PORTAL ON DARA SHIKOH SUFISIM
source: http://www.mapsofindia.com/on-this-day/30th-august-1659-dara-shikoh-is-put-to-death-by-aurangzeb
30th August 1659: Dara Shikoh is put to Death by Aurangzeb
On 30th August 1659, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s son Dara Shikoh was put to death by his younger brother Aurangzeb.
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had four sons, out of whom Dara Shikoh was his favourite and whom he favoured greatly. This blatant favouritism gave rise to animosity among the rest of the brothers, who formed an alliance among themselves against Dara Shikoh.
Inheritance to the Mughal throne was not based on Primogeniture (the law or custom by which the firstborn son inherits the throne or family estate), but the sons needed to compete for military success. Since all four of Shah Jahan’s sons were governors of various parts of the country under their father’s reign, the competition was intense; especially between Dara Shikoh and his brother Aurangzeb. The reason behind this was that even though all four sons were competent in their own right, it was Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb who attracted a large number of influential people. There were many differences between the two as well; while Dara Shikoh was an intellectual and liberal in matters of religion, Aurangzeb was much more conservative.
After declaring Dara Shikoh as his successor, Shah Jahan fell ill and was being taken care of by his favourite son Dara Shikoh in his newly constructed city of Shahjahanabad (present day Old Delhi). Soon, rumours of Shah Jahan’s death began doing the rounds and the other sons were worried that Dara Shikoh might be hiding the news of their father’s death for his own selfish reasons. Hence, the three of them began taking action in their own way. Shah Shuja, the then Governor of Bengal began contesting the throne from there. Murad did the same from Gujarat and Aurangzeb from the Deccan.
After some of his health was restored, Shah Jahan moved to Agra where Dara Shikoh pressed him to take action against Shah Shuja and Murad who, in the meanwhile had declared themselves rulers in their own territories. In February 1658, Shah Shuja was defeated in Benaras, while the army which had been sent to tackle Murad was surprised to learn that Aurangzeb and Murad had joined forces. Both brothers had agreed to partition the Empire, once they had control of it.
In April 1658, both armies clashed and Aurangzeb won. Shah Shuja was being chased through Bihar and with Aurangzeb winning the battle; Dara Shikoh was at a loss of what he should now do. Since Dara Shikoh’s forces in Bihar would not be able to return in time to face Aurangzeb’s army, Dara began panicking and rushed to form suitable alliances, only to discover that Aurangzeb had already allied with them. When finally, in desperation Dara Shikoh’s insufficient and ill prepared army met Aurangzeb’s, Dara realized that he was of no match to his brother.
Dara’s folly was also the fact that he grew over confident and did not take the advice of those who warned him that he should not go to war while his father was still alive; he was convinced that it would be him who would succeed the throne. But on the contrary, on 8th June 1658, Aurangzeb gained control of Agra and had his father Shah Jahan imprisoned in the Agra Fort, right across the Taj Mahal he had built for his deceased Queen Mumtaz Mahal.
After having gained control of Agra, Aurangzeb broke off his arrangement with Murad Baksh (which had been his intention all along) and had him imprisoned in the Gwalior Fort. Murad was executed on 4th December 1661 for the murder of the Diwan of Gujarat.
In the meanwhile Dara Shikoh had taken his army and moved to Punjab. The army sent to Shah Shuja was still in the east and two of its Generals, Jai Singh and Dilir Khan joined Aurangzeb, while Dara Shikoh’s son Suleiman Shikoh escaped. Aurangzeb offered Shah Shuja the Governorship of Bengal, who had begun annexing more territory. Aurangzeb then proceeded towards Punjab with a larger army this time. Meanwhile, Shah Shuja was ousted by the forces of Aurangzeb. Shuja fled to Burma, where he was put to death by the local rulers.
With Shah Shuja and Murad out of his way and his father jailed in Agra, Aurangzeb then went after Dara Shikoh. Chasing after him, Aurangzeb declared that Dara Shikoh was not a Muslim anymore and that he had killed the Grand Vizier Saadullah Khan (neither of these claims were verified). After many battles, Dara was betrayed by one of his Generals who arrested him and handed him over to Aurangzeb.
In 1658, Aurangzeb organized his coronation in Delhi and had Dara Shikoh chained and paraded through the streets all the way through Delhi, where he was executed on 30th August 1659. After having gained the throne and becoming the Emperor, Aurangzeb still kept his father imprisoned in the Agra Fort. Shah Jahan was not ill treated and on the contrary was taken care of by his favourite daughter Jahanara Begum.
Also on This Day:
1569: Akbar’s eldest son Sultan Salim Mirza (Jahangir) was born.
1751: The British under Clive, captured Arcot from Chanda Sahib.
1773: Peshwa Narayanrao was murdered by his uncle Raghunath Rao.
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source: http://www.svabhinava.org/meccabenares/YoginderSikand/DaraShikoh-frame.php
Dara’s initiation into early education was not an exception and put like other Prices he was under the guidance of the royal teachers who taught him the Quran, Persian poetry and history. The credit goes to one tutor named Mulla Abdul Latif Saharanpuri who inculcated in him the habit of reading and unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The Sufi leanings of his tutor had great influence over young Dara. Besides this, the influence of contemporary Sufi saints had played a significant role in shaping young Dara’s mind.
