Dara Shikoh: Shah Jahan’s favourite son who was a liberal Mughal unlike Aurangzeb

New Delhi: Historians have long wondered what would have happened if Dara Shikoh had become the Mughal Emperor instead of Aurangzeb after Shah Jahan. He was a liberal prince who explored Hinduism and was unlike anything like his brother. Shah Jahan wanted Dara Shikoh to be the Emperor after him, but Aurangzeb emerged victorious in the war of succession to clinch the throne and seal the fate of his father and elder brother.

Dara Shikoh: A favourite of Shah Jahan

Dara Shikoh was Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s eldest son and heir-apparent. He was designated with the title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba (which means ’Prince of High Rank’). He was favoured as a successor by his father and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum. Dara was a person with a liberal viewpoint unlike his father and his younger brother Aurangzeb. Apart from Persian, he also learned Hindi, Arabic and later Sanskrit.

Dara Shikoh: The liberal prince of the Mughal Empire

Unlike orthodox Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim. Due to his liberal viewpoints and exploration of Hinduism, he was considered a heretic by his brother and conservative people in the Mughal court. Dara aimed to find a common mystical language between Islam and Hinduism.

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He translated Upanishads from Sanskrit into Persian in 1657 for Muslim scholars to study. His translation is often called ‘Sirr-i-Akbar’ (The Greatest Mystery) where he boldly stated that Upanishads have been mentioned in the Quran. His most famous work is the ‘Majma-ul-Bahrain’ (“The Confluence of the Two Seas”), which argues for the harmony of Sufi philosophy in Islam and Vedanta philosophy in Hinduism.

Also, Dara commissioned the translation of Yoga Vasistha. The translated version is known as the Jug-Basisht, which has since become popular in Persia among intellectuals who are interested in the Indo-Persian culture. Dara established a library which still exists on the grounds of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi and is a museum of the Archaeological Survey of India. Dara was a great patron of art who was more interested in the philosophies of life than in the military. Had he managed to defeat Aurangzeb, the history of the Indian subcontinent would have been very much different.