maintain three or four thousand troops. My father, Omer Sheikh Mirza, was of low stature, had a short, bushy beard, brownish hair, and was very corpulent. As for his opinions and habits, he was of the sect of Hanifah, and strict in his belief. He never neglected the five regular and stated prayers. He read elegantly, and he was particularly fond of reading the Shahnameh.' Though he had a turn for poetry, he did not cultivate it. He was so strictly just, that when the caravan from [China] had once reached the hill country to the * Memoirs of Baber, Emperor of Hindustan, written by himself, and translated by Leyden and Erskine,' etc. London, 1826, quarto. By Edward S. Holden, New York, 1895, 8vo, illustrated. east of Ardejan, and the snow fell so deep as to bury it, so that of the whole only two persons escaped; he no sooner received information of the occurrence than he dispatched overseers to take charge of all the property, and he placed it under guard and preserved it untouched, till in the course of one or two years, the heirs coming from Khorasan, he delivered back the goods safe into their hands. His generosity was large, and so was his whole soul; he was of an excellent temper, affable, eloquent, and sweet in his conversation, yet brave withal and manly. The early portion of Baber's 'Memoirs' is given to portraits of the officers of his court and country. A few of these may be quoted. Khosrou Shah, though a Turk, applied his attention to the mode of raising his revenues, and he spent them liberally. At the death of Sultan Mahmud Mirza, he reached the highest pitch of greatness, and his retainers rose to the number of twenty thousand. Though he prayed regularly and abstained from forbidden foods, yet he was black-hearted and vicious, of mean understanding and slender talents, faithless and a traitor. For the sake of the short and fleeting pomp of this vain world, he put out the eyes of one and murdered another of the sons of the benefactor in whose service he had been, and by whom he had been protected; rendering himself accursed of God, abhorred of men, and worthy of execration and shame till the day of final retribution. These crimes he perpetrated merely to secure the enjoyment of some poor worldly vanities; yet with all the power of his many and populous territories, in spite of his magazines of warlike stores, he had not the spirit to face a barnyard chicken. He will often be mentioned in these memoirs. Ali Shir Beg was celebrated for the elegance of his manners; and this elegance and polish were ascribed to the conscious pride of high fortune: but this was not the case; they were natural to him. Indeed, Ali Shir Beg was an incomparable person. From the time that poetry was first written in the Turki language, no man has written so much and so well. He has also left excellent pieces of music; they are excellent both as to the airs. themselves and as to the preludes. There is not upon record in history any man who was a greater patron and protector of men of talent than he. He had no son nor daughter, nor wife nor family; he passed through the world single and unincumbered. Another poet was Sheikhem Beg. He composed a sort of verses, in which both the words and the sense are terrifying and correspond with each other. The following is one of his couplets: During my sorrows of the night, the whirlpool of my sighs bears the firmament from its place; The dragons of the inundations of my tears bear down the four quarters of the habitable world! « It is well known that on one occasion, having repeated these verses to Moulana Abdal Rahman Jami, the Mulla said, Are you repeating poetry, or are you terrifying folks?" A good many men who wrote verses happened to be present. During the party the following verse of Muhammed Salikh was repeated: What can one do to regulate his thoughts, with a mistress possessed of every blandishment? Where you are, how is it possible for our thoughts to wander to another? make an extempore It was agreed that every one should couplet to the same rhyme and measure. Every one accordingly repeated his verse. As we had been very merry, I repeated the following extempore satirical verses: What can one do with a drunken sot like you? What can be done with one foolish as a she-ass? Before this, whatever had come into my head, good or bad, I had always committed it to writing. On the present occasion, when I had composed these lines, my mind led me to reflections, and my heart was struck with regret that a tongue which could repeat the sublimest productions should bestow any trouble on such unworthy verses; that it was melancholy that a heart elevated to nobler conceptions should submit to occupy itself with these meaner and despicable fancies. From that time forward I religiously abstained from satirical poetry. I had not then formed my resolution, nor considered how objectionable the practice was. TRANSACTIONS OF THE YEAR 904 [A. D. 1498-99] Having failed in repeated expeditions against Samarkand and Ardejan, I once more returned to Khojend. Khojend is but a 1145 small place; and it is difficult for one to support two hundred retainers in it. How then could a [young] man, ambitious of empire, set himself down contentedly in so insignificant a place? As soon as I received advice that the garrison of Ardejan had declared for me, I made no delay. And thus, by the grace of the Most High, I recovered my paternal kingdom, of which I had been deprived nearly two years. An order was issued that such as had accompanied me in my campaigns might resume possession of whatever part of their property they recognized. Although the order seemed reasonable and just in itself, yet it was issued with too much, precipitation. It was a senseless thing to exasperate so many men with arms in their hands. In war and in affairs of state, though things may appear just and reasonable at first sight, no matter ought to be finally decided without being well weighed and considered in a hundred different lights. From my issuing this single order without sufficient foresight, what commotions and mutinies arose! This inconsiderate order of mine was in reality the ultimate cause of my being a second time expelled from Ardejan. Baber's next campaign was most arduous, but in passing by a spring he had the leisure to have these verses of Saadi inscribed on its brink: I have heard that the exalted Jemshid "Many a man like us has rested by this fountain, And disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. Should we conquer the whole world by our manhood and strength, Yet could we not carry it with us to the grave." Of another fountain he says:-"I directed this fountain to be built round with stone, and formed a cistern. At the time when the Arghwan flowers begin to blow, I do not know that any place in the world is to be compared to it." On its sides he engraved these verses: Sweet is the return of the new year; Sweet is the smiling spring ; Sweet is the juice of the mellow grape; Strive, O Baber! to secure the joys of life, Which, alas! once departed, never more return. |