Beyond ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’
Dara Shikoh’s Quest for Spiritual Unity
Dara Shikoh, eldest son of the Mughal Emperor of India , Shah Jahan, and heir apparent to his throne, was born near Ajmer Ajmer Delhi
Like any other Mughal prince, Dara’s early education was entrusted to maulvis attached to the royal court, who taught him the Qur’an, Persian poetry, and history. His chief instructor was one Mullah Abdul Latif Saharanpuri, who developed in the young Dara an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the speculative sciences, including Sufism. In his youth, Dara came into contact with numerous Muslim and Hindu mystics, some of whom exercised a profound influence on him. The most noted among these was Hazrat Miyan Mir (d.1635 C.E.), a Qadri Sufi of Lahore Golden Temple of the Sikhs at Amritsar
In pursuit of this aim, Dara now set about seeking to learn more about the religious systems of the Hindus. He studied Sanskrit, and, with the help of the Pandits of Benaras, made a Persian translation of the Upanishads, which was later followed by his Persian renderings of the Gita and the Yoga Vasishta. Throughout this endeavour, his fundamental concern was the quest for the discovery of the Unity of God (tauhid), seeking to draw out the commonalities in the scriptures of the Hindus and the Muslims.
Dara expresses this concern in his Persian translation of the Upanishads, the Sirr ul-Akbar (‘The Great Secret’) thus:
And whereas I was impressed with a longing to behold the Gnostic doctrines of every sect and to hear their lofty expressions of monotheism and had cast my eyes upon many theological books and had been a follower thereof for many years, my passion for beholding the Unity [of God], which is a boundless ocean, increased every moment. […] Thereafter, I began to ponder as to why the discussion of monotheism is so conspicuous in India and why the Indian [Hindu] mystics and theologians of ancient India
Dara’s works are numerous, all in the Persian language, only some of which are readily available today. His writings fall into two broad categories. The first consists of books on Sufism and Muslim saints, the most prominent of these being the Safinat ul-Auliya, the Sakinat ul-Auliya, the Risala-i Haq Numa, the Tariqat ul-Haqiqat, the Hasanat ul-‘Arifin and the Iksir-i ‘Azam. The second consists of writings such as the Majma ul-Bahrain, the Mukalama-i Baba Lal Das wa Dara Shikoh, the Sirr-i Akbar, and his Persian translations of the Yoga Vashishta and the Gita.
Dara on Sufism
The Safinat ul-Auliya, a biography of several leading Sufi saints, was Dara’s first work, composed in 1640 C.E., when he was just 25 years of age. Here he stresses the importance of the Sufi pirs or guides, because, he believes, one can attain knowledge of the mystical path only through the assistance of a spiritual master. In Dara’s words,
‘God never leaves his people without saints to guide them. […] Therefore, next to the prophets, there are no other persons than the saints nearer in the presence of God, the Almighty’. The true saint is a ‘perfect guide’ (pir-i kamil), for, ‘No one is more compassionate and magnanimous, erudite and practical, humble and polite, heroic and charitable than the members of this hierarchy of the saints’.
The Safinat ul-Auliya is Dara’s second biography of various Sufi saints. Unlike the Sakinat ul-Auliya, which deals with Sufis of various orders, this book discusses only the Qadri Sufis of India Baghdad
Dara’s next book on Islamic Sufism is the Hasanat ul-‘Arifin or ‘The Aphorisms of the Gnostics’. It consists of the sayings of 107 Sufis of various spiritual orders. Explaining the objective behind writing the book, Dara says in his introduction:
I was enamoured of studying books on the ways of the men of the Path and had in my mind nothing save the understanding of the Unity of God; and before this, in a state of ecstasy and enthusiasm, I had uttered some words pertaining to sublime knowledge, because of which certain bigoted and narrow-minded people accused me of heresy and apostasy. It was then that I realised the importance of compiling the aphorisms of great believers in the Unity of God and the sayings of saints who have, hitherto, acquired knowledge of Reality, so that these may serve as an argument against those who are really imposters.
In the Hasanat ul-‘Arifin, Dara bitterly criticises those self-styled ‘ulama who, ignoring the inner dimension of the faith, focus simply on external rituals. His critique is directed against mindless ritualism emptied of inner spiritual content, and he challenges the claims of the ‘ulama who would readily trade their faith for worldly gain. Thus, he says:
May the world be free from the noise of the Mulla
And none should pay any heed to their fatwas.
As for those ‘ulama who claim to be religious authorities but have actually little or no understanding at all of the true spirit of religion, Dara writes that, ‘As a matter of fact, these are ignoramuses to themselves and learned to the ignorant’, and adds the following couplet:
Every prophet and saint suffered afflictions and torments,
Due to the vicious and ignominious conduct of the mulla.
Two short, yet important, works of Dara on the various stages and practices associated with the Sufi path are the Tariqat ul-Haqiqat and the Risala-i Haq Numa. The former consists of both prose as well as poetry. It begins with a prologue containing the praises of God and His Omnipotence and His All-Pervasiveness. Thus, Dara says, referring to the Divine:
You dwell in the Ka‘aba and in Somnath [a famous Shaivite Hindu temple]
And in the hearts of the enamoured lovers.
