Babur [Turk.,=lion], 1483-1530, founder of the Mughal empire of India. His full name was Zahir ud-Din Muhammad. A descendant of Timur (Tamerlane) and of Jenghiz Khan, he succeeded (1494) to the principality of Fergana in central Asia. His early life was spent in an ultimately unsuccessful struggle to retain his inheritance and to recover Samarkand (Timur's capital) from the Uzbeks. In 1504, however, he captured Kabul and established a kingdom in Afghanistan. After the failure of his final attempt (1512) on Samarkand, Babur began raids southward into India. In 1525, responding to an invitation from the governor of the Punjab to overthrow the sultan of Delhi, Babur launched an invasion. Although his force was small, he defeated the sultan at Panipat in 1526 and captured Agra and Delhi. He finally conquered nearly all of N India. Babur was also a distinguished poet. His autobiography, The Baburnama (tr. by A. S. Beveridge, 1922, and by W. M. Thackston, 1996), is his most important work. His son Humayun succeeded him. Babur's name is also transliterated Baber and Babar.

orig. Zsubdotahīr al-Dīn Muhsubdotammad

(born Feb. 15, 1483, principality of Fergana—died Dec. 26, 1530, Agra, India) Emperor (1526–30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of India. A descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, he came from a tribe of Mongol origin but was Turkish in language and upbringing. In his youth he tried for 10 years (1494–1504) to gain control of Samarkand, Timur's old capital. Those efforts ended in his losing his own principality in Fergana (modern Uzbekistan), but he consoled himself by seizing and holding Kabul (1504). After four failed attempts, he successfully occupied Delhi (1525). Surrounded by enemy states, Bābur (the name means “Tiger”) persuaded his homesick troops to stand their ground, and over the next four years he defeated his foes. His grandson Akbar consolidated the new empire. Bābur was also a gifted poet and a lover of nature who constructed gardens wherever he went. The Bābur-nāmeh, his prose memoirs, has become a world classic of autobiography.

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