The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur): reading level, length and free edition

Name: The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Author: Babur

The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur) by Babur is a memoir in English, in English translation. Our team rates it C1. It runs to 416,383 words with 22,617 different word forms, about 35–69 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.

By the Readlang Mobile team (an independent app, not affiliated with readlang.com). Updated 31 October 2026.

Cover of The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

Author: Babur
Language: English
Level: C1
Form: memoir
Words: 416,383
Different word forms: 22,617
Forms for 95% / 98%: 8,202 / 14,290
Reading time: 35–69 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

"The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)" by Emperor of Hindustan Babur is a memoir written between 1494-1530 in the Chagatai language. This vivid autobiography chronicles Babur’s journey from a young Central Asian prince losing and reclaiming Samarkand to his establishment of the Mughal Empire in India. The work reveals his keen observations on nature, politics, military campaigns, and society, while candidly documenting his personal struggles, including the decisive Battle of Panipat. His grandson Akbar later commissioned lavishly illustrated Persian translations that brought these remarkable events to life.

Is The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur) right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur), you need its 8,202 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 14,290. The median English C1 book in our table needs 4,633 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is harder than most for its level: number 10 of 11, easiest first.

A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.

Which words should you know before you start?

These are the words that The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur) uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 309 English books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.

qarā 396
fort 339
dismounted 321
particulars 319
nāma 315
begs 308
shāhī 213
braves 166
text 164
translation 158
amongst 155
writes 145
qulī 141
zamān 134
defeated 126

How does it begin?

(Memoirs of Bābur) Translated from the original Turki Text OF Z̤ahiru’d-dīn Muḥammad Bābur Pādshāh Ghāzī BY ANNETTE SUSANNAH BEVERIDGE First Printed 1922

From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.

How long does it take to read?

Hours to read *The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)* (416,383 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
416,383	69 h	46 h	35 h	28 h

Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?

Where can you read it for free?

The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #44608. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.

To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.