Reflections: Wine and Tulips in Kabul

Hearing that Kabul was vulnerable, he set off southwards

• Hearing that Kabul was vulnerable, he set off southwards
• Though homeless, he was not alone
• In this formerly nomadic society, which had only recently acquired the habit of settlement, princes moved around with soldiers, retainers, and relations
• But Babur’s entourage was not grand
• He had 200-300 people with him and two tents, one of which his mother occupied
• Then, in an astonishing reversal of fortune inconceivable in the modern world but commonplace in those uncertain times, Babur gained an army

It happened because of the collapse of a noble, who, amid tough competition, was an outstandingly nasty man

• It happened because of the collapse of a noble, who, amid tough competition, was an outstandingly nasty man
• Khusrau Shah, formerly a retainer of one of Babur’s relations, had taken Kunduz, murdered one of Babur’s cousins, and blinded another
• He was unpopular, even among his own people, many thousands of whom, faced with sustained attacks from Uzbeks, defected from him to an ambitious princeling with a decent reputation and a lineage that gave him a certain claim to Kabul
• Khusrau Shah was beheaded by the Uzbeks; Babur, with his new following in tow, virtually walked into Kabul

He was not impressed by his new dominion

• He was not impressed by his new dominion
• It was, he said, a “trifling place”; but, with Uzbeks and Timurids threatening all around, it had its advantages
• Surrounded by mountains that were impassable for most of the year, it was “a fastness hard for a foreign foe to make his way into.”
• To cement his power, Babur needed to see off rivals
• He attacked Kandahar, where Kabul’s previous occupants hailed from, and beat them soundly
• He also needed to give his subjects security – especially from his own troops

When one of the defectors from Khusrau Shah – an undisciplined lot – stole some cooking oil from a local, he had the man beaten to death

• When one of the defectors from Khusrau Shah – an undisciplined lot – stole some cooking oil from a local, he had the man beaten to death
• But early on he made a serious mistake
• To feed and reward his huge retinue, he took 30,000 donkey-loads of grain from Kabul and Ghazni
• He soon regretted it
• “The tax was excessive, and under it the country suffered very badly.”
• That a new ruler bled the land he had conquered was not surprising; that he had the honesty to admit it, and the wit to learn from it, is