‘The facts are as stated here . . . I have set down of good and bad whatever
is known.'
The Babur Nama, a journal kept by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483â€"1530), the
founder of the Mughal Empire, is the earliest example of autobiographical
writing in world literature, and one of the finest. Against the turbulent
backdrop of medieval history, it paints a precise and vivid picture of life in
Central Asia and Afghanistanâ€"where Babur ruled in Samarkand and Kabulâ€"and in
the Indian subcontinent, where his dazzling military career culminated in the
founding of a dynasty that lasted three centuries.
Babur was far more than a skilled, often