Walters Ms. W.596, Memoirs of Babur

W.596

Memoirs of Babur

Bāburnāmah

Vernacular: بابر نامه

Authority name: Babur, Emperor of Hindustan (d. 937 AH / 1530 CE)

As-written name: Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur

Name, in vernacular: ظهير الدين محمد بابر

Recognized as one of the world’s great autobiographical memoirs, the Bāburnāmah is the story of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (866 AH / 1483 CE -- 937 AH / 1530 CE), who conquered northern India and established the Mughal Empire (or Timurid-Mughal empire). Born in Fergana (Central Asia), Babur was a patrilineal Timurid and matrilineal Chingizid. Babur penned his memoir in Chaghatay Turkish, which he referred to as Turkic, and it was later translated into Persian and repeatedly copied and illustrated under his Mughal successors. The present copy in Persian written in nastaʿlīq script is a fragment of a dispersed manuscript that was executed in the late 10th century AH / 16th CE. The ordering of the leaves as found here does not follow the narrative of the text. The Walters' fragment contains thirty mostly full-page paintings that are representative of the Mughal court style under the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH/ 1556-1605). Another major fragment of this work, containing fifty-seven folios, is in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow. The dark green leather binding, which is not original to the textblock, dates to the late 13th AH/ 19th century or early 14th AH/ 20th century CE

10th century AH / 16th CE

India

Book

Historical

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Paper

Re-margined in different colors at a later stage, late 13th AH/ 19th century or early 14th AH/ 20th century CE

Foliation: 35

Textblock of 27 folios flanked by four later fly leaves at each end.

21.0 cm wide by 32.0 cm high

9.0 cm wide by 17.0 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 12

fols. 5a - 31b:

1. Title: Bāburnāmah
2. Author: Babur, Emperor of Hindustan (d. 937 AH / 1530 CE)
3. Incipit: معلوم وومشخص نيست لشكرى كه بود تمام رفت ...
4. Text note: Text begins abruptly; no continuous narration from one leaf to another, implying that the leaves were selected and bound at random.
5. Hand note: Two different but clear nastaʿlīq hands.
6. Decoration note: Thirty full-page miniatures; colored borders

fol. 5b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur confronts his enemies
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This painting depicts the Mughal emperor Babur with his brave companions confronting their enemies in the mountains of Kharābūk and Pashāmūn. The text refers to Babur and his few men deciding to charge the enemy, who just stood there.

fol. 6a:

1. 
2. Title: The siege and battle of Isfarah
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: The siege and battle of Isfarah, at which Babur and his army descend upon the fortress of Ibrāhīm Sārū.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p65 (30b-31).

fol. 7a:

1. 
2. Title: A foray to Kuhat (Kohat)
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: On their way to Hindustan, Babur and his men stop for the night before crossing the Indus river.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p314 ( 254).

fol. 8a:

1. 
2. Title: Muḥammad Ḥusaym Mīrzā being released by Babur
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Despite his treachery, Muḥammad Ḥusaym Mīrzā, a relative of Babur, is being released and sent to Khurāsān.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p249 (201b).

fol. 9b:

1. 
2. Title: Having opened the gates of the Murghīnān fortress, ʿAlī Dūst Ṭaghāyī is paying homage to Babur.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p98-99 ( 60b-61).

fol. 10b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur on the way to Hindustan camps at Jām
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur on the way to Hindustan camps at Jām and with the help of his guide Malik Bū Saʿīd Kamarī is exploring Bigram and enquiring about the Hindu temple Gurh Kattri.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p187 (145b).

fol. 11a:

1. 
2. Title: Presentation of awards at Sultan Ibrāhīm’s court
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This scene depicts an awards ceremony at Sultan Ibrāhīm’s court before an expedition to Sambhal.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p356 ( 296b-297).

fol. 12b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur being entertained in Ghaznī by Jahāngīr Mīrzā.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p 195 (153b).

fol. 13b:

1. 
2. Title: The confrontation with the Afghans
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This scene depicts the battle with Afghans from the area of Kabul and Lamghan at the Jīkdālīk (Jagdalak) pass.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p 264 (214).

fol. 14a:

1. 
2. Title: The battle of Panipat
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: The battle of Panipat at which Sultan Ibrāhīm, the last of the Lōdī Sultans of Delhi, dies.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p 325-327 (266-267b).

fol. 15a:

1. 
2. Title: Sultan Muḥammad Vays offers Babur a healthy horse
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: During an attempt to defend the Akhshī fort, Sultan Muḥammad Vays offers Babur a healthy horse to replace his ailing one which he got from Ṣāḥib Qadam. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p149 (section 112).

