Prince Dara Shikoh
“In the 17th century, Prince Dara
Shikoh went wholeheartedly into the spiritual movements in
Captive Dara
Every Indian who has ever
translated a text into English owes something to a Mughal prince who lies
buried in the compound of Humayun’s tomb in
Chief charge
What is significant for us today is
not that there was a war for kingship—in itself nothing unusual—but that one of
the chief charges Aurangzeb brought against the rightful heir was that in
publishing the Majma-‘ul-Bahrain (The Mingling of the Two Oceans) Dara had
openly committed to the truth in Hinduism. Like his great-grandfather, Dara
tried to bridge the gap between Hinduism and Islam. The Emperor Akbar had
strongly believed that his Mughal nobles needed to understand their Hindu
subjects and had set up a translation bureau to render the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata and the Bhagavata into Persian. Prince Dara Shikoh went much
further.
Dara Shikoh, whose name means “the Glory
of Darius”, was born to Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal in 1615. He was the heir
apparent and his father’s favourite son. As he grew up, and began to display
very special qualities of scholarship and a deep interest in mysticism, which
he researched relentlessly, it became clear that he was no ordinary man. In
1640 he was introduced to
He befriended Hindus, Sikhs and
Christians and his spiritual explorations led him to a great cross-language
venture. In seeking to find a common mystical language between Islam and
Hinduism, Dara Shikoh commissioned the translation of many Upanishads from
Sanskrit into Persian and even personally participated in some of these
renderings. He believed in joint scholarship and, amazing though it sounds,
encouraged by Dara, learned men both Hindu and Muslim, worked together. His
translation is called the Sirr-e-Akbar
(The Greatest Mystery) and in his
Introduction he boldly states that the work referred to in the Holy Quran as
the Kitab al-maknun or the “hidden book” is none other than the Upanishads. If
his brother needed evidence against him, it is easy to see how Dara himself
gave Aurangzeb sufficient material.
Famous work
Dara’s most famous work, Majma-ul-Bahrain (The Mingling of the Two Oceans) was also devoted to finding the
common links between Sufism and Hindu monotheism. When it was published, the
book sealed his doom and Aurangzeb used the conviction of religious groups and
the ambition of political ones to overcome Dara, making out a strong case that
he was unfit to rule. In June 1659, for his work in translating Sanskrit texts,
Aurangzeb had Dara declared a heretic who deserved to die. Dara had already
been defeated in battle and was Aurangzeb’s prisoner. In the end when his
killers came for him, Dara was cooking a meal for himself and his young son.
The deposed prince fought like a king, using a kitchen knife against the swords
of his assassins. Just as the translators of the Bible into German and English
met with fatal opposition, so too did the first translator of the Upanishads.
He was buried without ceremony, his headless body dumped in a hastily dug
grave. [His head was sent to Shah Jahan who was in prison—house arrest.]
A hundred and forty years after
Dara Shikoh was murdered, his translation of the Upanishads, which had lain
forgotten and unread, were translated into a mix of Latin, Greek and Persian by
the French traveller Anquetill Duperon (1801) and was the very text that caught
the attention of Schopenhauer who wrote those unforgettable words nine years
later, “In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as
that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life. It will be the
solace of my death”. This sudden discovery of a vast body of literature in a
sophisticated and advanced language that had remained unknown for so many
centuries sent a tremor through the libraries of Europe and scholars there
began to view
In being the first to make the link
between two entirely different—even hostile—traditions, it was the ideals and
work of this Mughal prince that launched Indian thought in the Western world.
The motives behind his linguistic border-breaches led to Dara’s ruin; but
eventually, the translation of his translation formed the road to cultural ties
between civilisations. The distinguished historian Sathyanath Iyer wrote, “He
is to be reckoned among the great Seekers of Truth who can appeal to the modern
mind.”
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/31/stories/2008083150160500.htm
Aga sayed Ibrahim was born on 24
October 1902 into an aristocratic family of the
In the Ashram of those days Dara was a legendary figure—large-hearted, large as
he was. He lived a simple life in spite of his aristocratic birth. And such a
simple person he was! Perhaps still retaining his past Sufi associations!
Dara’s prayers to the Mother were two, informs Prabhakar (Batti) of the Ashram who had
personal contact with him. One: O Mother fulfil my desire; Two: O Mother take
away my desire.
Everything is summed up in it. He
passed away in the Ashram on 8 February 1966.
~ RYD