The text goes on to discuss the thirty stages (manazil) on the Sufi path, the first of which is detachment from the materialistic world and the last of which is realisation of the Truth. Broadly the same theme is discussed in the Risala-i Haq Numa, where the seeker (salik) is shown as starting from the Alam-i Nasut or ‘The Physical Plane’, and, passing through various stages, finally reaching the Alam-i Lahut or ‘the Plane of Absolute Truth’. Some of the physical exercises employed by the Sufis that are described in the Risala-i Haq Numa are shown by Dara to be similar to those used by the Hindu Tantriks and Yogis. These include astral healing and concentration on the centres of meditation in the heart and brain. Further, he suggests that the four planes through which the Sufi seeker’s journey takes him—Nasut , Jabrut, Malakut and Lahut—correspond to the Hindu concept of the avasthânam or the four ‘states’ of Jagrat, Swapna, Shushpati and Turiya.
One of the most intriguing works of Dara’s is his collection of poems, the Diwan, also known as the Iksir-i ‘Azam. Some of the verses from the Diwan, given below, suggest the train of Dara’s mystical thought:
On Monotheism [tauhid]
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Look where you can, All is He,
God’s face is ever face to face.
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Whatever you behold except Him is the object of your fancy, Things other than He have an existence like a mirage.
The existence of God is like a boundless ocean, People are like forms and waves in its water.
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Though I do not consider myself separate from Him, Yet I do not consider myself God.
Whatever relation the drop bears with the ocean, That I hold true in my belief, and nothing beyond.
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We have not seen an atom separate from the Sun, Every drop of water is the sea in itself.
With what name should one call the Truth?
Every name that exists is one of God’s names.
On Divine Love
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O Thou, from whose very name rains Love abundant!
And from your message rains Love!
Whoever passes through Your street realises
That indeed from the very door to the terrace of Your house rains l love!
On the Mystical Path
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Turn to none except God,
The rosary and the sacred thread are but only a means to an end.
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All this piety is conceit and hypocrisy, How can it be worthy of our Beloved?.
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Kingship is easy, acquaint yourself with poverty,
Why should a drop become a pearl when it can transform itself into an ocean?.
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Hands soiled with gold begin to stink,
How awful is the plight of the soul soiled with gold!
Day and night you hear of people dying,
You, too, have to die. How strange is your behaviour!.
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The more a traveller is unencumbered,
The less he feels worried on his journey.
You, too, are a traveller in this world, Take this as certain, if you are wakeful.
Drive egoism away from you,
For, like conceit and arrogance, it is also a burden.
So long as you live in this world, be independent, The Qadri has warned you!
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Whoever recognised this, carried the day, He who lost himself, found Him.
And he who sought Him not within his own self, Passed away, carrying his quest along with him.
The Qadri found his Beloved within his own self, Being himself of good disposition, he won the favour of the Good.
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To whatever object you may turn your face, He is in view, Are you blind, for why do you assign Him to yourself?
Dara On The Religious Systems of the Hindus
Dara wrote extensively on the religious systems of the Hindus, following in the tradition of several Muslim mystics and scholars before him. Like several Sufis before and after him, saw the possibility of some religious figures of the Hindus having been actually been prophets of God, and certain Hindu scriptures as having been of divine origin. Thus, for instance, he writes in the Sirr-i Akbar that a strong strain of monotheism may be discerned in the Vedas and opines that the monotheistic philosophy of the Upanishads may be ‘in conformity with the Holy Qur’an and a commentary thereon’.
In his quest for an empathetic understanding of the Hindu religious systems, Dara spent many years in the study of Sanskrit, and for this purpose employed a large number of Pandits from Benaras. Several contemporary Sanskrit scholars praise him for his liberal patronage of the language. Prominent among these was Jagannath Mishra, who, it is said, was once weighed against silver coins at Shah Jahan’s command and the money given to him. He was the author of the Jagatsimha, a work in praise of Dara, and of the Asif Vilasa, a treatise written in praise of Asif Khan, brother of Nur Jahan, wife of Shah Jahan. Other Sanskrit scholars who were patronised by Dara included Pandit Kavindracharya, who was granted a royal pension of two thousand rupees, and Banwali Das, author of a historical work on the kings of Delhi
The most well-known of Dara’s several works on the religious sciences of the Hindus is his Majma ul-Bahrain (‘The Mingling of the Two Oceans’). Completed when Dara was forty two years old, this book is a pioneering attempt to build on the similarities between Sufism and certain strands of Hindu monotheistic thought, and it is these two that the ‘two oceans’ in the book’s name refer to. He describes this treatise as ‘a collection of the truth and wisdom of two Truth-knowing groups’. It is, in terms of content, rather technical, focussing on Hindu terminology and their equivalents in Islamic Sufism. The basic message that this book conveys is summed up in Dara’s own words thus: ‘Mysticism is equality’, and, he adds, ‘If I know that an infidel, immersed in sin, is, in a way, singing the note of monotheism, I go to him, hear him and am grateful to him’.
The Majma-ul Bahrain
Dara’s translation of certain Hindu scriptures into Persian represents a landmark in the process of developing bridges of understanding between people of different faiths in medieval India
Gratitude, adoration and submission are offered to the One, the Sun of whose glory shines in every atom of the cosmos and where grandeur is manifested in the entire Universe, although He is hidden from all eyes and is behind the veil; boundless benedictions in all sincerity and faith free from error, omission or sanctimoniousness to that choicest product of His creation, to that personification of all that is best, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and Allah’s blessings be upon him, and the same to Hazrat ‘Ali, the object of his love.
