BABAR'S BOOK RELEASED AT RAM BAGH

Agra November 8 (IANS)

 

Rich tributes were paid to Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India (1526-30) at a book release function organised by the Rampur Raza Library, in association with the Archaeological Survey of India, the AMU and the Jamia Milia, at Bagh-e-gul-Afshan or Aram Bagh, now popularly called Ram Bagh on the Yamuna bank.

 

The book presents a collection of Babar's fragmented and scattered writings, not published so far, reflecting his philosophical thoughts on a wide range of subjects from romance, love, affection towards children, nature, qualities of a warrior, his views on religion.

 

Named Deewan-e-Babar, the volume has been produced by Prof SS Azizuddin Hussain, director of the Rampur Raza Library.

 

Amit Mukherjea, head of the History department of St John's College, told IANS "Babar's writings were in the Turkish language. An Austrian academic translated them. This is the first such volume with original writings from the pen of Babar, authenticated. The poems and his thoughts clearly bring out his sensitive nature, a poet at heart and a visionary whose ideas on governance were later followed by his successors to advantage."

 

The irony of the situation however was the venue of the book release function along the Yamuna which Babar in his Babar Nama had described as pristine, sparkling, its water better than rivers in heaven. "But the river today is dead. What flows is a sewage canal, stinking, polluted and dead. This is the story of 500 years of development," commented Acharya Madhukar Chaturvedi, a heritage writer.