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Timurid dynasty

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Flag of the Timurid Empire according to the Catalan Atlas c.1375
Timurid continental map

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Timurid continental map

The Timurids was a Turkic dynasty descended from the conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), renowned for its brilliant revival of artistic and intellectual life in Central Asia and Iran (Timurid Empire), and later by Babur in India (Mughal Empire). The name is derived from the Mongolian word kürügän , the title given to the dynasty's founder after his marriage into Genghis Khan's family.

History

Timur conquered large parts of Transoxiana in modern day Central Asia and Khorasan in modern day Iran and Afghanistan, from 1363 onwards with various alliances (Samarqand in 1366, and Balkh in 1369), and was recognized as ruler over them in 1370. Acting officially in the name of the Mongolian Chagatai ulus, he subjugated Transoxania and Khwarazm in the years that followed and began a campaign westwards in 1380. By 1389 he had removed the Kartids from Herat and advanced into mainland Persia from 1382 (capture of Isfahan in 1387, removal of the Muzaffarids from Shiraz in 1393, and expulsion of the Jalayirids from Baghdad). In 1394/95 he triumphed over the Golden Horde and enforced his sovereignty in the Caucasus, in 1398 subjugated what is today Pakistan and northern India and occupied Delhi, in 1400/01 conquered Aleppo, Damascus and eastern Anatolia, in 1401 destroyed Baghdad and in 1402 triumphed over the Ottomans at Ankara. In addition, he transformed Samarqand into the 'Center of the World'. Timurids are considered as one of the most powerful empires in Iran and Khorasan, as it brought great cultural development in Herat, making it their capital.

After the end of the Timurid Empire in 1506, the Mughal Empire was later established in India by Babur in 1526, who was a descendant of Timur through his father and possibly a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. The dynasty he established is commonly known as the Mughal Dynasty. By the 17th century, the Mughal Empire ruled most of India, but later declined during the 18th century. The Timurid Dynasty came to an end in 1857 after the Mughal Empire was dissolved by the British Empire and Bahadur Shah II was exiled to Burma.

Culture

The Timurids had embraced Turkic and Persian culture (see Turco-Mongol, Turco-Persian), converted to Islam and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan. Under the domain of Timur, Samarkand and Herat became the center of the Timurid renaissance. Trading and artistic communities were brought into the capital city of Herat, where a library was founded. The schools of miniature painting at Shiraz, Tabriz, and Herat flourished under the Timurids. The Baysunqur workshops practiced leatherwork, bookbinding, calligraphy, and wood and jade carving. In metalwork, however, Timurid artistry never equaled that of earlier Iraqi schools.

Throughout the second half of the 15th century, the western part of Central Asia was divided into a number of rival principalities ruled by descendants of Timur, among which Bukhara and Samarkand were the most important. The courts of these rulers witnessed an extraordinary cultural florescence in literature, the arts, and architecture, with Chagatai Turkish, a dialect derived partly from Khakani, the language spoken at the Karakhanid court (and a precursor of modern Uzbek), emerging as a flexible vehicle for sophisticated literary expression. These Timurid epigones, however, were locked in unceasing rivalry with each other and were unable to combine against intruders from beyond their frontiers. By the close of the century, therefore, all the Timurid possessions in Central Asia had passed into the hands of the Uzbeks.

Literature

The Timurids also played a very important role in the history of Turkic literature. The national Turkic literature was developed, written in the Chagatay language, the native tongue of the Timurid family. Chagatay poets such as Mīr Alī Sher Nawā'ī, Sultan Husayn Bāyqarā, and Zāher ud-Dīn Bābur encouraged other Turkic-speaking poets to write in their own vernacular in addition to Arabic and Persian. The Bāburnāma, the autobiography of Bābur, as well as Mīr Alī Sher Nawā'ī's Chagatay poetry are among the best-known Turkic literary works and have fascinated and influenced many others world wide.

The Timurid era also revived the Persian civilization in Central Asia after the desasterous invasion by Genghis Khan, and Persian poetry as well as the Persian language - the traditional vernacular of the Timurid courts - flourished throughout their empire. Herat and Samarqand, the two capitals of the empire, became centers of a renewed and artistically brilliant Persian culture. Among the most important literary works of the Timurid era is the Persian biography of Timur, known as Zafarnāma, written by Sharaf ud-Dīn Alī Yazdī.

Architecture

In the realm of architecture, the Timurids drew on and developed many Seljuq traditions. Turquoise and blue tiles forming intricate linear and geometric patterns decorated the facades of buildings. Sometimes the interior was decorated similarly, with painting and stucco relief further enriching the effect.

Timurid architecture is the pinnacle of Islamic art in Central Asia. Spectacular and stately edifices erected by Timur and his successors in Samarkand and Herat helped to disseminate the influence of the Ilkhanid school of art in India, thus giving rise to the celebrated Mughal (or Mongol) school of architecture. Timurid architecture started with the sanctuary of Ahmed Yasawi in present-day Kazakhstan and culminated in Timur's mausoleum Gur-e Amirin Samarkand. Axial symmetry is a characteristic of all major Timurid structures, notably the Shāh-e Zenda in Samarkand, the Musallah complex in Herat, and the mosque of Gowhar Shād in Mashhad. Double domes of various shapes abound, and the outsides are perfused with brilliantly colors.

Main article: Mughal architecture

Mughal architecture in India was a fusion of Seljuq and Indian elements. The Mughal emperor Akbar constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri, located 26 miles west of Agra, in the late 1500s. The most famous example of Mughal architecture is the Taj Mahal, the "teardrop on eternity," completed in 1648 by the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died while giving birth to their 14th child. The extensive use of precious and semiprecious stones as inlay and the vast quantity of white marble required nearly bankrupted the empire. The Taj Mahal is completely symmetric other than the sarcophagus of Shah Jahan which is placed off center in the crypt room below the main floor. This symmetry extended to the building of an entire mirror mosque in red sandstone to complement the Mecca-facing mosque place to the west of the main structure. Another structure built that showed great depth of Mughal influence was the Shalimar Gardens.

Rulers of Timurid Empire

Rulers of Mughal Empire

External links

Notes

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ "Early years of Babur", in Encyclopædia Britannica, Online Edition, (LINK)
  3. Lehmann, F. "Zaher ud-Din Babor - Founder of Mughal empire". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.). New York City: Columbia University Center for Iranian (Persian) Studies. pp. 320–323. Retrieved 2006-11-07. ... His origin, milieu, training, and culture were steeped in Persian culture and so Babor was largely responsible for the fostering of this culture by his descendants, the Mughals of India, and for the expansion of Persian cultural infleunce in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and historiographical results ... {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonth= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Timurids". The Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth ed.). New York City: Columbia University. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  5. Encyclopædia Britannica
  6. Encyclopædia Britannica
  7. Encyclopædia Britannica
  8. Encyclopædia Britannica
  9. Encyclopædia Britannica
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