English: Painting depicting an epic ceremonial event from the Baburnameh. Babur and his army salute the standards to the right of the image, while to the left stand the yak-tail standards fermented with mare's milk (kumis). Members of the royal military band, mounted on camels, blow trumpets and beat large kettle drums at the upper right. Two isolated boxes of text appear on the left, each with two lines of text. Painted in opaque watercolour and ink on paper.

This right hand page of a double page composition portrays the first Mughal emperor, Babur, performing a ceremony inherited from the Mongols. Annually the Mughal emperor sprinkled kumis, fermented mare's milk, on the yak tails of the standards.

The Mughal emperor Babur followed the annual Mongol custom of anointing yak-tail standards with fermented mare's milk (kumis) in the presence of his army.

Members of the royal military band (naqqara-khaneh) blow trumpets and beat large kettle drums at the upper right. The musicians are mounted on camels,so that they will sit higher than the army and be heard. Called naqqara, the drums were made of metal covered with skin held in place by laces.

This illustration is the right page of a double page composition from the 'Victoria and Albert' Baburnama of which three pages are included in Princes, Poets, & Paladins (cat. nos. 82-4).

Account of the scene by Babur in the Baburnama:

"When, a few days later, The Khan heard that Tambal had gone up into Aura-tipa, he got his army to horse and rode out from Tashkint. Between Bish-kint and Sam-sirak he formed up into array of right and left and saw the count of his men. This done, the standards were acclaimed in Mughul fashion. The Khan dismounted and nine standards were set up in front of him. A Mughul tied a long strip of white cloth to the thigh-bone (aurta ailik) of a cow and took the other end in his hand. Three other long strips of white cloth were tied to the staves of three of the (nine) standards, just below the yak-tails, and their other ends were brought for The Khan to stand on one and for me and Sl. Muh. Khanika to stand each on one of the two others. The Mughul who had hold of the strip of cloth fastened to the cow’s leg, then said something in Mughul while he looked at the standards and made signs towards them. The Khan and those present sprinkled qumiz in the direction of the standards; hautbois and drums were sounded towards them; the army flung the war-cry out three times towards them, mounted, cried it again and rode at the gallop round them. Precisely as Chingiz Khan laid down his rules, so the Mughuls still observe them. Each man has his place, just where his ancestors had it; right, right, – left, left, – centre, centre. The most reliable men go to the extreme points of the right and left."

(Beveridge 1921, I.154–5) in The Illustrated Baburnama, Som Prakash Verma, Routledge, 2016, p.108