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Dara Shukoh, born in 1615, was Shah Jahans favourite son and nominated heir. Like most of the major Mughals during their reign in India, Dara was a liberal patron of music, dancing and arts (an example of an album of pictures he personally painted as a gift for his wife Nadira Banu can be viewed via the British Library); Dara was also closely affiliated with the Qadiri Sufi order, especially the Muslim saint Mian Mir, who had been invited by one of the Sikh Gurus to lay the foundation stone of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The land for the temple complex and the city of Amritsar itself had been granted to the Sikhs by Daras great-grandfather, the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, justifiably known as Akbar the Great.
Dara Shukoh himself was similarly heavily involved in promoting religious moderation, friendship and understanding between people of different faiths; with the assistance of some Hindu Brahmin priests, his activities included translating more than 50 of the most important ancient Hindu scriptures (especially the Upanishads) from Sanskrit into Persian so that Muslims could understand them better, with the intention that this would prevent unwarranted prejudice based on ignorance. Daras translations later proved invaluable in helping colonial-era Europeans understand the Hindu texts concerned, as they were originally more familiar with Persian than Sanskrit.
The Great Secret and The Mingling of the Two Oceans
Dara Shukohs motives were not just humanitarian; he also had specifically religious reasons for his actions. Dara firmly believed that the Quranic statements about God having sent different messengers and religious scriptures to people all over the world meant that divine truth was not exclusive to Islam indeed, Dara also knew that Hindu holy texts such as the Bhagavad Gita similarly stated that divine messengers come to mankind in times of turmoil with the resulting implications for universal human rights, the core divine origin of multiple faiths, and the level of respect that other religions and their followers deserved. In fact, Dara even personally believed that the remarks within the Quran about concealed scriptures referred directly to some of the ancient Hindu texts he had translated, so he gave his collection of translations the title The Great Secret.
Furthermore, Dara Shukoh also wrote a famous treatise called Majma ul-Bahrain, The Mingling of the Two Oceans, detailing what he believed to be the fundamental similarities between mainstream Sufi Islam and the more mystical forms of Hinduism, including the monotheism at the core of both. Dara explained his rationale in the introductory section of the treatise:
I discussed and talked openly with certain Hindu learned men, but saving a few differences in verbal usage, I found no difference between them as for their way of understanding and knowing God. Based on these exchanges, I set out to compare the tenets of the two faiths [Islam and Hinduism] and to bring them back together, reunite those among them whose knowledge is of value and absolutely necessary to aspirants to the truth. Finally, I made an essay of that collection of truths and esoteric sciences belonging to both communities, and I called it The Mingling of the Two Oceans.
Dara Shukoh did not regard his religious views as contradicting Islam or his own identity as a Muslim. In fact, he believed that this was actually the true interpretation of Islam itself.
The Renaissance prince
Like most of the major members of his dynasty, Dara Shukohs vision for the Indian subcontinent was a cosmopolitan, inclusive, progressive and religiously & ethnically pluralistic society; by this time, the meritocratic, non-discriminatory political and religious policies initiated by Akbar and continued by his descendents had resulted in Hindus (especially the Rajputs) being heavily integrated at all levels of the Mughal government and military, including senior leadership positions. In fact, although the Mughals were originally Persianised Turks from Uzbekistan, since Akbars time they had been involved in such a high degree of intermarriage with the Hindu Rajput aristocracy in particular that for example Shah Jahans own ancestry was technically ¾ Rajput. This pluralistic ethos is even reflected in the architecture of the Taj Mahal itself, the famous mausoleum of Shah Jahans Persian wife, as it is a hybrid of Mughal, Rajput and Persian styles.
As discussed in Pickled Politics recent Christmas article and as detailed further in the New Statesman, a number of the major Mughals were also particularly open-minded about Christianity, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, Christian artefacts and Christians in general. Dara Shukoh himself was well-acquainted with the Old Testament and the Gospels. Jews were involved in numerous amicable activities with the Mughal court too.
