Who Was Dara Shikoh? Why Is the Indian Government Promoting Him?

A scholar, poet, writer, artist and a deep philosopher this is what Dara Shikoh truly was, far away from his royal credentials. 

He was the elder son of Prince Khurram (later crowned as King Shah Jahan), was the favorite son of the king among his six sons, and undoubtedly was different from his siblings in aspect of life.

Being the favorite child of his father Dara was groomed to be the future emperor, and he did his training with all his heart. But Dara had greater interests, which was beyond then claiming the peacock throne.

A True Secular

It is acclaimed by certain historians and authors that if Dara Shikoh would have inherited the Mughal Empire instead of his younger brother Aurangzeb, then Bharat would still be an “Akhand Bharat” (an united nation)

Many paintings of history depicted Dara interacting with both Hindu and Muslim scholars and hermits.

His love for literature and his firm believe in oneness of god paved a way for him to translate the Bhagavad Gita and 52 Upanishads to Persian language. 

Not just this in one of his accounts, Majma-ul-Bahrain, he highlights the similarities between Veda and Sufi learning.

A Lover of Literature

Dara through his amazing literary works has showed his true love for literature.

When he was twenty five, he wrote his first book “Safinat-ul-Awliya, in this he has given details on lives of the prophet. 

He as given many such treatises on Sufi culture which has significantly highlighted the prince’s love for theories of culture and religion more than theories of conspiracies and hatred.

A Deep Philosopher

Dara starting from his childhood days had an interest in spirituality, Sufi Mysticism, and understanding the true meaning of Quran, the one god has created and not the preachers of hatred.

And as a result he became a man of deep philosophy. His philosophy of oneness of god, revealed him to literature of various faith. 

He used to spend most of his time with Pandits, yogis and sanyasis to understand their perspective on Unity, harmony. All this aided him in his journey of understanding spirituality and widened his horizons in sense of his philosophies.

But sadly, while being so many things he forgot to be politically smart, cunning, opportunistic like his other brothers, especially Aurangzeb who had his eyes on Dara’s throne.

Who killed Dara Shikoh? Was he murdered by someone of his own bloodline?

A family known for its conspiracies against one’s own family and blood relations, where a son conspires to kill his own father for the throne, where there is no feeling of brethren due to one’s lust for the throne, what end can we expect for a pure gem like Dara?

Dara busy with his pursuits of literature and art didn’t care to create his base of political and military powers. His mind which is full of love for art and culture didn’t care to plot conspiracies to win the battle of throne.

Defeat of Hope

Dara was defeated by his younger brother Aurangzeb who used every tactic; betrayals, conspiracies, fear to hold Dara captive. 

In the first attack at Battle of Samugarh in 1658 Dara lost and sought to refuge in Dadar, but was betrayed by the one who gave him place to stay and was handed over to Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb was not satisfied with defeating Dara, and he sought to public humiliation of Dara to create a fear among the people who adored Dara and wanted him to be their emperor.

He bought Dara to Delhi in rags and paraded him in the city and people can’t help but cry in pain and fear for their lovely prince.

Death of Hope

And then later in 1659 Dara was executed and his then his body was paraded once again in the entire city, Aurangzeb wanted this incident to be symbolic of his ultimate win and that he is above all.

And hence the empire which could have taught harmony, love and unity to the nation at last if Dara would have been the emperor, has instead given horrific sights of their barbaric acts to the nation.

Why Is the Indian Government Celebrating him?

Dara Shikoh is finally getting his due, finally receiving the respect and recognition that he deserves. 

In 2020, Ministry of Culture under BJP has formed a committee to find Dara’s tomb.

In 2019 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has organized an event to pay their respects to him at his death anniversary. There the leaders of RSS have described Dara as a ‘Real Hindustani’. 

In 2019 only, Aligarh Muslim University has announced a chair for research work in Dara’s name.

While the names of other Mughals and Middle eastern invaders are getting removed from the names of cities, areas and universities, like Aurangabad renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Unlike these Dara’s name (Delhi’s Dara Shikoh Road) stands strong and will continue to live on.

Written By- Priyal Sharma

Edited By- Akshita Bist