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A feast for Babur hosted by his half-brother Jahangir Mirza in Ghazni in May 1505, from a Babur-nama (Memoirs of Babur)
Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600) and Madhav Khurd (Indian, active late 1500s)c. 1589; outer margins added c. mid-1900s
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
Twenty-one years before his conquest of Delhi, Babur took control of territories in Afghanistan, including the cities of Kabul and Ghazni. His half-brother, who controlled the region around Ghazni, ordered that a party be thrown in honor of Babur’s arrival from the north. Drinking parties and feasts in lavish movable tent settings, where gifts were exchanged, alliances forged, and relationships cemented, were as important to the building of the empire as the battles.
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- Title: A feast for Babur hosted by his half-brother Jahangir Mirza in Ghazni in May 1505, from a Babur-nama (Memoirs of Babur)
- Creator: Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600), Madhav Khurd (Indian, active late 1500s)
- Date Created: c. 1589; outer margins added c. mid-1900s
- Physical Dimensions: Page: 28 x 18.1 cm (11 x 7 1/8 in.)
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.300
- Medium: opaque watercolor with gold on paper, double-sided: text on verso
- Inscriptions: verso: Persian text, in nasta‘liq script: . . . presented many gifts. In that year most of the rivers had become very swollen, to the extent that the Dih-i Ya‘qub River could not be forded. I brought the boat I had made at the lake and floated it in the waters of Dih-i Ya‘qub opposite Kamri and all the people crossed by boat. For this reason we went through the Sajavand pass and straight through crossing the river at Kamri by boat. We arrived at Kabul in the month of Dh’ul-Hijja [May 1505]. A few days earlier, Sayyid Yusuf Beyg had died of colic. At Kush Gunbad, Nasir Mirza had requested leave and remained behind to get provisions for his retinue from his own domain, saying he would follow in two or three days. Once he had left us he sent his entire army to the Nur valley on account of a minor act of disobedience by the people of the Nur valley. [Given] its rice fields and the location of its citadel on the peak of the mountain as . . ., recto: Persian inscription in bottom margin, in nasta‘liq script: the work of Basavana / [ . . . ] / Madhav Khurd
- Fun Fact: A manager directs servers to bring spoons and lay out the buffet table.
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Culture: India, Mughal, 16th century
- Credit Line: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
- Collection: Indian Art - Mughal
- Accession Number: 2013.300
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