Both an official chronicle and the highly personal memoir of the emperor Babur (1483–1530), The Baburnama presents a vivid and extraordinarily detailed picture of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India during the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a personal narrative—now in a sparkling new translation by Islamic scholar Wheeler Thackston.
This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes notes, indices, maps, and illustrations.
| Introduction | ||
| Translator's Preface | ||
| Chronology | ||
| The Genghisid and Timurid: Background of Iran and Central Asia | ||
| Pt. 1 | Fergana and Transoxiana | 1 |
| Events of the Years 899-908 [1494-1503] | ||
| Folios 1-120 | ||
| Pt. 2 | Kabul | 141 |
| Events of the Years 910-926 [1504-1520] | ||
| Folios 120-251 | ||
| Pt. 3 | Hindustan | 307 |
| Events of the Years 932-936 [1525-1530] | ||
| Folios 251-382 | ||
| Notes | 463 | |
| Selected Glossary | 511 | |
| References | 517 | |
| Index of Persons | 525 | |
| Index of Places | 539 |
Anonymous
Posted July 21, 2003
I myself am a descendent of the Mughal royal family, so it was a good chance for me to rediscover my roots. This book showed me where I come from being a Muslim Desi and that my ancestors were sophisticated people. This book tells the story of Babur, who was a very literate man and his journey from Samarkand into Afghanistan and Hindustan. He records the customs of the people, different animal life, poetry he came across, his battles that he fought so vallantly, his allies, and his metamorphisis into a true Ghazi in 1527 when he relinquished wine drinking. This is a truly inspiring book and it has taught me alot. It may be dry for some, especially those that may not understand Central Asian Islamic culture, but for those who do, his memiors are inspiring. This book does show Babur as a gentle and tolerant leader yet a tiger on the battlefield. Unfortunately, there are gaps in his memiors such as the time period in whihc Babri mosque was built, but other than that, it is a reliable book about a man who began a mighty empire and the melting pot of different cultures that still exists today.
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Overview
Both an official chronicle and the highly personal memoir of the emperor Babur (1483–1530), The Baburnama presents a vivid and extraordinarily detailed picture of life in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India during the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries. Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a personal narrative—now in a sparkling new translation by Islamic ...