Dara Shukoh was extremely popular amongst Indians of all religious backgrounds, including Muslims and especially the mass of the common people. So, by the late 1650s, with the blessing of his father and with enormous support from the Indian population, Dara Shukoh, the open-minded, all-embracing, intellectual Muslim Renaissance prince who believed in the intrinsic equality and unity of mankind, was on the way towards becoming the leader of what was at the time the wealthiest civilisation in the world, the most liberal Muslim-ruled superpower in that era and the region with the largest number of Muslim inhabitants. The possibilities for the future were endless.
The bigot and prayer-monger
Unfortunately, Dara Shukoh also had a younger brother called Aurangzeb, who believed in the most ultraconservative, puritanical interpretation of Islam. Aurangzeb was extremely hostile to the liberal culture which had become the norm since the time of Akbar and which had greatly influenced the dominant interpretation of Islam amongst the majority of Indian Muslims. Dara derisively regarded his brother as a bigot and a prayer-monger, and at one stage had to personally intervene to prevent Aurangzeb from seizing control of land belonging to a Jain temple in Gujarat. For his part, Aurangzeb viewed Dara as an infidel and an apostate; Aurangzeb had also levelled bizarre, paranoid accusations at him, claiming that Dara was secretly plotting to kill him.
Aurangzebs intense jealousy of what he perceived to be his father Shah Jahans greater affection towards Dara, along with his own religious fanaticism and his vehement hostility towards his brother in general, would set in motion a Shakespearean tragedy which would have global consequences and change the course of human history.
Shah Jahan temporarily fell ill during the late 1650s. False rumours spread, claiming that he had died and that Dara Shukoh was now the Mughal emperor. Aurangzeb exploited this as an opportunity to grab power by mobilising his own military forces, ignoring his sisters urgent correspondence confirming that their father was indeed still alive and that Aurangzeb was therefore committing an action of treason, and eventually imprisoned Shah Jahan opposite the Taj Mahal. During the resulting war of succession, Dara Shukoh was given some military assistance by the 7th Sikh Guru during one of the battles, but the prince was ultimately defeated later in the conflict, as Aurangzeb had greater experience as a military commander and was a far more ruthless individual. Daras weakened wife had already died while the family had been attempting to reach the safe haven of Persia, and Dara sent her body with an armed escort to Mian Mirs shrine in Lahore for burial nearby.
The 44-year-old Dara Shukoh and his 15-year-old son Sipihr Shukoh were captured after being betrayed by an Afghan ally theyd sought refuge with (ironically, Dara had previously saved the Afghan from being executed by Shah Jahan). A few days later, Dara was humiliatingly paraded through the Mughal capital of Delhi, resulting in a huge outcry from the citys inhabitants due to his immense popularity. He wouldnt even survive for a single day afterwards, because Aurangzeb could see that Daras popularity amongst the mass population posed a severe risk of a huge uprising against the fanatical regime attempting to engineer a political coup, and Dara was also a clear final barrier to his own desire for the imperial throne.
Aurangzeb had access to some ultraconservative mullahs sympathetic to him, and rapidly had his brother impeached, declared an apostate, and sentenced to death on trumped-up charges of heresy. On the night of 30th August 1659, Dara Shukoh was unceremoniously beheaded in his prison cell, in front of his young son Sipihr, although Dara had put up a fight to try to physically defend himself. Daras older son Suleiman Shukoh was also eventually captured; as per Aurangzebs instructions, over an extended period of time the incarcerated Suleiman was gradually poisoned by being fed large quantities of opium extracts which, after effectively lobotomising him, ultimately killed him.
Aurangzeb ordered that Dara Shukohs headless torso should paraded around Delhi in order to show people that he was dead. When Daras head had been presented to Aurangzeb, he had dismissively declared that, since he had no wish to see the apostates face while Dara was alive, he had no wish to do so now. According to some accounts, Daras head was also sent to the imprisoned Shah Jahan, causing him to collapse in shock. Daras body is buried in a grave at the Humayuns Tomb complex in Delhi which US President Barack Obama visited during his recent visit to India, and which can be seen in the photo at the top of this article (apparently the President was very curious about Dara in particular).