The translator then quotes Dara as saying:
My chief reason for this noble command [to have the Yoga Vasishta translated] is that although I had profited by pursuing a translation of the Yoga Vasishta ascribed to Shaikh Sufi, yet once two saintly persons appeared in my dreams; one of whom was tall, whose hair was gray, the other short and without any hair. The former was Vasishta and the latter Ram Chandra, and as I had read the translation already alluded to, I was naturally attracted to them and paid them my respects. Vasisht was very kind to me and patted me on the back, and, addressing Ram Chandra, told him that I was brother to him because both he and I were seekers after truth. He asked Ram Chandra to embrace me, which he did in exuberance of love. Thereupon, Vasishta gave some sweets to Ram Chandra, which I also took and ate. After this vision, a desire to cause the translation of the book intensified in me.
Dara established close and cordial relations with mystics from various backgrounds. Among these were several jogis and sadhus, about some of whom Dara also wrote. One such sadhu was Baba Lal, follower of the renowned Sufi-Bhakti saint Kabir and founder of a small monotheistic order named after him as the Baba Lalis. Many of the teachings of this sect can be traced to a distinct Sufi influence. A summary of these teachings is to be found in Dara’s Makalama Baba Lal wa Dara Shikoh, which consists of seven long conversations between the Baba and Dara held in Lahore
The great interest that Dara had in exploring monotheistic strands in Hindu philosophy led him, finally, to translate fifty-two Upanishads into Persian. The text that he prepared, the Sirr ul-Akbar (‘The Great Secret’) was completed in 1067 A.H. / 1657 C.E.. Here, he opines that the ‘great secret’ of the Upanishads is the monotheistic message, which is identical to that on which the Qur’an is based. The text begins with praises to Allah and the Prophet Muhammad thus:
Praised be the Being, that among whose eternal secrets is the dot in the ‘b’ of the Bismillah [the first word in the Qur’an] in all the Heavenly Books, and glorified be the Mother of Books. In the Holy Qur’an is the token of His glorious name; and the angels and the heavenly books and the prophets and the saints are all comprehended in this name. And the blessings of the Almighty Allah be upon the best of His creatures, the Holy Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and upon all his Companions!.
Dara then proceeds to detail the purpose behind translating the Upanishads. He writes that in the year 1050 A.H. he visited Kashmir, and there he met Hazrat Mullah Shah, whom he describes as ‘the flower of the Gnostics, the tutor of the tutors, the sage of the sages, the guide of the guides, the Unitarians accomplished in the Truth’. Thereafter, he says, he was filled with a longing to ‘behold the Gnostics of every sect and to hear the lofty expressions of monotheism’. Hence, he says, he began his search for monotheism in other scriptures as well, including the Torah of the Jews (Taurat), the Gospels of Jesus (Injil) the Psalms of David (Zabur), and, in addition, the books of the ancient Hindus. He notes with approval the fact that certain Hindu ‘theologians and mystics’ (‘ulama-i zahiri wa batini) actually believe in One God, but laments that ‘the ignoramuses of the present age’, who claim to be authorities in matters of religion, have completely distorted this fundamental truth. His search for traces of monotheism in the religious systems of the Hindus stems, he says, from his faith in the Qur’an, which states that God has, from time to time, sent prophets to all peoples to preach the worship of the One. Thus, he goes on to add:
And it can also be ascertained from the Holy Qur’an that there is no nation without a prophet and without a revealed scripture, for it has been said: ‘Nor do We chastise until We raise an apostle’ [Qur’an: XVII, 15]. And in another verse: ‘And there is not a people but a warner has gone among them’ [Qur’an: XXXV, 24]. And at another place: ‘Certainly we sent our apostles with clear arguments, and sent down with them the Book and the Measure’ [Qur’an: LVII, 25].
Accordingly, says Dara, he travelled to Benaras in 1067 A.H., where he assembled several leading Sanskrit Pandits to translate the Upanishads, in an effort to draw out from the scriptures of the Hindus the hidden teachings on monotheism which are, he says, ‘in conformity with the Holy Qur’an’. Having explored the teachings of the Upanishads, he writes that they are ‘a treasure of monotheism’, although, he notes, ‘very few are conversant with this, even among the Hindus’. Hence, he says, there is an urgent need to bring to light this ‘Great Secret’ so that the Hindus can learn the truth about monotheism as contained in their own scriptures and, in addition, Muslims, too, can be made aware of the spiritual treasures that the Upanishads contain. He goes so far as to accord the Upanishads, in their original forms, the status of divinely revealed scriptures, claiming that the Qur’anic verse which speaks about a ‘protected book’, which ‘none shall touch but the purified ones’ [Qur’an: LVI, 77-80] literally applies to them, because some of the verses of the Qur’an are to be found in their Sanskrit form therein.
Dara’s Death
The Emperor Shah Jahan’s serious illness in l657 C.E. was the signal of a war of succession among his sons. Aurangzeb grabbed the throne in 1658, and had his father imprisoned in the fort at Agra Delhi
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Source: https://sufismexhibition.wordpress.com/tag/safinat-ul-auliya/
Dara Shikoh : A Forgotten Hero of Indian Cultural Synthesis
August 5, 2008 at 9:21 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: dara shikoh, fatwa, Hasanat-ul-Arifin, hinduism, islam, Majma-ul Bahrain, persian, Risala’i Haq Numa, Safinat-ul-Auliya, Sakinat-ul-Auliya, sanskit, Sirr-i-Akbar, sufism, Tariqat-ul-Haqiqat, upanishads, yoga vasishta
Tags: dara shikoh, fatwa, Hasanat-ul-Arifin, hinduism, islam, Majma-ul Bahrain, persian, Risala’i Haq Numa, Safinat-ul-Auliya, Sakinat-ul-Auliya, sanskit, Sirr-i-Akbar, sufism, Tariqat-ul-Haqiqat, upanishads, yoga vasishta
Dara Shikoh
A Forgotten Hero of Indian Cultural Synthesis
Need of Dara’s Spirit in contemporary world against terrorism
A Forgotten Hero of Indian Cultural Synthesis
Need of Dara’s Spirit in contemporary world against terrorism
Dara Shikoh was born on 20 March 1615A.D. at Sagartal near Ajmer. It is said that his father, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, visited the tomb of the great Chishti saint Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti and had prayed there with folded hands and down knees for a son since all his earlier children had been daughters.The prayer brought fruits and the child born had the influence of the teachings of the Sufi saint.
