Babur’s
account of India /Babur’s Description of Hindustan / Babur’s Description of India
 |
| BABUR |
Really
Babur had an extraordinary power of understanding things. During the course of
his journey through northern India Babur had watched the climate as well as the
flora and fauna of India very carefully. He also closely studied the
socio-economic life of the people of India and their cultural traditions. All
these aspects of nature and society have been depicted n his memoirs very
beautifully. But as he entered India as a victor and remained for a very short
time in this country, he could not mark the chief characteristics of India and
Indian culture properly well, hence there are some drawback n his writing. An
impartial student of history should read his memoirs very consciously. However,
the book is a treasure house of knowledge.
Babur has
given a very interesting account of India in his memoirs. He writes,
“Hindustan is a country of a few charms. Its people have no good looks, no good
manners, no genius or capacity. There are no good horses, no good dogs, no
grapes, musk-melons or good fruits, no ice or cold water, no bread or cooked
food in the markets, no hot baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or
candlesticks.” He writes furthers, “In places of candle and torch they keep
lamp-men to carry oil lamps from place to place. There are no running waters in
their gardens or residences. Their residences have no charm of air, regularity
or symmetry. Peasants and poor people
move about mostly naked. The males use mostly Langota and the females cover
their body only with one cloth.”
But at
another place in his memoirs, he expresses wonder about the natural resources
in these words: “It is a wonderful country. Compared with our countries, it is
a different world, its mountains, rivers,
jungles and deserts, its town, its cultivated lands, its animals and
plants, its people and their tongues, its rains, and its winds, are all
different……….. Once the water of Sind is crossed, everything is in the
Hindustani way-land, water, tree, rock, people and horde, opinion and custom.”
Babur had
adequate knowledge of the climate of India and he was having first-hand
knowledge of the major rivers of northern and central India. He has written in
his memoirs, “Whereas there are four seasons in those countries (Central Asia),
there are three in Hindustan, namely, four months are summer, four are the
rains, four are winter.” Babur has praised the rains in India in a very peasant
style. He writes, “The air in the rains is very fine. Sometimes rains ten,
fifteen or twenty times a day. Torrents pour down all at once and rivers flow
where no water had been. While it rains and through the rains, the air is
remarkably fine, not to be surpassed for healthiness and charm.”
As Babur
was a keen observer of things, he points out the defects of the rainy season in
these words : “During the rainy days, the air becomes very soft and damp. A bow
of those countries after going through the rains in Hindustan, may not be drawn
even, it is ruined, not only the bow, everything is affected, armour, book,
cloth and utensils, all; a house even does not last long.”
Babur
further writes in his memoirs about the Indian weather: “Not only in the rains,
but also in the cold and the hot seasons, the airs are excellent; at these
times; however, the north-west wind constantly gets up laden with dust and
earth. It gets up in great strength every year in the head, under the Bull and
Twins when the rains are near; so strong and carrying so much dust and earth
that there is no seeing one another. People call this wind Andhi – Darkener of
the sky.”
Babur
also throws light on the prosperity of India in his memoirs and also mentions
about the great number of workmen of every kind; “Another good thing in
Hindustan is that it has unnumbered and endless workmen of every kind. There is
a fixed caste for every sort of work and for everything, which has been done,
that work or that thing form father to son till now …………………….. 680 men worked
daily on my buildings in Agra and of Agra stone-cutters only; while 1491 stone-cutters
worked daily on my buildings in Agra, Sikri, Dholpur, Gwalior and Koil. In the
same way there are numberless artisans and workmen of every sort in Hindustan.”
He also
throws ample light on the political condition of India at the time of his
invasion. He observes: “Delhi is held to be the capital of the whole of
Hindustan. From the death of Shihabuddin Ghuri (A.D. 1206)to the latter part of
the reign of Sultan Firoz Shah Tughluq (A.D. 1388) the greater part of
Hindustan must have been under the rule of the Sultans of Delhi.”
He
further mentions, “At the time of my conquest of Hindustan, it was governed by
five Mussalman and two Hindu rulers. There were the respected and independent
rulers, but there were also, in the hills and jungles, many rais and rajas,
held in little esteem.”
The five
Muslim rulers were Sultan Ibrahim Lodiof Delhi, Muhammad Muzaffar Shah II of
Gujarat, the Bahmani sultan of Deccan, Mahmood II of Malwa and Nusrat Shah of
Bengal; and the two Hindu rulers were Krishna Dev Rai, the king of Vijaynagar
and Rana Sanga of Mewar. Babur has praised much the administrative qualities of
Krishna Dev Rai and the Valour of Rana Sanga.
The
account of India by Babur is incomplete in various respects as he has not
thrown light on the powerful provincial states such as Orissa, Khandesh, Sindh,
Kashmir etc. Moreover, Babur’s stay in India was very short and he could not
get time to observe the people of this country very closely, hence there are a
few defects in his memoirs. However, it is a significant book from the point of
view of source material of contemporary history and culture.
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