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Dara Shikoh: The Mystic Brother Of Aurangzeb Who Translated Upanishads Into Persian

All roads lead to Rome and all spiritual paths and religions lead to one God. This was not the regular view point of many bygone saints that we get to hear often. This opinion is from an unexpected quarter, from the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh, who was Emperor Shah Jahan's son and brother of Aurangazeb. He had realized that both religions point at the same truth.

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He was influenced by the Qadiri order of Sufis of which he was a part, and being a disciple of Miyan Mir, he devoted a large chunk of his time to ancient Hindu spirituality but he followed Islamic tradition alongside. Throughout his lifetime, he struggled to find the common point between Hinduism and Islam as he firmly believed that both religions could coexist in terms of beliefs which in turn would create a healthy tradition.

Dara Shikoh's Formative Years

Muhammad Dara Shikoh was born on March 11, 1615, in Rajasthan's Ajmer, as a result of his father Shahjahan's prayers to Chisthi for a son. He was one among 13 children of whom 7 died much before they reached adulthood. Of his siblings, it was Jahanara, who shared a close bond with him.

Shah Jahan, earlier known as Prince Khurram fought with his father Jehangir for the throne. Rebellion failed but Khurram rejoined the royal family after 4 years. To keep a strong vigil on Khurram, Jehangir held Khurrams sons as hostages in his palace. Dara was a lad of 13 years when he got to see his father Khurram for the first time at his coronation ceremony.

Dara had every reason to succeed Shahjahan to the throne as he was the eldest son and the apple of the eye of his mother Mumtaz Mahal. But Aurangzeb refused to think so and began power struggles with his brother. Dara Shikoh was embroiled in battles with his brother most of the time but took seriously to spirituality, to the reading of Sufi philosophies which impressed him with the idea that both Hinduism and Islam are one and the same with respect to spirituality.

Dara's Steps Into Spirituality

He sincerely believed that the Quran had all that Upanishads contained in their texts. His prominent work for which he became a renowned name in Islamic history was that he translated the Upanishads to Persian, about 50 of them. He got several pundits to help him translate the Upanishadic content to Persian. He named his translation as Sirr-i-Akbar, 'The Greatest Secret.' He had learnt Sanskrit just to be able to translate the Upanishads to Persian. He also had with the help of scholars, translated Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Vasistha.

Before this he had also written other books, the most popular of them being the Majma ul-Bahrain ['The Mingling of Two Oceans']. This was an effort to discover the harmonious elements in both the traditions. Fourteen years after Dara Shikoh completed the translation, Francis Bernier, a French traveler, spread the wisdom of the Upanishads in the west. Very soon Upanishads were the hot topic of discussion in the intellectual groups of western countries. He found answers to most perplexing philosophical questions through the reading of Upanishads. He was of the opinion that they were in conformity with Quran.

Aurangzeb's Views About Dara

Aurangzeb strongly hated the liberal philosophical views of Dara. His deep rooted fundamentalism never allowed him to tolerate Dara even as his brother. He took counsel from the Islamic experts who suggested that Dara should be executed for deviating from Islam and for being a threat to the peace and harmony of citizens. So Dara was executed on 30 August 1659.

While people argue that Dara, with his proficiency and erudite scholarship could have changed the face of Mughal history by revolutionizing the Mughal history. But equal number of people opine that the killing of Dara Shikoha and Sarmad, the Sufi poet and teacher of Dara, led to the downfall of the Mughal empire from its roots. Just two years before his execution Dara Shikoh had completed translating fifty-two Upanishads in 1657.