Dara’s was a unique and marvelous personality among the Mughal royal family. He was entirely distinct in all respects from other princes of the entire Mughal house since the establishment of the Mughal rule in 1526 till its ultimate extinction in 1764 or 1857. He had no likings for luxuries and sensual pleasures but had developed refined tastes in his life. In fact, he had combined in himself the qualities of his two great ancestors Humayun and Akbar. The habit of passing more and more time in the Library to acquire knowledge was inherites by him from Humayun who had lost his life while descending from the stairs of the royal Library, while the interest in comparative religions, universal brotherhood, humanism and peace came from the great emperor Akbar. These influences played a notable role in shaping his mind. His great mission in life was the promotion of peace and concord between the followers of Hinduism and Islam. It is true to say that at this moment when the unity of India, depends on the mutual comprehension of the two spiritual elements (Hinduism and Islam), attention can legitimately be paid to the figure of Dara Shikoh who attempted in the 17th century what Kabir and Akbar had done before him in the 15th and 16th century respectively, or what Raja Ram Mohan Roy did in the nineteenth (K.R. Qanungo).
Early Education: Formative Period of Dara:
Dara’s initiation into early education was not an exception and put like other Prices he was under the guidance of the royal teachers who taught him the Quran, Persian poetry and history. The credit goes to one tutor named Mulla Abdul Latif Saharanpuri who inculcated in him the habit of reading and unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The Sufi leanings of his tutor had great influence over young Dara. Besides this, the influence of contemporary Sufi saints had played a significant role in shaping young Dara’s mind.
Initiation in the Qadiri order and its Influence:
The prince witnessed change in his life after the initiation in the Qadiri order in 1640 A.D. and his close association with Mian Mir, Mulla Badakhashi and other saints. This was a remarkable phase of his life when he spent his major time in the royal Library busy in intensive studies in mysticism, the philosophy and the principles of the Qadiri order. This resulted in the publication of his major works on Sufism namely, the Safinat-ul-Auliya (1640 A.D.), the Sakinat-ul-Auliya ( 1643A.D.) the Risala’i Haq Numa (1647 A.D.), the Tariqat-ul-Haqiqat and the Hasanat-ul-Arifin (1653 A.D.). The first two books are biographical dictionaries of the Sufi saints and the last three contain his exposition of some of the Sufi fundamental doctrines. This was in fact a period of intellectual pursuits for Dara.
Another phase is marked by Dara’s quest for understanding of the Hindu religious systems. For this he spent many years in the study of Sanskrit and employed a large number of Pandits from Benaras. His patronage to the language brought applaud from the contemporary scholars. Prominent among them were Jaganath Mishra, Pandit Kavindracharya and Banwali Das. Jaganath Mishra even wrote a book named Jagatsimha in praise of Dara.
In his continuous search for the truth, his meeting with Baba Lal Das Bairagi proved quite enlightening. The diologues with this Hindu mendicant demonstrate his growing interest in comparative religion. Dara had compiled a summary of these teachings in Makalama Baba Lal Wa Dara Shikoh, which consists of seven long conversations between the Baba and the Prince held in 1653 A.D. This text focuses particularly on certain similarities in the teachings of Hindu and Muslim mystics.
Similarly, he found some common elements in the Qadiri ashghal and the yogic meditational exercises of the Hindus which made him translate the Yoga Vasistha into Persian in 1650 A.D. In the same vein to understand Indian philosophical thought he also translated the Bhagwatgita in the same year.
Dara’s sustained researches in comparative religions came out in the form of an extremely remarkable book known as Majma-ul Bahrain or the mingling of the two oceans. Here he employees the term ‘two oceans’ for Sufism and Hinduism. This book came to light in 1656, just three years prior to his execution. In fact it was a pioneering attempt to find out the commonalities between Sufism and Hindu monotheism. He describes this book as ‘a collection of truth and wisdom of two truth-knowing groups’. This book shows Dara Shikoh’s belief in the unity of all religions.
His spiritual quest for monotheistic strands in Hindu philosophy was a continuous process. This led him to study the Upnishads and with the help of some scholars of Benaras he translated 50 Upnishads from Sanskrit to Persian. The text he prepared, the Sirr-i-Akbar, ‘the Great Secret’ was completed in 1657. He was of the firm opinion that the ‘Great Secret’ of the Upnishads is the monotheistic message, which is identical to that on which the Quran is based.
