The image of women in the language of 'Baburnama': historical and linguistic analysis

Abstract

This article examines the role of women in Turkic society as reflected in the language of the historical text ‘Baburnama’, written by the prominent Turkic leader Zahir ad-Din Muhammad Babur (fifteenth–sixteenth centuries). Babur lived during a turbulent period marked by the internal disintegration of the Central Asian Turks and the emergence of new state formations. In this context, intellectual and political elites played an important role in shaping cultural and social processes and articulating them in line with contemporary ideological and dynastic interests. Babur’s work reflects an effort to preserve elements of Turkic cultural heritage, articulate a shared historical consciousness, and transmit genealogical and historical knowledge to future generations. Within Turkological scholarship, the ‘Baburnama’ has traditionally been regarded as a representative text of Classical (Old) Uzbek, characterized primarily by Karluk linguistic features. However, both its historical content and linguistic characteristics challenge a unidimensional classification. The text demonstrates features of a broader Central Asian Turkic linguistic continuum and preserves a mixed Oghuz–Karluk–Kipchak linguistic system. The analysis of references to mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of khans and sultans in the ‘Baburnama’ addresses an aspect that has received limited attention in Turkological research. This perspective highlights the importance of a historical-linguistic approach to expressions of respect toward women, which are rooted in ancient Turkic cultural traditions. The study aims to explore the social position of Turkic women and to examine ‘respect for women’ as a pan-Turkic cultural and spiritual value through linguistic representations in the ‘Baburnama’. The findings, based on linguistic evidence, suggest that Turkic women occupied an integral position within society and were accorded a high degree of social respect in the sixteenth century. Their roles in family life and child-rearing were socially significant, and they also participated in political and diplomatic affairs. The ability of women in the khan’s dynasty to initiate divorce is presented in the text as evidence of their legal agency within the social norms of the period. The detailed documentation of dynastic women in the ‘Baburnama’ reflects both Babur’s narrative perspective and broader societal attitudes toward women. Finally, the concept of respect for women, traced to ancient Turkic beliefs such as the cult of Mother Umay, is discussed as part of a wider pan-Turkic cultural worldview.