This one is a short biography of Babur based on his autobiography and the accounts of some of his contemporaries. It does include a larger part from the actual translation of the autobiography.
Being short/concise this does cover most of the aspects of Babur's life in short, and doesn't try to overwhelm the reader with a lot of historical commentary which might not be very useful for a non-academic reader.
I didn't read much about Babur actively earlier, and this was my first book which was dedicated to him only. I never liked the idea of putting the soft side of such raiders like Babur who would just kill a few thousand and go back home writing some poetry or praising natural scenery or building next garden. A common argument is that those were the times of hardship, and it was a dog eats dog world but this is a lame excuse. There were poets, artists, astronomers and what not who were not responsible for mass slaughter, and their work was much superior than anyone else.
His autobiography which is the base for all the myths around him can be really read as a narcissistic account. Here he talks only about himself, and never gives credit to anybody or praises anyone who is better than him. And, yes, most of his biographers end up eating out of his hand. The skull towers get a mention in footnote or a blink-miss but the poetry gets the whole limelight.
After completing it I realised that he was just a person low on self esteem who was always looking for acceptance and approval from others. He was less of a dynastic founder but more of a raider who was interested in anything from a sheep to a gold coin. And his whole idea of being special was that he was related to Genghis Khan which in his opinion gives him the right to greatness.
Worth a read if you're into history.
Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment