Feasts and Fasts by Colleen Taylor Sen

Author:Colleen Taylor Sen
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Reaktion Books

NINE

The Mughal Dynasty and its Successors, 1526–1857

In North India, the power vacuum left by the disintegration of the Lodis, the last of the Delhi sultanates, was filled by a new dynasty called the Mughals (from the Persian word for Mongols). It was founded by Babur (1483–1530), a prince of the tiny kingdom of Ferghana in Central Asia, whose ancestors included Timur/Tamerlane and the Mongol leader Genghis Khan.

In 1526 Babur entered the Punjab with a small army at the invitation of a local ruler. He defeated the opposing armies at the battle of Panipat (the first time gunpowder was used in India), and proclaimed himself emperor of all Hindustan. Babur is one of history’s most intriguing figures: a brave warrior who as a very young man fought hostile tribes in Afghanistan and founded a powerful dynasty, but also a talented Persian poet, a sensitive memoirist and a devotee and planter of gardens. He wrote in one of his couplets: ‘Enjoy the luxuries of life, Babur, for the world is not going to be had a second time.’1 Although his native language was Chagatai, a Turkic language, he was fluent in Persian and steeped in Persian culture.

Babur’s birthplace, the Ferghana Valley (now part of Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan), was famous for its grapes and melons. He frequently interrupts his stories of battles and treachery to describe a delicious melon he came across in his wanderings. According to his translator Annette Beveridge, ‘Babur’s interest in fruits was not a matter of taste or amusement but of food. Melons, for instance, fresh or stored, form during some months the staple food of Turkistanis.’2

Babur’s first encounter with Hindustan was a disappointment. In a famous passage in his memoirs, he wrote:

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