Mughals-1: Why Dara Shikoh is remembered with great respect and no less regret

By Bharat Dogra
Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) was a prince of Mughal Empire who made significant contributions but was deprived of the opportunity of potentially making even greater contributions as he was executed at a young age of 44.
Son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, he was the chosen heir to be the next successor to the great empire but was captured and killed by his younger scheming brother Aurangzeb, bringing much distress to people.
A great scholar and man of many-sided accomplishments and capabilities, like his great grandfather Akbar he had a strong yearning for exploring the common message and essential unity of various faiths and religions. This brought him particularly close to pursuing the unity of Hinduism and Islam which was of greater significance to him and to his times. In spiritual and scholarly pursuits he enjoyed a close and supportive relationship with his sister Jahanara who was the First Lady of the empire after the death of their mother. His wife Nadira Begum was also helpful and encouraging in these efforts.
As a scholar he pursued this theme for many years, helped by the great library he created in Kashmiri Gate area of Delhi, probably having several hundred thousand books, manuscripts and other documents. He obtained the help of many holy persons and scholars in this effort, contributing also to the translation of the Upanishdas into Persian. He wrote many books on spirituality, mysticism and inter-faith unity, perhaps the most important of which is a treatise on the integrity of Vedantism and Sufism, titled the Confluence of Two Seas.
He was a patron of artists and scholars, extending his generous help without any discrimination. As a disciple of Sufi saints Mian Mir and Mullah Shah he helped to spread their message of tolerance, harmony and compassion being central to religion and spirituality. He was a friend of the Seventh Sikh Guru Har Rai. A messenger of peace and reconciliation, he used his influence with his father to prevent bloodshed in Mewar and Garhwal.
He contributed to the creation of several beautiful buildings including the shrine of Mian Mir in Lahore and Pari Mahal in Kashmir.
Dara was announced to be his heir by Emperor Shah Jahan, but his brothers did not accept this and a younger brother Aurangzeb was particularly hostile. He managed to defeat the combined army of Dara and Shahjahan. Shahjahan was imprisond till his death in 1666. Dara was executed in 1659 after having been first humiliated and insulted very badly.
There was a lot of distress among common people due to this and they almost revolted. This testifies to the great affection the common people, Hindus and Muslims, had for Dara Shikoh. Hence if he had become emperor in place of Aurangzeb, as per the desire and even the declaration of his father, then the history of India would have turned out to be quite different.
Aurangzeb took several measures against the religious majority community of Hindus which alienated the Hindus, particularly the leading warriors among them like the Rajputs and the Marathas. There were prolonged conflicts with them ( as well with the Jats, the Satnamis and the Sikhs) which could have been avoided. In addition he entered into prolonged battles with several Muslim kings as well due to his rigid policies based on conquests rather than on diplomacy with little room for reconciliation and making friends. He had an aptitude for craftiness, deception and cunning ways which made others wary of seeking peace.
As a result the unity of various faiths and kingdoms which India badly needed at this juncture was denied, making the response to foreign aggression much weaker. On the other hand, Dara Shikoh would have been much more capable of achieving unity and strength by following a policy of peace, trust and reconciliation. However his execution at an early age resulted in the denial of these promising possibilities. Hence his historical legacy is remembered with respect for his realized potential (which was significant) but also with regret for his unrealized potential (which would have been even greater).
---
The writer is Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include 'A Day in 2071', 'When the Two Streams Met' and 'Planet in Peril'

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Counterview

Search This Blog