The Tragic History of Babur’s sons

De: Mohanlal Gupta

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Timur’s descendants were known by many names — the Mughals, the Chagatais, the Timurids, even the Kajalbash. In his fifth generation appeared Babur, whose mother, Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, traced her lineage to none other than Genghis Khan. Thus, in Babur’s veins coursed the blood of two of history’s most relentless conquerors.
Babur’s fortunes, however, were fraught with hardship. In 1501, the Uzbek warlord Shaibani Khan expelled him from Samarkand. Homeless and embattled, Babur carved out a fragile state in Afghanistan, though its poverty could not satisfy his boundless ambition. In 1526, he turned his gaze eastward, crossing into India to establish what would become the Mughal Sultanate. Yet fate granted him little time; Babur died in 1530, leaving behind a fledgling empire.
Of Babur’s many sons, only four survived infancy: Humayun, Kamran, Askari, and Hindal. At his death, Babur’s dominion stretched from Balkh and Badakhshan to Kabul, Kandahar, Ghazni, Multan, Lahore, Delhi, Agra, Sambhal, Chunar, Kalinjar, and Gwalior. To preserve unity, he divided the realm among his sons but entrusted supreme authority to Humayun, his eldest.
Babur’s final command was not of conquest but of mercy: Humayun was to forgive his brothers, no matter their transgressions. Dutifully, Humayun obeyed, but his clemency became his undoing. Betrayal followed betrayal; his brothers schemed and deceived, until Humayun’s throne crumbled and he was driven into exile in Iran. His life became a tapestry of sorrow, woven with fraternal treachery and unyielding forgiveness.
In the end, necessity hardened Humayun’s resolve. Only by confronting and overcoming his brothers could he reclaim the empire his father had entrusted to him. Thus unfolds the poignant chronicle of Babur and his sons — a tale of ambition, betrayal, and endurance — preserved in the work titled “The Tragic History of Babur’s sons.”