Dara Shikoh

Key Accomplishments

• Translated fifty Upanishads into Persian in the Sirr-i-Akbar, the first Western Asian language translation
• Authored the Majma ul-Bahrain on the common ground between Sufism and Vedanta
• Advanced interfaith dialogue between Islamic and Hindu mystical traditions
• Patronized scholars, artists, and mystics from multiple religious traditions

The Full Story

Dara Shikoh was the eldest son and heir apparent of Shah Jahan, groomed from youth to succeed to the Mughal throne. Unlike his brother Aurangzeb, who would become known for military prowess and religious orthodoxy, Dara was drawn to the mystical and intellectual traditions of both Islam and Hinduism. He became a devoted disciple of the Qadiriyya Sufi order under Mullah Shah Badakhshi.

His greatest intellectual achievement was the Majma ul-Bahrain (The Mingling of Two Oceans), a work of comparative mysticism that argued that the essential truths of Islamic Sufism and Hindu Vedanta were fundamentally the same. He followed this with an even more ambitious project: the Sirr-i-Akbar (The Great Secret), a Persian translation of fifty Upanishads produced in collaboration with Hindu pandits from Varanasi. This translation, the first into a Western Asian language, later reached Europe and profoundly influenced the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

Dara's intellectual pursuits did not prepare him for the brutal succession war that erupted when Shah Jahan fell ill in 1657. His brother Aurangzeb proved the superior military strategist, defeating Dara at the Battle of Samugarh in 1658. Dara fled across the empire seeking allies but was betrayed and captured. Aurangzeb had him executed on charges of heresy in 1659.

Dara Shikoh's death is often viewed as a turning point in Mughal history. Had he ascended the throne, historians speculate that his vision of interfaith dialogue and cultural synthesis might have charted a very different course for the subcontinent.

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Sources

• [1]M. Mahfuz-ul-Haq, trans., Majma ul-Bahrain, or The Mingling of the Two Oceans (Asiatic Society, 1929)
• [2]Supriya Gandhi, The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India (Harvard University Press, 2020)
• [3]Bikrama Jit Hasrat, Dara Shikuh: Life and Works (Munshiram Manoharlal, 1982)