Reflections: Wine and Tulips in Kabul

As E.M. Forster put it, “At the time that Machiavelli was collecting materials for ‘The Prince’, a robber boy, sorely in need of advice, was scuttling over the highlands of Central Asia. His problem had already engaged the attention and sympathy of the Florentine; there were too many kings about and not enough kingdoms.”

• As E.M. Forster put it, “At the time that Machiavelli was collecting materials for ‘The Prince’, a robber boy, sorely in need of advice, was scuttling over the highlands of Central Asia. His problem had already engaged the attention and sympathy of the Florentine; there were too many kings about and not enough kingdoms.”

They got going early in those days

• They got going early in those days
• Babur’s father died when he was 11, while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled into the ravine below the palace, leaving his son in charge of a small province, Fergana
• At 13, Babur headed off to capture Samarkand – the former imperial capital, a jewel built by craftsmen Timur had kidnapped from raids into India, Persia, and Arabia
• When he got there, he found a couple of young cousins already besieging the place (though one was more interested in the daughter of a local noble than in the city)

The lover got the girl, but Babur did not get Samarkand

• The lover got the girl, but Babur did not get Samarkand
• He tried again the next year, succeeded briefly and was ejected three months later
• In the meantime, a Mongol enemy put his 12-year-old brother on the throne in Fergana
• So Babur was homeless; most of his followers had left him; treacherous relations had murdered his tutor
• “It was very hard for me. I could not help crying a good deal.”
• He was, after all, only 14

Babur struggled on in Central Asia for a while, but was crushed between Uzbeks, Mongols, and Timurid princes

• Babur struggled on in Central Asia for a while, but was crushed between Uzbeks, Mongols, and Timurid princes
• His lowest moment came when he was chased into the hills and caught by enemies, who were careful with their valuable prize
• How he got out of that particular pickle is unclear; but soon he decided to try his luck elsewhere
• He considered going east to the lands of his Mongol relations, but regarded them as savages (and would have been horrified to learn that the Persian word for Mongol stuck to his dynasty)