The aim behind the translation of these Hindu religious works was to search common elements in Hinduism and Islam and he draws remarkable parallels between the concepts described in the holy Quran and the Upnishads with respect to tauhid or unity of God. The comparison led him to reach on the conclusion that the Quran and the Upnishads represented two different facts of God. In the introduction of this book he states with full boldness his speculatve hypothesis that the work referred to in the Quran as the “Kitab-al-Maknum” or the hidden book is none other than the ital. This annoyed the orthodox mullas who issued a fatwa (decree) against him. These statements were exploited by his political opponents also and provided them an execute to execute him with utmost cruelity in 1659. Though his search for the truth cost him his life, his was a pioneering effort at religious synthesis or syncretism.
The Diwan and the Quatraims of Dara:
The prince was a great poet in the eyes of his contemporary intellectuals. His Diwan known as the Iksir-i-Azam is extant which is described as “incomparable and heart-pleasing” by his spiritual guide Mulla Shah.The author of Khazinat-ul-Asfiyat remarks about his poetry that “his poetry is like the ocean of unitarianism, flowing out of his pearl scattering tongue; or like the sun of Monotheism, rising from the horizon in the manner of his luminous opening verse (matla’)”. He has expressed his Sufistic views in quatrains and ghazals. Besides his poetic accomplishments, he seems to have been very well-read in classical Persian literature.
Dara’s genius is also reflected in other fields such as fine arts, music and dancing. He patronized these artistic pursuits. His interest was also reflected in paintings. He demonstrated his genius by drawing many paintings which could be compared with those by a professional artists of his time. His album which he presented to his wife, Nadira Bano, was later deposited in the royal library.
The above description demonstrates that Dara was a gentle and pious Sufi intellectual and a true and perhaps the greatest representative of Indian cultural synthesis. It can be easily imagined as to how different India would have been had he emerged successful against his orthodox brother Aurangzeb. The defeat of Dara was in a sense, the defeat of liberal Indian ideas.
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Source: http://dara-shikoh.blogspot.ca/
Dara Shukoh
Birth of Prince Dara Shukoh at Ajmer.
Early Education: Formative Period of Dara
Dara’s initiation into early education was not an exception and he was put, like other Princes, under the guidance of the royal teachers who taught him the Quran, Persian poetry and history. Credit goes to one tutor named Mulla Abdul Latif Saharanpuri, who inculcated in him the habit of reading and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The Sufi leanings of his tutor had a great impact on young Dara. Besides this, the influence of contemporary Sufi saints had played a significant role in shaping young Dara’s mind.
Initiation in the Qadiri order and its Influence
The prince witnessed change in his life after the initiation in the Qadiri order in 1640 A.D. and his close association with Mian Mir, Mulla Badakhashi and other saints. This was a remarkable phase of his life when he spent his major time in the royal Library busy in intensive studies in mysticism, the philosophy and the principles of the Qadiri order. This resulted in the publication of his major works on Sufism namely, the Safinat-ul-Auliya (1640 A.D.), the Sakinat-ul-Auliya ( 1643A.D.) the Risala’i Haq Numa (1647 A.D.), the Tariqat-ul-Haqiqat and the Hasanat-ul-Arifin (1653 A.D.). The first two books are biographical dictionaries of the Sufi saints and the last three contain his exposition of some of the Sufi fundamental doctrines. This was in fact a period of intellectual pursuits for Dara.
Another phase is marked by Dara’s quest for understanding of the Hindu religious systems. For this he spent many years in the study of Sanskrit and employed a large number of Pandits from Benaras. His patronage of the language brought applaud from the contemporary scholars. Prominent among them were Jaganath Mishra, Pandit Kavindracharya and Banwali Das. Jaganath Mishra even wrote a book named Jagatsimha in praise of Dara.
In his continuous search for the truth, his meeting with Baba Lal Das Bairagi proved quite enlightening. The dialogues with this Hindu mendicant demonstrate his growing interest in comparative religion. Dara had compiled a summary of these teachings in Makalama Baba Lal Wa Dara Shukoh, which consists of seven long conversations between the Baba and the Prince held in 1653 A.D. This text focuses particularly on certain similarities in the teachings of Hindu and Muslim mystics.
Similarly, he found some common elements in the Qadiri ashghal and the yogic meditational exercises of the Hindus which made him translate the Yoga Vasistha into Persian in 1650 A.D. In the same vein to understand Indian philosophical thought, he also translated the Bhagwatgita in the same year.
Dara’s sustained researches in comparative religions came out in the form of an extremely remarkable book known as Majma-ul Bahrain, or the mingling of the two oceans. Here he employees the term ‘two oceans’ for Sufism and Hinduism. This book came to light in 1656, just three years prior to his execution. In fact it was a pioneering attempt to find out the commonalities between Sufism and Hindu monotheism. He describes this book as ‘a collection of truth and wisdom of two truth-knowing groups’. This book shows Dara Shukoh’s belief in the unity of all religions.
His spiritual quest for monotheistic strands in Hindu philosophy was a continuous process. This led him to study the Upanishads and with the help of some scholars of Benaras he translated 50 Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian. The text he prepared, the Sirr-i-Akbar, ‘the Great Secret’ was completed in 1657. He was of the firm opinion that the ‘Great Secret’ of the Upanishads is the monotheistic message, which is identical to that on which the Quran is based.
