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Dara Shikoh: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Dara Shikoh
Muhammad Dara Shikoh was born on the 20th of March 1615 in Ajmer, Rajasthan, into a lineage that would define the history of the Indian subcontinent for centuries. He was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the man who would later build the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Unlike his father and his younger brother Aurangzeb, Dara was not primarily a warrior or a conqueror. He was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim who devoted his life to philosophy, mysticism, and the search for a common language between Islam and Hinduism. His name, Dara Shikoh, translates to either the terror of Darius or the grandeur of Darius, a title that foreshadowed the immense power he held and the tragic end that awaited him. He was designated with the title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba and was favored as a successor by his father and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum. He had been given the title of Shah-e-Buland Iqbal by Shah Jahan, marking him as the Prince of High Fortune. This early designation set the stage for a life that would be defined not by the sword, but by the pen and the spirit.
A Marriage of Devotion
In a time when polygyny was the standard practice for Mughal royalty, Dara Shikoh stood apart by remaining devoted to a single wife. On the 1st of February 1633, at Agra, he married Nadira Banu Begum, the daughter of his paternal uncle Sultan Parvez Mirza. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp and grandeur, yet the bond that formed between the couple was one of profound love and mutual respect. Unlike his contemporaries, Dara never contracted any other marriage, a rarity that highlighted his unique character. The imperial couple had seven children together, and among them, three sons named Sulaiman Shikoh, Mumtaz Shikoh, and Sipihr Shikoh, and a daughter named Jahanzeb Banu Begum, survived to play important roles in future events. Dara's love for Nadira was so deep that he commissioned a refined artwork album, now famous as the Dara Shikoh Album, and presented it to her in 1641. This album, one of the few Mughal albums to retain its original miniatures, calligraphy, and covers, stands as a testament to his artistic sensibilities and his devotion to his wife. Even after his defeat and death, the album remained with Nadira until her death, after which it was taken into the royal library and the inscriptions connecting it with Dara Shikoh were deliberately erased, though many calligraphy scripts and paintings still bear his mark.
The Confluence of Two Seas
Dara Shikoh's intellectual pursuits were as vast as the empire he was destined to rule, yet they were often viewed with suspicion by the orthodox power brokers of his time. He was a follower of the Armenian Sufi-perennialist mystic Sarmad Kashani and developed a close friendship with Lahore's famous Qadiri Sufi saint Mian Mir, whom he was introduced to by Mullah Shah Badakhshi. Mian Mir was so widely respected among all communities that he was invited to lay the foundation stone of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Sikhs. Dara subsequently developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai, further cementing his reputation as a bridge between faiths. He devoted much effort towards finding a common mystical language between Islam and Hinduism, culminating in the completion of the translation of fifty Upanishads from their original Sanskrit into Persian in 1657. This translation, known as Sirr-i-Akbar or The Greatest Mystery, boldly hypothesized that the work referred to in the Qur'an as the Kitab al-maknun was none other than the Upanishads. His most famous work, Majma-ul-Bahrain or The Confluence of the Two Seas, was authored as a short treatise in Persian in 1654, 55, revealing the mystical and pluralistic affinities between Sufic and Vedantic speculation. This translation attracted William Jones, a Western scholar of Indian literature, to the Upanishads, having read them for the first time in a Persian translation by Dara Shikoh. The library established by Dara Shikoh still exists on the grounds of Ambedkar University, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi, and is now run as a museum by the Archaeological Survey of India after being renovated.
Muhammad Dara Shikoh was born on the 20th of March 1615 in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
Who was the wife of Dara Shikoh and when did they marry?
Dara Shikoh married Nadira Banu Begum on the 1st of February 1633 at Agra. She was the daughter of his paternal uncle Sultan Parvez Mirza and the couple had seven children together.
What major translation work did Dara Shikoh complete in 1657?
Dara Shikoh completed the translation of fifty Upanishads from Sanskrit into Persian in 1657. This work is known as Sirr-i-Akbar or The Greatest Mystery and hypothesized that the Kitab al-maknun referred to in the Qur'an was the Upanishads.
When and how did Dara Shikoh die?
Dara Shikoh was killed on the night of the 30th of August 1659 by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his son. His head was severed and presented to his father Shah Jahan before his remains were buried in an unidentified grave in Humayun's Tomb.
When was the grave of Dara Shikoh identified in Humayun's Tomb?
The grave of Dara Shikoh was identified on the 26th of February 2020 by Sanjeev Kumar Singh. The discovery placed the grave under one of three unmarked cenotaphs in the northwestern chamber beneath the dome of Humayun's Tomb.
The illness of emperor Shah Jahan on the 6th of September 1657 triggered a desperate struggle for power among the four Mughal princes, though realistically only Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb had a chance of emerging victorious. Shah Shuja was the first to make his move, declaring himself Mughal Emperor in Bengal and marching towards Agra from the east. Murad Baksh allied himself with Aurangzeb, leaving Dara Shikoh isolated against a formidable coalition. The war of succession was not merely a battle of armies but a clash of ideologies. Dara, who was more inclined towards philosophy and mysticism rather than military pursuits, found himself at odds with the orthodox Aurangzeb. Despite his earlier military appointments, including command of 20,000-foot and 20,000 horse, and his role as Governor of the province of Gujarat, Dara lacked the ruthless ambition of his brother. He was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin, later the Emperor Aurangzeb, in a series of battles that culminated in the battle of Deorai near Ajmer on the 11th of March 1659. After this defeat, he fled to Sindh and sought refuge under Malik Jeevan, an Afghan chieftain, whose life had on more than one occasion been saved by the Mughal prince from the wrath of Shah Jahan. However, Junaid held Dara Shikoh by his wrist and seized him, then gave the news to Aurangzeb that he had captured Dara Shikoh. Aurangzeb's army captured Dara Shikoh on the 10th of June 1659.