The downfall begins
Aurangzeb had successfully managed to overthrow the legitimate Mughal government and hijack the Mughal Empire. He utterly rejected the liberal Muslim culture and moderate interpretation of Islam which had become the norm during the Mughal era. During the next 49 years of his tyrannical, hardline Islamist reign, Aurangzebs deliberate reversal of generations of moderate, non-discriminatory Mughal policies and his systematic persecution of liberal Muslims as well as Sikhs and Hindus eventually resulted in civil war breaking out on all sides, in a empire which was already overstretched.
Aurangzeb finally stopped his fanatical campaign shortly before his death of natural causes at the age of 88, and spent his last days a broken man, filled with regret about his wasted life and terrified about what was going to happen to him after he died. In a letter to one of his sons, dated 1707, Aurangzeb wrote I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing. I have sinned terribly, and I do not know what punishment awaits me.
Decades earlier, when the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh was just 9 years old, his father Guru Tegh Bahadur had been tortured and publicly beheaded upon Aurangzebs orders after intervening to stop the emperors harassment of Kashmiri Hindus; Guru Gobind Singh continued to suffer immense personal tragedies at Aurangzebs hands and put up fierce military & ideological resistance against the emperors regime. However, after Aurangzebs death, Guru Gobind Singh gave pivotal military support to one of Aurangzebs more liberal sons during the war of succession, for which the victorious new Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I later publicly gave the Guru the formal title Pir-i-Hind, meaning Saint of India.
The long-term impact and the lost opportunity
Aurangzebs fundamentalist attitudes were very much the exception rather than the rule where most of his dynasty was concerned; however, the Mughal Empire never recovered from the long-term political impact of Aurangzebs usurpation of the throne from Dara Shukoh. After a series of devastating invasions by Persians and Afghans in the 18th century which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Muslim and non-Muslim Indians alike, the severely weakened Mughal Empires fate was sealed, especially with the expansionist East India Company now on the scene. After the conflict of 1857, the British overthrew the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, the most liberal monarch of his dynasty since Akbar, and the British Government formally asserted direct imperial control over India.
There has been considerable speculation about the alternative trajectory of both Indian and global history if Dara Shukoh had become the Mughal emperor instead of Aurangzeb, as their father had intended and as supported by the majority of Indians of all religious backgrounds at the time. As the archetypal Philosopher-King who was extraordinarily open-minded and had already written extensive philosophical texts promoting unity & equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, Dara would have been in a prime position to define policy from the top-down and put his ideas into action.
Bear in mind the scale of the resources which would have been available to him: Dara Shukoh would have inherited an empire which was not only the worlds wealthiest region (estimated as contributing to approximately a quarter of the entire global GDP in that era), and far richer than either the Turkish Ottoman Empire or the Persian Safavid Empire, but which was also the most heavily populated, liberal, and actively inclusive Muslim-ruled superpower in the world. As discussed in Part 1, Dara regarded his religious views as completely compatible with Islam along with his own identity as a Muslim; indeed, he believed it was the correct interpretation of Islam in such matters.
The lessons of history and the implications for Pakistan
It is a sign of how much things have changed for the worse that, whereas Dara Shukohs overthrow by Aurangzeb presented a huge security risk from outraged South Asian Muslims at the time, and more recently the funeral of the great Pakistani Sufi Muslim singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (who also sang Hindu hymns along with performing in Sikh temples) in 1997 was attended by thousands of members of the Pakistani public, we are now witnessing the despicable sight of Salman Taseers murderer being garlanded with flowers in modern-day Pakistan, and fatwas & death threats being aimed at multiple senior Pakistani ministers and anyone else unilaterally deemed to be guilty of blasphemy.
It makes you wonder where this will lead, given the direct historical precedent and considering that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, the escalating extremism in that country means that the stakes are even higher in 2011.
One can hope that the lessons of history will have been learnt by enough Pakistanis in a position to make a positive difference and with the strength to oppose determined, ruthless religious fanatics whose actions risk destroying Pakistan, just as Aurangzebs actions ultimately destroyed the Mughal Empire. Perhaps this can be summarised best by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Greats own eloquent words; incidentally, Akbar, whose own reign lasted 49 years, was still buried as a Muslim, with full Islamic rites and with little objection from the Islamic clergy at the time:
Now it has become clear to me that in our troubled world, so full of contradictions, it cannot be wisdom to assert the unique truth of one faith over another. The wise person makes justice his guide and learns from all. Perhaps in this way the door may be opened again, whose key has been lost.
