Babur Is My Hero #1

BJP propaganda has given Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530) a bad name - one that this great Timurid prince does not deserve. Babur was not a Nadir Shah, a Ghori or a Ghazni - who killed, raped, looted and scooted. He ruled Delhi after defeating the Lodis at Panipat in 1526, in fair battle, but he had ruled many other places well before that - Ferghana, Samarkand, and also his beloved Kabul. Babur died in Delhi just four years after his conquest - and I doubt whether he had the time to travel to Ayodhya, tear down a temple and build a mosque in its place. At least, his memoirs, the Babur Nama, make no mention of this. But these memoirs are truly fascinating, particularly because they are so candid. Babur says, "The truth should be reached in every matter." In this post, I will focus on three aspects of Babur's life - his love for hashish, Kabul in his times, and his love for scholarship.

In page 10, while describing his grandfather's exploits, Babur mentions that the old man loved maajun - "candy made out of ground hashish, water, sugar and spices." In the index, there are over 10 entries under "maajun parties." Babur had them often. He gave up alcohol at 40 - but stuck to maajun till the end. Indeed, while minor skirmishes were occurring around Delhi as two sections of his army, one led by Humayun and the other by one of his generals, were fighting the Lodi brothers, Babur himself was enjoying a boat ride on the Jumna - tripping on maajun!

This is from Babur's days in Kabul, as recorded by him:

We marched at sunrise. Later, we ate maajun. While under its tranquilizing influence, we enjoyed wonderful fields of flowers. In some places sheets of yellow flowers bloomed in plots; in others, sheets of red flowers in plots, in some red and yellow bloomed together.

We sat on a mound to enjoy the sight. There were flowers on all sides of the mound, yellow here, red there, as if arranged regularly to form a sextuple. Flowers were in bloom as far as the eye reached. The flower fields near Peshawar were indeed very lovely.

That's MY hero: stoned, at dawn, tripping on pretty flowers.

Next, on Kabul:

Babur loved Kabul the mostest. When he died, he left instructions for his body to be carried from Delhi to Kabul to be buried there in his favourite garden. And there he lies today. I just hope the grave and the garden are well tended.

The Babur Nama reveals Kabul to be a cosmopolitan city - 7 languages were spoken there, and there was trade with the world around. There was a great deal of culture - of poetry, especially. Islam was followed "liberally" - and a wide variety of liquors were also drunk. The Mughals in India have a long history of boozing, with Jehangir even striking a gold coin showing him holding his drinking cup. Aurangzeb was the first - and last - Islamic zealot, and he destroyed the empire. I'm a big fan of Dara Shikoh myself.

But if Babur were to return to his beloved Kabul today, he would be shell-shocked - his maajun would be illegal because of white-skinned firangi barbarians who don't know their hash from their elbows; and his booze would be illegal because of the Taliban!

Lastly, Babur's love for scholarship: In the Babur Nama there is an entry relating to their conquest of a fort. Babur writes that when he entered the fort to inspect it, he went straight for the library, having heard it contained some good books. Finding them, he settled down to reading. He writes that he spent the entire night in the library.

Some great men have ruled Delhi - and Babur was the greatest of them all. Among the Brits, it was Charles Metcalfe. Now, midgets rule, in comparison.