The aim behind the translation of these Hindu religious works was to search common elements in Hinduism and Islam and he draws remarkable parallels between the concepts described in the holy Quran and the Upanishads with respect to tauhid or unity of God. The comparison led him to reach on the conclusion that the Quran and the Upanishads represented two different facts of God. In the introduction of this book he states with full boldness his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Quran as the “Kitab-al-Maknum” or the hidden book, is none other than the ital. This annoyed the orthodox mullas who issued a fatwa (decree) against him. These statements were exploited by his political opponents also and provided them an excuse to execute him with utmost cruelty in 1659. Though his search for the truth cost him his life, his was a pioneering effort at religious synthesis or syncretism.
The Diwan and the Quatraims of Dara
The prince was a great poet in the eyes of his contemporary intellectuals. His Diwan known as the Iksir-i-Azam, is described as “incomparable and heart-pleasing” by his spiritual guide Mulla Shah. The author of Khazinat-ul-Asfiyat remarks about his poetry that “his poetry is like the ocean of unitarianism, flowing out of his pearl scattering tongue; or like the sun of Monotheism, rising from the horizon in the manner of his luminous opening verse (matla’)”. He has expressed his Sufistic views in quatrains and ghazals. Besides his poetic accomplishments, he seems to have been very well-read in classical Persian literature.
But on 6 September 1657, the illness of emperor Shah Jahan triggered a desperate struggle for power among the four Mughal princes, though realistically only Dara and Aurangzeb had a chance of emerging victorious.
Dara was defeated by Aurangzeb and Murad on 14 February 1658, during the Battle of Samugarh, 13 km from Agra. Subsequently Aurangzeb took over Agra fort and deposed emperor Shah Jahan on 8 June 1658.
Dara was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains. Dara's 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 assassinated by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his terrified son on the night of 30 August 1659. After his death, he was beheaded, and his head was served to his father, Shah Jahan on a platter.
Yet Dara was a true Muslim, we see him in one of the paintings, praying in the mosque of the Red Fort in Delhi, with his sons and he always chanted Allah’s name, before translating the Upanishads.
FACT – India mounted this exhibition in the hope that Dara Shikoh's message and spirit will again pervade in India, rather than Aurangzeb’s intolerance and fanaticism. Our exhibition demonstrates that Dara was a gentle and pious Sufi intellectual and perhaps the greatest representative of Indian cultural synthesis. It can be easily imagined as to how different India would have been had he emerged successful against his orthodox brother Aurangzeb. The defeat of Dara was in a sense, the defeat of liberal Indian ideas.
Dara Shukoh: A Forgotten Hero of Indian Cultural Synthesis - Need of Dara’s Spirit in contemporary world against terrorism
Dara Shukoh was born on 20 March 1615 A.D. at Sagartal near Ajmer. It is said that his father, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, visited the tomb of the great Chishti saint Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti and had prayed there with folded hands and down knees for a son since all his earlier children had been daughters. The prayer brought fruits and the child born had the influence of the teachings of the Sufi saint.
Dara’s was a unique and marvelous personality among the Mughal royal family. He was entirely distinct in all respects from other princes of the entire Mughal house since the establishment of the Mughal rule in 1526 till its ultimate extinction in 1857. He had no likings for luxuries and sensual pleasures but had developed refined tastes in his life. In fact, he had combined in himself the qualities of his two great ancestors Humayun and Akbar. The habit of passing more and more time in the Library to acquire knowledge was inherited by him from Humayun who had lost his life while descending from the stairs of the royal Library, while the interest in comparative religions, universal brotherhood, humanism and peace, came from the great emperor Akbar. These influences played a notable role in shaping his mind. His great mission in life was the promotion of peace and concord between the followers of Hinduism and Islam. It is true to say that at this moment when the unity of India, depends on the mutual comprehension of the two spiritual elements (Hinduism and Islam), attention can legitimately be paid to the figure of Dara Shukoh who attempted in the 17th century what Kabir and Akbar had done before him in the 15th and 16th century respectively, or what Raja Ram Mohan Roy did in the nineteenth.
Early Education: Formative Period of Dara
Dara’s initiation into early education was not an exception and he was put, like other Princes, under the guidance of the royal teachers who taught him the Quran, Persian poetry and history. Credit goes to one tutor named Mulla Abdul Latif Saharanpuri, who inculcated in him the habit of reading and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The Sufi leanings of his tutor had a great impact on young Dara. Besides this, the influence of contemporary Sufi saints had played a significant role in shaping young Dara’s mind.
Initiation in the Qadiri order and its Influence
The prince witnessed change in his life after the initiation in the Qadiri order in 1640 A.D. and his close association with Mian Mir, Mulla Badakhashi and other saints. This was a remarkable phase of his life when he spent his major time in the royal Library busy in intensive studies in mysticism, the philosophy and the principles of the Qadiri order. This resulted in the publication of his major works on Sufism namely, the Safinat-ul-Auliya (1640 A.D.), the Sakinat-ul-Auliya ( 1643A.D.) the Risala’i Haq Numa (1647 A.D.), the Tariqat-ul-Haqiqat and the Hasanat-ul-Arifin (1653 A.D.). The first two books are biographical dictionaries of the Sufi saints and the last three contain his exposition of some of the Sufi fundamental doctrines. This was in fact a period of intellectual pursuits for Dara.
Another phase is marked by Dara’s quest for understanding of the Hindu religious systems. For this he spent many years in the study of Sanskrit and employed a large number of Pandits from Benaras. His patronage of the language brought applaud from the contemporary scholars. Prominent among them were Jaganath Mishra, Pandit Kavindracharya and Banwali Das. Jaganath Mishra even wrote a book named Jagatsimha in praise of Dara.