The Humiliation of a Prince
Dara Shikoh was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains. The captive heir to the richest throne in the world, the favourite and pampered son of the most magnificent of the Great Mughals, was now clad in a travel-tainted dress of the coarsest cloth, with a dark dingy-coloured turban, such as only the poorest wear, on his head, and no necklace or jewel adorning his person. His fate was decided by the political threat he posed as a prince popular with the common people. A convocation of nobles and clergy, called by Aurangzeb in response to the perceived danger of insurrection in Delhi, declared him a threat to the public peace and an apostate from Islam. He was killed by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his terrified son on the night of the 30th of August 1659. The Venetian traveler Niccolao Manucci recorded the details of Dara's death, noting that upon Dara's capture, Aurangzeb ordered his men to have his head brought up to him and he inspected it thoroughly to ensure that it was Dara indeed. He then further mutilated the head with his sword three times. After which, he ordered the head to be put in a box and presented to his ailing father, Shah Jahan, with clear instructions to be delivered only when the old King sat for his dinner in his prison. The guards were also instructed to inform Shah Jahan that King Aurangzeb, your son, sends this plate to let you see that he does not forget you. Shah Jahan instantly became happy, not knowing what was in store in the box, and uttered, Blessed be God that my son still remembers me. Upon opening the box, Shah Jahan became horrified and fell unconscious. After his death at the age of 44, the remains of Dara Shikoh were buried in an unidentified grave in Humayun's tomb in Delhi.
The Search for the Lost Grave
The exact burial location of Dara Shikoh remained a mystery for over two centuries until 2020, when Sanjeev Kumar Singh, an engineer at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, identified the grave among several marked and unmarked graves in Humayun's Tomb in Delhi. Singh's discovery has garnered attention from the likes of Irfan Habib, B.R. Mani, and K. K. Muhammed. After four years of research, Singh concluded Dara Shikoh's grave is under one of the three unmarked cenotaphs in the northwestern chamber beneath the dome of Humayun's Tomb. His claim is based on the Alamgirnama, a biography of Aurangzeb, which mentions that Dara Shikoh was buried below the dome of Humayun's Tomb, alongside Akbar's sons, Danyal and Murad. The relevant passage from the Alamgirnama was translated for Singh by Prof. Aleem Ashraf Khan, Head of the Persian Department at Delhi University. Additionally, Singh has studied the architectural style of the cenotaphs, which he argues aligns with the period of Dara Shikoh's death. On the 26th of February 2020, the Government of India, through the Archaeological Survey of India, initiated a project to identify Dara Shikoh's grave from among the 140 graves in the 120 chambers inside Humayun's Tomb. At least five of the seven members have acknowledged and supported Sanjeev Kumar Singh's research, agreeing that he had correctly identified the grave of Dara Shikoh. These experts include retired ASI Additional Director General Dr. B.R. Mani, retired ASI Joint Director General Dr. K.N. Dikshit, retired ASI Director Northern Region Padma Shri K. K. Muhammed, retired ASI Director of the School of Archaeology B.M. Pande, and retired ASI Director of Epigraphy Dr. G.S. Khwaja. Following a Right to Information query in 2021, the ASI responded that it had not yet found Dara Shikoh's grave, though Senior Archaeologist and former Director of the School of Archaeology of Archaeological Survey of India, Shri B.M. Pande has said that Dara's grave has been identified.
Legacy of a Forgotten Prince
In 2017, the New Delhi Municipal Council decided to rename central Delhi's Dalhousie Road to Dara Shikoh Road in his honor, acknowledging his historical significance. The building originally constructed in 1637 as a library by Dara Shikoh himself was later repurposed by the Government of India into a partition museum, known as the Partition Museum and Dara Shukoh Library Cultural Hub. This is India's second partition museum, following the one in Amritsar. All written works by and about Dara Shikoh are now digitally accessible through the Dara Shikoh digital library, thanks to the recommendations of the AMU Centenary Dara Shikoh Conference held in December 2021 in New Delhi. He is also a character played by Vaquar Sheikh in the 2005 Bollywood film Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story, directed by Akbar Khan. Dara Shikoh is the name of the protagonist of Mohsin Hamid's 2000 novel Moth Smoke, which reimagines the story of his trial unfolding in contemporary Pakistan. Bengali writer Shyamal Gangapadhyay wrote a novel on his life Shahjada Dara Shikoh which received the Sahitya Academy Award in 1993. The Dara Shikoh award is awarded by the Indo-Iranian society, and Sheila Dixit, former Delhi CM from 1998 to 2013, was a recipient in 2010. His legacy endures not only in the physical structures he commissioned, such as the tomb of his wife Nadira Begum in Lahore, the Shrine of Mian Mir also in Lahore, the Dara Shikoh Library in Delhi, the Akhund Mullah Shah Masjid in Srinagar in Kashmir, and the Pari Mahal garden palace also in Srinagar in Kashmir, but also in the intellectual and cultural discourse that continues to explore his vision of a syncretic India.