Pickled Politics Dara Shukoh and the fate of Pakistan: Part 1
Dara Shukoh himself was similarly heavily involved in promoting religious moderation, friendship and understanding between people of different faiths; with the assistance of some Hindu Brahmin priests, his activities included translating more than 50 of the most important ancient Hindu scriptures (especially the Upanishads) from Sanskrit into Persian so that Muslims could understand them better, with the intention that this would prevent unwarranted prejudice based on ignorance. Daras translations later proved invaluable in helping colonial-era Europeans understand the Hindu texts concerned, as they were originally more familiar with Persian than Sanskrit.
The Great Secret and The Mingling of the Two Oceans
Dara Shukohs motives were not just humanitarian; he also had specifically religious reasons for his actions. Dara firmly believed that the Quranic statements about God having sent different messengers and religious scriptures to people all over the world meant that divine truth was not exclusive to Islam indeed, Dara also knew that Hindu holy texts such as the Bhagavad Gita similarly stated that divine messengers come to mankind in times of turmoil with the resulting implications for universal human rights, the core divine origin of multiple faiths, and the level of respect that other religions and their followers deserved. In fact, Dara even personally believed that the remarks within the Quran about concealed scriptures referred directly to some of the ancient Hindu texts he had translated, so he gave his collection of translations the title The Great Secret.
Furthermore, Dara Shukoh also wrote a famous treatise called Majma ul-Bahrain, The Mingling of the Two Oceans, detailing what he believed to be the fundamental similarities between mainstream Sufi Islam and the more mystical forms of Hinduism, including the monotheism at the core of both. Dara explained his rationale in the introductory section of the treatise:
I discussed and talked openly with certain Hindu learned men, but saving a few differences in verbal usage, I found no difference between them as for their way of understanding and knowing God. Based on these exchanges, I set out to compare the tenets of the two faiths [Islam and Hinduism] and to bring them back together, reunite those among them whose knowledge is of value and absolutely necessary to aspirants to the truth. Finally, I made an essay of that collection of truths and esoteric sciences belonging to both communities, and I called it The Mingling of the Two Oceans.
Dara Shukoh did not regard his religious views as contradicting Islam or his own identity as a Muslim. In fact, he believed that this was actually the true interpretation of Islam itself.
The Renaissance prince
Like most of the major members of his dynasty, Dara Shukohs vision for the Indian subcontinent was a cosmopolitan, inclusive, progressive and religiously & ethnically pluralistic society; by this time, the meritocratic, non-discriminatory political and religious policies initiated by Akbar and continued by his descendents had resulted in Hindus (especially the Rajputs) being heavily integrated at all levels of the Mughal government and military, including senior leadership positions. In fact, although the Mughals were originally Persianised Turks from Uzbekistan, since Akbars time they had been involved in such a high degree of intermarriage with the Hindu Rajput aristocracy in particular that for example Shah Jahans own ancestry was technically ¾ Rajput. This pluralistic ethos is even reflected in the architecture of the Taj Mahal itself, the famous mausoleum of Shah Jahans Persian wife, as it is a hybrid of Mughal, Rajput and Persian styles.
As discussed in Pickled Politics recent Christmas article and as detailed further in the New Statesman, a number of the major Mughals were also particularly open-minded about Christianity, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, Christian artefacts and Christians in general. Dara Shukoh himself was well-acquainted with the Old Testament and the Gospels. Jews were involved in numerous amicable activities with the Mughal court too.
Dara Shukoh was extremely popular amongst Indians of all religious backgrounds, including Muslims and especially the mass of the common people. So, by the late 1650s, with the blessing of his father and with enormous support from the Indian population, Dara Shukoh, the open-minded, all-embracing, intellectual Muslim Renaissance prince who believed in the intrinsic equality and unity of mankind, was on the way towards becoming the leader of what was at the time the wealthiest civilisation in the world, the most liberal Muslim-ruled superpower in that era and the region with the largest number of Muslim inhabitants. The possibilities for the future were endless.
