This is Baburnama Paintings set of National Museum New Delhi in my collection. This is the cover of this Baburnama Paintings set of Nati...
Two Wild Buffalos from Baburnama Painting Artist: Mansur Designer: Kanha Mughal dynasty, Reign of Akbar, ca. 1589 Mughal School Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper The first Mughal emperor, Babur (reigned 1526–30), wrote memoirs that included precise descriptions of the animals and flowers that he encountered after his arrival in India in 1526. He observed that the blue bull, a kind of antelope, may stand as high as a horse, but it is somewhat lighter in build. The male is bluish-gray, and therefore known as nila-gau [blue bull]. This illumination was placed alongside that text in a copy of the Baburnama made for the private use of Babur's grandson, the emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Babur's interest in minute details of the natural world was continued by many of his successors and is reflected in both the subjects and styles of the works that they commissioned. Like many Mughal paintings this was a collaborative effort. Kanha created the composition; Mansur painted it. Text and image credit: Copyright © 2017 Smithsonian Institutionhttps://dailydigesthub.com
Classical Numismatic Gallery
Babur has captured Hazara sheeps
Scene from the Baburnama
“Babur meets his grandmother, Aisan-daulat Begam” - page from the Baburnama The National Museum of New Delhi, New Delhi, India. Image from The Illustrated Baburnama by Som Prakesh Verma, Routledge, New York, NY, 1998.
Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad Babur was a Timurid Prince who was driven out of war torn Central Asia in the early 1500s. A proud descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, he would try to conquer various parts of Timurs now defunct empire ruling various cities like Samarkand and Herat on and off again. Unfortunately for him he did not have the same military prowess. Babur would fail trying to conquer Central Asia and he and his followers would conquer Kabul and soon make a new home in northern India. He would raid parts of the collapsing Delhi Sultanate but would soon decide to conquer it. After winning a serious of battles he would create the new Mughal Empire in 1526 or the Gurkani Dynasty as he would call it. This new empire would stretch from Northern India to Afghanistan. However, life is full of irony and he would come to dislike living in India. He complained about the food, the weather, and the people. What he did not complain about was hunting India's wildlife, which was one of his favorite pastimes. One of the animals he liked to hunt was the Indian rhinoceros, a large animal with a single horn that inspired the myth of the unicorn. Supposedly this horn could cure all sorts of ailments as well, but that's pseudoscientific nonsense. The usual methods to hunt these animals was to ride an elephant and use a bow and arrow. Some depictions in the Baburnama show riders using large spears or getting close on horseback and using swords. Fortunately for the rhinos, Baburs reign was short lived as he would die in 1530. However, his successors would continue the hunting spirit. This would not only affect the Indian rhino, but many other species such as the the cheetah, lion, and tiger to name a few. The Indian rhino would outlive the Mughal Empire, but its survival is still at risk due to the demand for its horn in East Asian countries like China and Vietnam. Fortunately its population recovered from just 75 individuals in 1905 to around 3,600 as of 2021.
