Raiders from the North

Samarkand

Main Characters

Babur’s parents, siblings, grandmother and uncle

Ahmed, King of Samarkand, Babur’s uncle

Esan Dawlat, Babur’s maternal grandmother

Jahangir, Babur’s half-brother

Khanzada, Babur’s older sister

Kutlugh Nigar, Babur’s mother

Umar-Shaikh, King of Ferghana, Babur’s father

Babur’s wives

Ayisha, daughter of the chief of the Mangligh clan

Maham, Babur’s favourite wife and mother of Humayun

Gulrukh, mother of Kamran and Askari

Bibi Mubarak, daughter of the chief of the Yusufzai clan

Dildar, mother of Hindal

Babur’s sons

Humayun

Kamran

Askari

Hindal

Babur’s cousins

Azar Khan, nobleman of Ferghana

Mahmud, Prince of Kunduz

Mirza Khan, chieftain of Ferghana

Tambal, nobleman of Ferghana

Babur’s inner circle

Baburi, a former market boy and Babur’s closest friend

Baisanghar, originally an officer of Samarkand, subsequently Babur’s loyal commander and, even later, father-in-law

Kasim, one of Babur’s political advisers, often used by him as an ambassador

Wazir Khan, milk-brother to Babur’s father and Babur’s guide and chief mentor in his childhood and early years as king

Abdul-Malik, a physician

Ferghana

Baba Qashqa, comptroller of the royal household

Baqi Beg, court astrologer

Fatima, chief waiting woman

Qambar-Ali, vizier

Rehana, an old woman whose grandfather rode with Timur to sack Delhi

Roxanna, concubine of Babur’s father and mother of Jahangir

Walid Butt, Esan Dawlat’s steward

Yadgar, Babur’s favourite inhabitant of a Ferghana brothel

Yusuf, keeper of the treasury

Babur’s tribal leaders

Ali-Dost, a chieftain from western Ferghana

Ali Gosht, Babur’s master-of-horse and later chief quartermaster

Ali Mazid Beg, lord of Shahrukiyyah

Baba Yasaval, warrior from near Herat

Hussain Mazid, headman of Sayram and cousin of Ali Mazid Beg

Babur’s chief enemy in Central Asia

Shaibani Khan, powerful leader of the Uzbek clans and blood enemy of Babur’s people and all those descended from Timur

Persia

Shah Ismail of Persia

Mullah Husayn, Shiite mullah serving Shah Ismail

Turkey

Ali-Quli, master-gunner

Kabul

Bahlul Ayyub, grand vizier

Haydar Taqi, keeper of the Royal Seal

Muhammad-Muquim Arghun, chief of the Hazaras

Wali Gul, guardian of the Royal Treasuries

Hindustan

Buwa, mother of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi

Firoz Khan, Hindustani warlord

Gwalior royal family, owners of the Koh-i-Nur diamond, the ‘Mountain of Light’

Rana Sanga, Hindu ruler of the Rajput state of Mewar

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, ruler of the great Delhi Sultanate and overlord of Hindustan

Roshanna, Buwa’s serving woman

Babur’s ancestors

Genghis Khan

Timur, known in the West as Tamburlaine from a corruption of ‘Timur-i-Lang’, ‘Timur the Lame’

Mountain of Light