Fifteen hundred stonecutters on Babur's buildings in India
Editorial contextBabur was scornful of Indian architecture but impressed by India's supply of craftsmen. He compares Timur's famous stone mosque in Samarkand, built with 200 masons from several countries, to his own works: 680 stonecutters at Agra alone, and 1,491 across his building sites. The buildings of this Timurid ruler were raised by local Indian hands.
In Agra alone, and of stone-cutters belonging to that place only, I every day employed on my palaces six hundred and eighty persons; and in Agra, Sikri, Biana, Dhulpur, Gualiar, and Koel, there were every day employed on my works one thousand four hundred and ninety-one stone-cutters.
Babur (translated by John Leyden and William Erskine, 1826)
About Babur's court; Indian craftsmen
Continue in this sourceThe memoirs of Babur, Timurid prince and founder of Mughal India1466 to 1533 · 16 passages
