Babur (r. 1483–1530), the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, played a key role in bringing Persian gardens to India. Babur’s interest in gardens predated his invasion of India. The Persian miniature included here shows Babur and his architect working on Babur’s very first garden, the Bagh-i-Wafu (Garden of Fidelity) in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Bagh-i-Wafu was a charbagh, a Persian-style garden in which the garden is divided into four quadrants by paths that intersect at the center. The rigid geometry of such gardens was meant to evoke man’s mastery over nature and, from the point of view of the garden’s creator, the ruler’s mastery over his realm. The paths that gave the garden its distinctive look often contained channels that served as artificial streams, recalling the rivers Muslims believe flow through Paradise and providing a handy source of water for the garden. Thus, such gardens were both beautiful and highly symbolic.