The bigot and prayer-monger
Unfortunately, Dara Shukoh also had a younger brother called Aurangzeb, who believed in the most ultraconservative, puritanical interpretation of Islam. Aurangzeb was extremely hostile to the liberal culture which had become the norm since the time of Akbar and which had greatly influenced the dominant interpretation of Islam amongst the majority of Indian Muslims. Dara derisively regarded his brother as a bigot and a prayer-monger, and at one stage had to personally intervene to prevent Aurangzeb from seizing control of land belonging to a Jain temple in Gujarat. For his part, Aurangzeb viewed Dara as an infidel and an apostate; Aurangzeb had also levelled bizarre, paranoid accusations at him, claiming that Dara was secretly plotting to kill him.
Aurangzebs intense jealousy of what he perceived to be his father Shah Jahans greater affection towards Dara, along with his own religious fanaticism and his vehement hostility towards his brother in general, would set in motion a Shakespearean tragedy which would have global consequences and change the course of human history.
Shah Jahan temporarily fell ill during the late 1650s. False rumours spread, claiming that he had died and that Dara Shukoh was now the Mughal emperor. Aurangzeb exploited this as an opportunity to grab power by mobilising his own military forces, ignoring his sisters urgent correspondence confirming that their father was indeed still alive and that Aurangzeb was therefore committing an action of treason, and eventually imprisoned Shah Jahan opposite the Taj Mahal. During the resulting war of succession, Dara Shukoh was given some military assistance by the 7th Sikh Guru during one of the battles, but the prince was ultimately defeated later in the conflict, as Aurangzeb had greater experience as a military commander and was a far more ruthless individual. Daras weakened wife had already died while the family had been attempting to reach the safe haven of Persia, and Dara sent her body with an armed escort to Mian Mirs shrine in Lahore for burial nearby.
The 44-year-old Dara Shukoh and his 15-year-old son Sipihr Shukoh were captured after being betrayed by an Afghan ally theyd sought refuge with (ironically, Dara had previously saved the Afghan from being executed by Shah Jahan). A few days later, Dara was humiliatingly paraded through the Mughal capital of Delhi, resulting in a huge outcry from the citys inhabitants due to his immense popularity. He wouldnt even survive for a single day afterwards, because Aurangzeb could see that Daras popularity amongst the mass population posed a severe risk of a huge uprising against the fanatical regime attempting to engineer a political coup, and Dara was also a clear final barrier to his own desire for the imperial throne.
Aurangzeb had access to some ultraconservative mullahs sympathetic to him, and rapidly had his brother impeached, declared an apostate, and sentenced to death on trumped-up charges of heresy. On the night of 30th August 1659, Dara Shukoh was unceremoniously beheaded in his prison cell, in front of his young son Sipihr, although Dara had put up a fight to try to physically defend himself. Daras older son Suleiman Shukoh was also eventually captured; as per Aurangzebs instructions, over an extended period of time the incarcerated Suleiman was gradually poisoned by being fed large quantities of opium extracts which, after effectively lobotomising him, ultimately killed him.
Aurangzeb ordered that Dara Shukohs headless torso should paraded around Delhi in order to show people that he was dead. When Daras head had been presented to Aurangzeb, he had dismissively declared that, since he had no wish to see the apostates face while Dara was alive, he had no wish to do so now. According to some accounts, Daras head was also sent to the imprisoned Shah Jahan, causing him to collapse in shock. Daras body is buried in a grave at the Humayuns Tomb complex in Delhi which US President Barack Obama visited during his recent visit to India, and which can be seen in the photo at the top of this article (apparently the President was very curious about Dara in particular).
The downfall begins
Aurangzeb had successfully managed to overthrow the legitimate Mughal government and hijack the Mughal Empire. He utterly rejected the liberal Muslim culture and moderate interpretation of Islam which had become the norm during the Mughal era. During the next 49 years of his tyrannical, hardline Islamist reign, Aurangzebs deliberate reversal of generations of moderate, non-discriminatory Mughal policies and his systematic persecution of liberal Muslims as well as Sikhs and Hindus eventually resulted in civil war breaking out on all sides, in a empire which was already overstretched.
