Osh. "Babur-nama"
A First-Class Source — "Babur-nama".
The author of these notes (memoirs), Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur (1483—1530), was one of the representatives of the Timurid dynasty, who tasted the sweetness of power in Andijan, then the bitterness of exile, and finally became a fortunate conqueror and the founder of the vast Mughal Empire, which included India and Afghanistan. However, it was not for his military exploits and conquests that the Timurid heir was celebrated; UNESCO recognized the half-millennium anniversary of Babur worldwide in 1983. He was honored not as a cruel conqueror but as a talented scholar, a wonderful poet and historian, and the author of a valuable historical primary source — "Babur-nama".
Babur knew the city of Osh well and left many flattering lines about it. Babur himself was born in the neighboring Andijan. His father, Omar Sheikh — the great-grandson of the "iron horseman" Timur (Tamerlane) — was the ruler of the Fergana possessions of Mawarannahr. When his father died, twelve-year-old Babur ascended to his throne and inherited the Fergana possessions. However, an unsuccessful struggle against the advancing Shaybanids and feudal infighting forced Babur to leave his homeland and seek refuge in Kabul. There, fortune smiled upon him. Gathering an army in Afghanistan, Babur did not tempt fate in Central Asia and moved to conquer India. The country, torn by feudal infighting, became a relatively easy prey for the conqueror. Thus, in 1526, the Mughal Empire was established — a centralized state that left its mark on the development of India. Babur ruled for five years, lived in the new capital of Agra, but longed for his homeland, often reminiscing about Andijan and other cities of Fergana, including Osh. In his later years, he decided to write his memoirs — "Babur-nama", which became a remarkable literary and artistic monument and a valuable source on the history of the peoples of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India in the late 15th to early 16th centuries. As seen from the memoirs, Babur visited Osh multiple times, knew the city well, and thus described it with expertise, in detail and accurately.
Let us turn directly to the primary source:
“It (Osh — ed.) is located southeast of Andijan, four yigač (about 24 km — ed.) away, the air there is wonderful, there is plenty of running water, and spring is very beautiful.
... To the southeast of the fortress stands a beautiful mountain called Bara-Kukh. At the top of this mountain, Sultan Mahmud Khan (a Chagatai, Mughal Khan, killed in 1508 — ed.) built a hujra (pavilion — ed.). Below it, on the ledge of the mountain, I also built a hujra with a terrace in the year nine hundred and second (1496/97 — ed.). Although his hujra stands higher than mine, mine was located much better: the whole city and suburbs spread out beneath it...
At the foot of the mountain Bara-Kukh, between the mountain and the city, stands a mosque called the Jauza Mosque. A large stream flows down the slope of the mountain...
In the Fergana region, there is no city equal to Osh in pleasantness and air purity.”
With a touch of poetry, Babur described the natural and geographical conditions of Osh and its immediate surroundings: along the high banks of the river, which flowed through the green suburbs of Osh and the city itself, stretched the orchards and luxurious flower gardens of the wealthy and powerful townspeople, interspersed with fields, vegetable gardens, and melon patches. In spring, violets bloomed there, followed by tulips and roses. The clean spring air (about which there were disputes between the residents of Osh and Kassan), the abundance of running water (river and irrigation), and the abundance of greenery, flowers, and fruits were considered essential attractions of medieval Osh. By the early 16th century, entire legends were being composed about the city's virtues.