fol. 16a:

1. 
2. Title: Babur entering Kabul
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur entering Kabul is welcomed by Qāsim Beg, the city qadi, along with his retinue.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p286 (233b).

fol. 17b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur riding a raft from Kunar back to Atar
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur, during his second Hindustan campaign, riding a raft from Kunar back to Atar, where he camped. T
5. Comment:

   hackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p265 (214b).

fol. 18b:

1. 
2. Title: The battle of Sultan Ḥusayn Mīrzā against Sultan Masʿūd Mīrzā
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: The battle of Sultan Ḥusayn Mīrzā against Sultan Masʿūd Mīrzā took place at Hiṣṣār in the winter of 901 AH/1495 CE.

fol. 19a:

1. 
2. Title: Ḥamzah Sulṭān, Mahdī Sulṭan and Mamāq Sulṭān pay homage to Babur. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p69 (section 34).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 20b:

1. 
2. Title: The final phase of the battle of Kandahar on the side of the Murghan mountain.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p261 (section 211).

fol. 21b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur and his party hunting for rhinoceros in Swati.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur is depicted with his party hunting for rhinoceros in Swati.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p275 (222b).

fol. 22b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur and his warriors visiting a Hindu temple
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur and his warriors visiting the Hindu temple Gurh Kattri (Kūr Katrī) in Bigram
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p285 (232b-233).

fol. 23b:

1. 
2. Title: Bāqī Chaghānyānī pays homage to Babur
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Bāqī Chaghānyānī pays homage to Babur, near the river Oxus (Daryā Āmū), in 910 AH/1504 CE.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. pp161-162 (120b).

fol. 24a:

1. 
2. Title: The fall of Samarqand.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p89 (50b-51).

fol. 25b:

1. 
2. Title: The inhabitants of Osh (Ūsh) drive out the enemy
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: The inhabitants of Osh (Ūsh) drive the enemy out with sticks and clubs with a view to holding the town for Babur.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p101 (63b).

fol. 26b:

1. 
2. Title: Animals of Hindustan: monkeys, rodents and the peacock. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. pp336-337 (sections 27b-277b).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 27a:

1. 
2. Title: Animals of Hindustan: small deer and cows called gīnī. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p336 (section 276b).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 27b:

1. 
2. Title: Animals of Hindustan: monkeys called bandar that can be taught to do tricks. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p336-337 (276b).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 28b:

1. 
2. Title: The date trees of Hindustan. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p344 (sections 284b and 285).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 29a:

1. 
2. Title: Birds of Hindustan: bats and ducks. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p341 (section 281).
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 29b:

1. 
2. Title: Birds of Hindustan and alligators
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Birds of Hindustan, such as crows, magpies, and cuckoos, are shown living beside the water, where are found alligators. Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p280-281 (sections 280-281b).

fol. 30b:

1. 
2. Title: Babur and his army in the Sinjid valley
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Babur and his army in the Sinjid valley march toward Kabul.
5. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p166 (125).

fol. 31a:

1. 
2. Title: Birds of Hindustan: starlings, called pandāvalī.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. p338 (278b).

fol. 31b:

1. 
2. Title: Birds of Hindustan: luchas, called būqalamūn, and partridges.
3. Form: Illustration
4. Comment:

   Thackston, William, trans. The Baburnama. pp338-339 (278b-279b).

The binding is not original.

Limp dark green morocco (without flap), late 13th AH/ 19th century or early 14th AH/ 20th century CE

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Smart, Ellen, “Paintings from the Baburnama: A Study of Sixteenth-Century Mughal Historical Manuscript Illustrations” (Ph.D. diss. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1977): 29, 109-129, 165-171, 173, 191, 206, 210, 212, 214, 219, 223. 226-228, 233-235, 257, 259, 260, 272, 303, 305, 349.

Information about the manuscripts of the Baburnamah can be found in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JRAS) for the years 1900, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1907, and 1908.

Smart, Ellen S. “Yet another illustrated Akbari Baburnama manuscript”. Facets of Indian art, 1986: 105-115.

S I Ti︠u︡li︠a︡ev, Miniati︠u︡ry rukopisy "Babur-Namė" (Moscow, 1960).

Randhawa, M.S., Paintings of the Baburnama (New Delhi, 1983)

The Baburnama : memoirs of Babur, prince and emperor / translated, edited, and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston (Washington, DC, 1996)

Bâburnâma : Chaghatay Turkish text with Abdul-Rahim Khankhanan's Persian translation / Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur Mirza ; Turkish transcription, Persian edition and English translation by W.M. Thackston, Jr./ 3 vols. (Harvard, 1993).

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.