BABURNAMA — AN UNPARALLELED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EASTERN MEMOIR LITERATURE

This article examines Baburnama by Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur as a singular monument of Eastern memoir literature that transcends genre boundaries. The study highlights the work’s dual nature as both a reliable historical source and a refined literary text, emphasizing the organic unity of factual narration and personal emotion. Special attention is given to Babur’s authorial voice, which combines the perspective of a ruler and military leader with the sensitivity of an intellectual observer, enabling a vivid representation of the political, social, and cultural realities of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India in the fifteenth–sixteenth centuries. The article also analyzes the artistic features of the narrative, particularly Babur’s clear prose style, psychological depth, and nature descriptions that function as both landscape depiction and a reflection of inner experience. Finally, the paper considers the scholarly reception of Baburnama in world Oriental studies and argues that the text should be read as an encyclopedic memoir that preserves the “spirit of an age” while offering a model of sincerity and realism in autobiographical writing.