206. Babur: Guns, Gardens & Diamonds

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Against all odds, Babur defeats Sultan Lodi and captures Delhi. But despite the wealth that India can provide him, Babur hates his new home. He complains of the heat, the lack of his favourite fruits, and the culture. Yet he is a masterful tactical ruler, and begins to shape a Mughal government that he will soon pass down to his descendants. Although he had won against the Delhi sultanate, he faces a new threat from the Rajputs in the south who are even more heavily armed. Babur enters his final battle at Khanwa, and all the while he is ferociously writing his memoirs: documenting his thoughts, feelings, and love of nature in a way that will keep his memory alive long after his death… Join William and Anita as they explore the four years Babur spent establishing his kingdom in India before he passed away. To buy tickets for Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence visit: https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/great-mughals-art-architecture-opulence?utm_source=empire_podcast&utm_medium=paid_editorial&utm_campaign=great_mughals_empire_podcast Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis + Becki Hills Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
0:06.7	Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,
0:12.0	sign up to Empire Club at www.empowerpod.ukuk.com.
0:32.3	Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arunin.
0:34.0	And me, William Durimple.
0:36.1	That was worse than the last one.
0:42.1	What, have you been encouraged on your World Tour to put it back in? No, I got to bed at four o'clock last night. I've only got into Mumbai, so I'm being a wee bit weary. You're doing a stellar job of doing this little podcast.
0:47.1	All right, but we're on episode three of the story of Barber. The last time we met you, we were talking about the 42-year-old Barber now, having left his home in Kabul in autumn of 1525.
0:58.2	He's marched on Northern India.
1:00.1	He's gathered support from people who hate the Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate.
1:05.9	And he has, well, he's done very, very well.
1:08.3	And what he wants, as William sort of highlighted, was to capture the
1:11.9	wealth of a man who had lots. Lothi had been dismembered and pulled apart and all of his forces
1:19.1	had been destroyed. But he has got this vision in mind. And it's based on something because
1:25.3	his ancestor, Timor, had sacked Delhi a century earlier,
1:29.9	so he had this idea of what that might feel like. So the reality, I think, must have been a little
1:34.5	bit disappointing for Babur, because Delhi had been a very rich country. And the south of India,
1:42.4	particularly the kingdom of Vijan Agra, had been even richer. But by the time
1:47.1	that Babur gets to Delhi, Delhi is much reduced. The Lodi's mismanaged their sultanate, which is one of
1:52.8	the reasons that people were giving invitations to Babur to come and take it from him. And in Delhi,
1:57.3	he doesn't get much, not least because he doesn't loot it. But then there is a
2:02.2	wonderful surprise. Babur sends his son Humayun, who we're going to hear a lot more about in the next
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