Table of Contents
The News
- The Ministry of Culture recently set up a seven-member panel of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to locate the grave of the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59).
- Director-Monument at ASI , Mr. T J Alone heads the panel.
- The panel has senior archaeologists –
- R S Bisht, Sayeed Jamal Hassan,
- K N Dikshit, B R Mani,
- K K Muhammed, Satish Chandra,
- and B M Pandey as members.
Dara Shikoh
- Dara Shikoh (1615 –1659) was the eldest among 4 sons and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
- Dara was designated as a ‘’Prince of High Rank” and was favoured as a successor by his father.
- Dara was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim.
- He is described as a “liberal Muslim” who tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions.
- He was a great patron of the arts and was more inclined towards philosophy and mysticism rather than military pursuits.
- Dara Shikoh is described as “one of the greatest free thinkers of that time”.
- He realised the greatness of the Upanishads and translated them, which were earlier known only to a few upper caste Hindus.
- He translated into Persian the Bhagavad Gita as well as 52 Upanishads.
- His translation is often called Sirr-e-Akbar (“The Greatest Mystery”)
- Translations from that Persian translation have inspired a lot of free thinkers of today.
Dara vs. Aurangzeb
- He was the total antithesis of Aurangzeb – he was deeply syncretic, warm-hearted and generous.
- But Dara was also an indifferent administrator and ineffectual in the field of battle.
- Some historians argue that if Dara Shikoh had ascended the Mughal throne instead of Aurangzeb, it could have saved thousands of lives lost in religious clashes.
The Civil war
- In 1657, the illness of emperor Shah Jahan triggered a desperate struggle for power among the four Mughal princes.
- Dara Shikoh was killed after losing the war of succession against his brother Aurangzeb
- According to the Shahjahannama, after Aurangzeb defeated Dara Shikoh, he brought the latter to Delhi in chains.
- His head was cut off and sent to Agra Fort, while his torso was buried in the Humayun’s Tomb complex.
Where was he buried?
- He is believed to be buried somewhere in the Humayun’s Tomb complex in Delhi, one of ~150 graves of the Mughal clan.
- The expert panel has been given three months time to complete the task of identifying his tomb.
- The panel will use architectural evidence from that time, and also written history and any other information that can be used as evidence.
Challenging task
- No one knows where exactly Dara Shikoh was buried.
- All that is known is that it’s a small grave in the Humayun’s Tomb complex.
- Italian traveller Niccolao Manucci gave a graphic description of the day of his murder in ’Travels of Manucci’, as he was there as a witness to the whole thing.
- That is the basis of the thesis.
- The problem is that most graves in the complex have no names.
Why identify his grave now?
- Recently there have been renewed attempts to compare Dara Shikoh’s legacy against that of Aurangzeb.
- At a recent conclave in Delhi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Sah Sarkaryavah or Joint General Secretary, Krishna Gopal’s called Dara Shikoh “a real Hindustani”.
- A research chair was set up in Dara Shikoh’s name at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) last year.
- Politics? Syncretic culture?
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