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An Illustration from the Baburnama, c. 1590-1593
Babur orders the inscription at the spring near Zarafshan (ca. 1530)
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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