Aurangzeb finally stopped his fanatical campaign shortly before his death of natural causes at the age of 88, and spent his last days a broken man, filled with regret about his wasted life and terrified about what was going to happen to him after he died. In a letter to one of his sons, dated 1707, Aurangzeb wrote I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing. I have sinned terribly, and I do not know what punishment awaits me.
Decades earlier, when the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh was just 9 years old, his father Guru Tegh Bahadur had been tortured and publicly beheaded upon Aurangzebs orders after intervening to stop the emperors harassment of Kashmiri Hindus; Guru Gobind Singh continued to suffer immense personal tragedies at Aurangzebs hands and put up fierce military & ideological resistance against the emperors regime. However, after Aurangzebs death, Guru Gobind Singh gave pivotal military support to one of Aurangzebs more liberal sons during the war of succession, for which the victorious new Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I later publicly gave the Guru the formal title Pir-i-Hind, meaning Saint of India.
The long-term impact and the lost opportunity
Aurangzebs fundamentalist attitudes were very much the exception rather than the rule where most of his dynasty was concerned; however, the Mughal Empire never recovered from the long-term political impact of Aurangzebs usurpation of the throne from Dara Shukoh. After a series of devastating invasions by Persians and Afghans in the 18th century which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Muslim and non-Muslim Indians alike, the severely weakened Mughal Empires fate was sealed, especially with the expansionist East India Company now on the scene. After the conflict of 1857, the British overthrew the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, the most liberal monarch of his dynasty since Akbar, and the British Government formally asserted direct imperial control over India.
There has been considerable speculation about the alternative trajectory of both Indian and global history if Dara Shukoh had become the Mughal emperor instead of Aurangzeb, as their father had intended and as supported by the majority of Indians of all religious backgrounds at the time. As the archetypal Philosopher-King who was extraordinarily open-minded and had already written extensive philosophical texts promoting unity & equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, Dara would have been in a prime position to define policy from the top-down and put his ideas into action.
Bear in mind the scale of the resources which would have been available to him: Dara Shukoh would have inherited an empire which was not only the worlds wealthiest region (estimated as contributing to approximately a quarter of the entire global GDP in that era), and far richer than either the Turkish Ottoman Empire or the Persian Safavid Empire, but which was also the most heavily populated, liberal, and actively inclusive Muslim-ruled superpower in the world. As discussed in Part 1, Dara regarded his religious views as completely compatible with Islam along with his own identity as a Muslim; indeed, he believed it was the correct interpretation of Islam in such matters.
The lessons of history and the implications for Pakistan
It is a sign of how much things have changed for the worse that, whereas Dara Shukohs overthrow by Aurangzeb presented a huge security risk from outraged South Asian Muslims at the time, and more recently the funeral of the great Pakistani Sufi Muslim singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (who also sang Hindu hymns along with performing in Sikh temples) in 1997 was attended by thousands of members of the Pakistani public, we are now witnessing the despicable sight of Salman Taseers murderer being garlanded with flowers in modern-day Pakistan, and fatwas & death threats being aimed at multiple senior Pakistani ministers and anyone else unilaterally deemed to be guilty of blasphemy.
It makes you wonder where this will lead, given the direct historical precedent and considering that Pakistan has nuclear weapons, the escalating extremism in that country means that the stakes are even higher in 2011.
One can hope that the lessons of history will have been learnt by enough Pakistanis in a position to make a positive difference and with the strength to oppose determined, ruthless religious fanatics whose actions risk destroying Pakistan, just as Aurangzebs actions ultimately destroyed the Mughal Empire. Perhaps this can be summarised best by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Greats own eloquent words; incidentally, Akbar, whose own reign lasted 49 years, was still buried as a Muslim, with full Islamic rites and with little objection from the Islamic clergy at the time:
Now it has become clear to me that in our troubled world, so full of contradictions, it cannot be wisdom to assert the unique truth of one faith over another. The wise person makes justice his guide and learns from all. Perhaps in this way the door may be opened again, whose key has been lost.
Pickled Politics Dara Shukoh and the fate of Pakistan: Part 1
