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An Illustration from the Baburnama, c. 1590-1593
Babur orders the inscription at the spring near Zarafshan (ca. 1530)
British Library, Or. 3714 f.181v
"With the hot weather came the news that Shaibaq Khan was coming up into Ura-Tyube. Consequently, as the land is level about Dikhkat, we crossed the Ab-burdan pass into the Matcha hill-country. Ab-burdan is the last village of Matcha; just below it a spring sends its water down (to the Zarafshan); the area above the stream is part of Matcha; below it a dependency of Palghar. There is a tomb at the spring. I had a rock at the side of the spring shaped and these three couplets inscribed on it:
I have heard that Jamshid, the magnificent,
Inscribed on a rock at a spring.
Many men like us have taken breath at this spring,
And have passed away in the twinkling of an eye;
We took the world by courage and might,
But we could not take it with us to the grave."
-Zāhir ud-Dīn Muḥammad Babur Baburnama
Source: Harper’s Magazine
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Mughal Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers in the Baburnama