Babur (Founder of the Mughal Empire in India)

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The influence of the Great Mughals on every aspect of Indian life - social, economic and political - has been profound and far-reaching. But in spite of their great historical and important role, their existing biographies are not only few but far in between. Historians and biographers have denoted far greater attention and space to Babur's Central Asian career than to the last five years of his life in Hindustan. Moreover they have ignored his cultural and political background, and the early influences which shaped his character; nor have they described his conception of sovereignty, his administration, his cultural achievements and his fighting forces, including the role of firearms in his Indian wars.

In this classic work, first published in 1985, a vigorous at-tempt has been made to deal with hitherto untouched topics in detail with the help of original sources, revealing various aspects of Babur's life.

Mohibbul Hasan (1909-99) was a well- known historian and author of several important publications on Medieval Indian History.

The influence of the Great Mughals on every aspect of Indian life-social, economic and political-has been profound and far-reaching. But, in spite of their great historical and important role, their existing biographies are not only few, but they are outdated, most of them having been written over fifty years ago (Erskine's Baber and Humayun was published as far back as 1854, exactly 131 years past). Meanwhile, significant developments have taken place in Mughal historiography. Apart from the discovery of hitherto unknown sources, new fields of study have been opened up, and research is being done on various aspects of Mughal India: social, religious and intellectual movements, trade, commerce and India's response to European technology and culture. Time has therefore come for a fresh assessment of the life and work of the Mughal rulers by making a careful and close study of the old and well-known sources as well as of those which have come to light in recent years and by utilising the latest researches on the period.

This book has grown out of the introduction I wrote some years ago to the Indian section of Bacque-Grammont's French translation of the Babur-nama (Lure de Babur), Paris, 1980. While going through the biographies of Babur, I found that historians have devoted greater attention and space to his Central Asian career than to the last five years of his life in Hindustan. Moreover, they have ignored his cultural and political background, and the early influences which shaped his character; nor have they described his conception of sovereignty, his administration, his cultural achievements and his fighting forces, including the role of firearms in his Indian wars.