Writing My Truth: The Mughal Emperor Babur

a bearded man, Emperor Babur sitting in a garden surrounded by attendants

Online exhibition

“I do not intend by what I have written to compliment myself: I have simply set down exactly what happened. Since I have made it a point in this history to write the truth of every matter and to set down no more than the reality of every event, as a consequence I have reported every good and evil I have seen of father and brother and set down the actuality of every fault and virtue of relative and stranger. May the reader excuse me; may the listener take me not to task.” —Babur*

*Thackston, Wheeler M., trans. The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. New York: Oxford University Press in association with Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1996. 241.

Depicting Babur

No portraits of Babur survive from his lifetime. A century after Babur’s death, however, his descendants—the Mughal emperors of India—began to celebrate his legacy in art and literature. This portrait, made for Babur’s great-great-grandson, Shah-Jahan, is about stability and power. Depicted in three-quarter view with a wispy beard, Babur (right) sits beside his son and heir Humayun. Babur, who favored a round, bulky turban, is always depicted in three-quarter view. The European-style cherubs reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the globally connected Mughal court.

The Emperors Babur and Humayun
Folio from the Late Shah Jahan Album
India, Mughal dynasty, ca. 1640
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper mounted on board
Purchase—Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
S1986.401