07-24-2004, 08:14 AM
The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, reviewed by N.S. Rajaram
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He writes of some Afghan prisoners: <b>Those who were brought in alive [having surrendered] were ordered beheaded, after which a tower of skulls was erected in the camp.(p 188) How about his tolerance of other religions, especially Hinduism</b>.Here is Babur speaking:Chanderi had been in the daru'l-harb [Hindu rule] for some years and held by Sanga's highest-ranking officer Meidini Rao, with four or five thousand infidels, but in 934 [1527-28], through the grace of God, I took it by force within a ghari or two, massacred the infidels, and brought it into the bosom of Islam ... (p 331) And when in a particularly happy mood, he composed the following poem:<b>For the sake of Islam I became a wanderer;I battled infidels and Hindus.</b>
I determined to become a martyr. Thank God I became a holy warrior. (p 387)And what did he find interesting in India"Hindustan," he wrote, "is a place of little charm. ... The one nice aspect of Hindustan is it is a large country with lots of gold and money."All told, a reading of the Baburnama fails to impress one with the author's charm. He comes across as studious, pragmatic, calculating, and yes, bigoted and cruel, without a touch of warmth or spontaneity in him. He speaks so often, and with obvious glee of having made 'a tower of skulls', that one soon begins to sicken at the expression. It is not hard to see why Babur ki aulad is considered the worst form of abuse in North India. He was beyond dispute a soldier of ability, but his being a 'Prince Charming' is a modern Secularist myth of which one finds not a trace in his own writing.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He writes of some Afghan prisoners: <b>Those who were brought in alive [having surrendered] were ordered beheaded, after which a tower of skulls was erected in the camp.(p 188) How about his tolerance of other religions, especially Hinduism</b>.Here is Babur speaking:Chanderi had been in the daru'l-harb [Hindu rule] for some years and held by Sanga's highest-ranking officer Meidini Rao, with four or five thousand infidels, but in 934 [1527-28], through the grace of God, I took it by force within a ghari or two, massacred the infidels, and brought it into the bosom of Islam ... (p 331) And when in a particularly happy mood, he composed the following poem:<b>For the sake of Islam I became a wanderer;I battled infidels and Hindus.</b>
I determined to become a martyr. Thank God I became a holy warrior. (p 387)And what did he find interesting in India"Hindustan," he wrote, "is a place of little charm. ... The one nice aspect of Hindustan is it is a large country with lots of gold and money."All told, a reading of the Baburnama fails to impress one with the author's charm. He comes across as studious, pragmatic, calculating, and yes, bigoted and cruel, without a touch of warmth or spontaneity in him. He speaks so often, and with obvious glee of having made 'a tower of skulls', that one soon begins to sicken at the expression. It is not hard to see why Babur ki aulad is considered the worst form of abuse in North India. He was beyond dispute a soldier of ability, but his being a 'Prince Charming' is a modern Secularist myth of which one finds not a trace in his own writing.
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