Tuesday, October 24  2023 at 6 PM, Maison de l’Asie, 22 avenue du président Wilson. 75016 PARIS.

Conference by Amina Taha-Hussein Okada, General Curator at the National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet.

The “Bâbur-Nâma” (or “Book of Bâbur) constitutes the memoirs of Emperor Bâbur – founder in 1526 of the Mughal Empire in India, an almost unique case of autobiography in medieval Muslim literature. It allows us to enter the daily life of this man with an incredible destiny, founder of an immense empire, shrewd strategist, ruthless warrior, poet and great patron who transmitted to us crucial information about his time, the regions he crossed and the peoples he met. In addition to its historical interest, this sum is as much for his teachings on the art of government as for his famous descriptions of Indian fauna and flora, as well as of the cities founded in northern India by the first Muslim rulers. Translated in 1589 from Turkish tchaghatai into Persian – at the instigation of the Mughal emperor Akbar -, the “Bâbur-Nâma” was then profusely illustrated by the greatest court painters. Four imperial manuscripts were thus produced at the Mughal court at the end of the 16th century, the subtle and shimmering miniatures of which – a veritable anthology of Bâbur’s gesture – will be the subject of this conference.