The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)Babur, Emperor of Hindustan
History
The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Babur, Emperor of Hindustan
Babur, Emperor of Hindustan, 1483-1530; Mogul Empire
"_J'ai achevé cette copie le 4 Mai, 1824, à St. Petersburg; elle a éte
faite d'àpres un exemplaire appartenant à Nazar Bai Turkistani,
négociant Boukhari, qui etait venu cette année à St. Petersburg. J.
Senkovski._"
The colophon Senkovski copied from his archetype is to the following
purport:—
"_Known and entitled Waqi`nama-i-padshahi (Record of Royal Acts), [this]
autograph and composition (bayad u navisht) of Mulla `Abdu'l-wahhāb the
Teacher, of Ghaj-davan in Bukhara—God pardon his mistakes and the
weakness of his endeavour!—was finished on Monday, Rajab 5, 1121 (Aug.
31st, 1709).—Thank God!_"
It will be observed that the title Waqi`nama-i-padshahi suits the plan
of dual histories (of Babur and Humayun) better than does the
"Babur-nama" of Timur-pulad's note, that the colophon does not claim for
the Mulla to have copied the elder book (1494-1530) but to have written
down and composed one under a differing title suiting its varied
contents; that the Mulla's deprecation and thanks tone better with
perplexing work, such as his was, than with the steadfast patience of a
good scribe; and that it exonerates the Mulla from suspicion of having
caused his compilation to be accepted as Babur's authentic text. Taken
with its circumstanding matters, it may be the dénoument of the play.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LEYDEN AND ERSKINE MEMOIRS OF BABER.
The fame and long literary services of the _Memoirs of Baber_ compel me
to explain why these volumes of mine contain a verbally new English
translation of the _Babur-nama_ instead of a second edition of the
_Memoirs_. My explanation is the simple one of textual values, of the
advantage a primary source has over its derivative, Babur's original
text over its Persian translation which alone was accessible to Erskine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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