Babel
a place or circumstances in stance, by several people speaking at tic. The reference is to the confusion of once-is the predominating characterisonce is the predominating characteristongues divinely sent in consequence of the building of the Tower of Babel (Gen. xi: 1-9). The magnificent temple of this tower, is said to have had lofty Belus, asserted to have been originally spires, and many statues of gold, one of them 40 feet high. In the upper part of this temple was the tomb of the founder, tures), who was deified after death.
Belus (the Nimrod of the sacred Scripof the sacred Scriptears), so called from the danger arising BAB-EL-MANDEB (i. e., the gate of to small vessels from strong currents, is the name of the strait between Arabia and the continent of Africa, by which the Red Sea is connected with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Within the strait , but nearer to Arabia, lies the bare, rocky island of Perim, since 1857 occupied by the British as a fort; its guns command the entrance to the Red Sea. cal surname of Zehir-ed-din-Mohammed, BABER (or "The Tiger"), the historithe conqueror of Hindustan and founder of the so -called Mogul dynasty. Baber was of mixed Turkish and Mongol origin, being descended from Timour the Great on the father's side, and from Genghis Khan on the mother's. Baber was born on his father's death, ascended the inseon Feb. 14, 1483, and at the age of 12, soon after he was attacked on all sides cure throne of Ferghana in Turkestan; ; by his uncles and other neighboring Baber seized on Samarcand, the capital princes . Accordingly, at the age of 15, of Timour , but, while thus engaged, a revolution at home deprived him of his sovereignty. After many years of an adentered Hindustan, and was met by Ibraventurous career, he raised an army, an army , him, the ruling Sultan of that country.
The two armies fought the battle at Paniput, which decided the fate of India, of 12,000 men, completely overthrew that on April 21, 1525. Baber, with his army of Ibrahim , numbering 100,000, and entered Delhi in tered Delhi in triumph. In the battle Sakri, in February, 1527, Baber ut- BABI BABYLON terly defeated the opposing Hindu deep eyes, with large eyebrows, and princes, and then proclaimed himself naked callosities on the buttocks. They Padishah, or Emperor of Hindustan. live on fruits and roots, eggs and in- After a rule of four years, he died near Agra, Dec. 26, 1530.
BÂBI (bä-bē'), the name of a modern Persian sect, derived from the title, Bâbed-Din (gate of the faith), assumed by its founder, Mirza Ali Mohammed, a native of Shiraz, who, in 1843, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, undertook to form a new religion from a mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish, and Parsee elements. The sect soon became numerous, and were not molested by the reigning Shah; but on the accession of Nasired-Din in 1848, apprehending persecution, they took up arms, proclaiming the advent of the Bâb as universal sovereign.
Several Persian armies were routed, but finally the insurgents were reduced by famine, and most of them executed (1849-1850). The Bâb had held aloof from the revolt, but he was arrested and put to death in 1850. His successor was recognized in the youthful son of the Governor of Teheran, who retired to Bagdad. An attempt of three believers to assassinate the Shah, in 1852, led to terrible persecution of the sect. Bâbism has nevertheless gained in strength, and is at present widely diffused in Persia.
Their doctrines form a system of Pantheism. Bâbism enjoins few prayers, and those only on fixed occasions; encourages hospitality and charity; prohibits polygamy, concubinage, and divorce; discourages asceticism and mendicancy; and directs women to discard the veil, and share as equals in the intercourse of social life. BĂBIROUSSA (bab-i-rös'a), a species of hog, sometimes called the horned hog and the hog deer, from the fact that its upper tusks, which are of great length and curved in form, piercing through the upper lip, grow upward and backward, like the horns of a ruminant.
BÂBISM. See BÂBI.