In his continuous search for the truth, his meeting with Baba Lal Das Bairagi proved quite enlightening. The dialogues with this Hindu mendicant demonstrate his growing interest in comparative religion. Dara had compiled a summary of these teachings in Makalama Baba Lal Wa Dara Shukoh, which consists of seven long conversations between the Baba and the Prince held in 1653 A.D. This text focuses particularly on certain similarities in the teachings of Hindu and Muslim mystics.
Similarly, he found some common elements in the Qadiri ashghal and the yogic meditational exercises of the Hindus which made him translate the Yoga Vasistha into Persian in 1650 A.D. In the same vein to understand Indian philosophical thought, he also translated the Bhagwatgita in the same year.
Dara’s sustained researches in comparative religions came out in the form of an extremely remarkable book known as Majma-ul Bahrain, or the mingling of the two oceans. Here he employees the term ‘two oceans’ for Sufism and Hinduism. This book came to light in 1656, just three years prior to his execution. In fact it was a pioneering attempt to find out the commonalities between Sufism and Hindu monotheism. He describes this book as ‘a collection of truth and wisdom of two truth-knowing groups’. This book shows Dara Shukoh’s belief in the unity of all religions.
His spiritual quest for monotheistic strands in Hindu philosophy was a continuous process. This led him to study the Upanishads and with the help of some scholars of Benaras he translated 50 Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian. The text he prepared, the Sirr-i-Akbar, ‘the Great Secret’ was completed in 1657. He was of the firm opinion that the ‘Great Secret’ of the Upanishads is the monotheistic message, which is identical to that on which the Quran is based.
The aim behind the translation of these Hindu religious works was to search common elements in Hinduism and Islam and he draws remarkable parallels between the concepts described in the holy Quran and the Upanishads with respect to tauhid or unity of God. The comparison led him to reach on the conclusion that the Quran and the Upanishads represented two different facts of God. In the introduction of this book he states with full boldness his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Quran as the “Kitab-al-Maknum” or the hidden book, is none other than the ital. This annoyed the orthodox mullas who issued a fatwa (decree) against him. These statements were exploited by his political opponents also and provided them an excuse to execute him with utmost cruelty in 1659. Though his search for the truth cost him his life, his was a pioneering effort at religious synthesis or syncretism.
The Diwan and the Quatraims of Dara
The prince was a great poet in the eyes of his contemporary intellectuals. His Diwan known as the Iksir-i-Azam, is described as “incomparable and heart-pleasing” by his spiritual guide Mulla Shah. The author of Khazinat-ul-Asfiyat remarks about his poetry that “his poetry is like the ocean of unitarianism, flowing out of his pearl scattering tongue; or like the sun of Monotheism, rising from the horizon in the manner of his luminous opening verse (matla’)”. He has expressed his Sufistic views in quatrains and ghazals. Besides his poetic accomplishments, he seems to have been very well-read in classical Persian literature.
He was also a patron of fine arts, music and dancing, a trait frowned upon by his sibling Aurangzeb. The 'Dara Shikoh album' is a collection of paintings and calligraphy assembled from the 1630s until his death. It was presented to his wife Nadira Banu and remained with her until her death after which the album was taken into the royal library and the inscriptions connecting it with Dara Shikoh were deliberately erased; however not everything was vandalised and many calligraphy scripts and paintings still bear his mark. This made him a heretic in the eyes of his orthodox brother and a suspect eccentric in the view of many of the worldly power brokers swarming around the Mughal throne.
On 10 September 1642, Shah Jahan formally confirmed Dara as his heir, granting him the title of Shahzada-e-Buland Iqbal ("Prince of High Fortune") and promoting him to command of 20,000-foot and 20,000 horse. In 1645, he was appointed as subadar (governor) of Allahabad. He was promoted to a command of 30,000-foot and 20,000 horse on 18 April 1648, and was appointed Governor of the province of Gujarat on 3 July.
But on 6 September 1657, the illness of emperor Shah Jahan triggered a desperate struggle for power among the four Mughal princes, though realistically only Dara and Aurangzeb had a chance of emerging victorious.
Dara was defeated by Aurangzeb and Murad on 14 February 1658, during the Battle of Samugarh, 13 km from Agra. Subsequently Aurangzeb took over Agra fort and deposed emperor Shah Jahan on 8 June 1658.
After this defeat Dara fled to Sindh and sought refuge under Malik Jiwan, an Afghan chieftain, whose life he had saved on more than one from the wrath of Shah Jahan. However, Malik betrayed Dara and turned him (and his second son Sipihr Shikoh) over to Aurangzeb's army on 10 June 1659.
Dara was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains. Dara's 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 assassinated by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his terrified son on the night of 30 August 1659. After his death, he was beheaded, and his head was served to his father, Shah Jahan on a platter.
Yet Dara was a true Muslim, we see him in one of the paintings, praying in the mosque of the Red Fort in Delhi, with his sons and he always chanted Allah’s name, before translating the Upanishads.
FACT – India mounted this exhibition in the hope that Dara Shikoh's message and spirit will again pervade in India, rather than Aurangzeb’s intolerance and fanaticism. Our exhibition demonstrates that Dara was a gentle and pious Sufi intellectual and perhaps the greatest representative of Indian cultural synthesis. It can be easily imagined as to how different India would have been had he emerged successful against his orthodox brother Aurangzeb. The defeat of Dara was in a sense, the defeat of liberal Indian ideas.
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