International Journal of History and Research (IJHR)
DARA SHIKOH: MYSTICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE
SHAHID
LATIF & ABDUL QADIR MUSHTAQ
Assistant
Professor, History and Pakistan Studies Department, G.C. University,
Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) was the eldest son of Emperor Shahjahan and designated crown prince. But in this discourse the objective is to explore and give an overview of his mystical and philosophical thoughts rather than discussing his royal credentials. He occupies a unique place among the Mughal princes for his comparative study of Muslim mysticism and classical Hindu philosophy. Being a follower of the Qadiri order of Sufis and a disciple of Miyan Mir, Dara believed that the mystical traditions of both Hinduism and Islam spoke of the same truth. His younger brother and main political rival for the throne of Mughal Empire in India, Aurangzeb, on the contrary held fundamentalist spiritual and religious views about Islam. Later, when he became emperor of India after the defeat and assassination of Dara Shikoh his views were clearly reflected in his policy of intolerance against Hindus and Shi’as. Dara Shikoh greatly contributed to the study of ancient Indian spirituality along with Islamic mystical traditions by highlighting commonalties between classical Hindu and Islamic Sufi teachings. Like many Muslim Sufis he was of the views that their mingling could bring about harmony between the Hindus and the Muslims subjects of Mughal Empire. Lack of tolerance is one of the main causes of current wave of sectarianism and religious extremism which is creating havoc in Pakistani society. This piece of study to some extent could be helpful in promotion of so wanted religious tolerance in our society.
KEYWORDS:
Dara Shikoh, Muslim Sufis, ‘Yogavasishatha’, Dara Upanishads
INTRODUCTION
In
the beginning of the 13th century a new Muslim state – Sultanate of Delhi
-emerged in the north India as a result
of the conquest of the region by the Turks, Afghans and other conquerors
hailing from Central Asia, Afghanistan and
Iran. In the Sultanate of Delhi the Sunni version of Islam, the religion
of the new rulers became the official religion and Farsi became the official language of the
court apart from being the language of poetry and historiography. The links
of North India with the Muslim states of
Near and Middle East became more frequent. After the destruction of the centers
of learning in Iran, and Central Asia by
the Mongols, the importance of Delhi, Lahore and other cities of North India
began to rise. Many scientists, poets,
religious scholars and Sufi mystics from the regions fallen under the Mongol
yoke settled in the cities of North
India.
In
the following centuries, the close interaction between the local Indian
cultures and the cultural traditions of the
Muslim world led to the evolution of a new phenomenon in Indian history
– a mixed Indo-Muslim culture which combined
elements of various traditions.
One
of the manifestations of this Indo- Muslim synthesis in the domain of
spirituality was the emergence and
popularity of a number of reformist religious trends. These religious
reformers called for bringing the Hindus and the Muslim closer to each other by mutual
accommodation of each others’ religious teachings. Some of the reformers
rejected the cast system of Hinduism and
condemned poverty, and social inequality in Hindu society. These teaching
are collectively called Bhagti1.
The
trends of Indo-Muslim cultural fusion were visible not only in the grassroots
movements like Bhagti but also in the
poetry and philosophy of the Muslim and Hindu feudal aristocracy close to royal
courts. However, in the aristocratic
version of Bhagti like trends there was no place for the ideas of social
equality and protest against the caste system. Most probably, it was the outcome of the partial
assimilation of the local Hindu elite by foreign Muslim ruling circles,
which joined hands to protect their
common political and socio-economic interests. The most astute representatives
of the Muslim and local feudal elite
realized that the close cooperation among the ethnically and religiously
diverse elements of the feudal classes
could better protect their social positions and political stability of the
newly established Muslim state. The
tendencies of collaboration between Muslim and local Hindu feudal elite
were particularly visible during the rule of the great Mughal emperor Akbar (1556- 1605). He
even introduced a new religion Deen-e-Illahi in which he tried to combine the selected elements of a number of
religions- Muslim mysticism, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroaster-ism and others. The
main objective of this venture was to
ensure political stability of the Mughal Empire. However, this religion failed
to make advance out side the close
circle of the emperor.
In
the 30-50s of the 17th century, the most prominent representative of these
syncretistic religious- philosophical
thoughts was Dara Shikoh, who by his literary and philosophical works
greatly contributed to the spiritual treasure of subcontinent.
Dara
Shikoh (1615-1659) was the eldest son of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan. He was
nominated as crown prince therefore
occupied an important position in the court. He was the true follower of the
religious and philosophical ideas of his
great grandfather Emperor Akbar.
From
his early years, Dara manifested his keen interest in ancient Indian religious
and philosophical literature. On his
demand a number of ancient Hindu religious-philosophical treatises- ‘Yogavasishatha’,
Bhagavad-Gita and mystic drama ‘Prabodha
‘Chandrodhaya’ were translated into Persian. The interest of Dara Shikoh to
religious books of Hinduism provided the
Muslim orthodox mullahs and Aurangzeb the pretext to accuse him in 1652 of
heresy and deviation2.
Dara
Shikoh studied not only ancient Indian religious literature like Vedas and
Upanishads but also had a good knowledge
of Jewish and Christian religious literature such as Pentateuch3, New Testament
and Muslim Sufi writings4. He was not
the first among the Muslim aristocrats to show his interest in epical and
religious literature of the Hindus. The
famous historian of Akbar, Abu Al Fazal and his elder brother Faizi also
studied the epical and religious books of the
Hindus and took part in the Persian translation of Mahabharata5.
Dara
Shako’s world outlook was formed under immense influence of Sufi teachings
which were very popular in the East for
many centuries. The pantheistic ideas of Sufism emerged under the direct
influence of classical Persian poetry in
which Dara was well versed. At that time a number of prominent Persian poets
like Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil Azeemabadi,
Mullah Jami Bekhud, Mir Jalal-ud-Din Siadat Lahori were living in India. At the
end of 16th and the beginning of 17th
century many other Persian poets such like Nazim Harwai Harati, Mir Muzzudin
Muhammad Fitrat Meshhadi, Sarmad
Kashani, Kalim Abu Talib Hamdani also visited India. Many Central Asian poets
like Shokat Bukhari, Baba Rahim Mushrab,
Maleka Samarkandi and others were frequent visitors of the Mughal court6.
It
is also known that Dara Shikoh was not only well versed in his contemporary
Sufi Persian poetry but he also knew
classical Persian literature. He studied great Persian poets like Jalal-ud-Din
Rumi (1207-1273), Abdul Majid Majadud
Sanai (died in 1131), and Nur-ud-Din Abdul Rahman Jami (1414-1482) and Khamsa
of Nizami. In 1651 a copy of this book
he presented to Muhammad Hakim Jauhari Tabrezi with his signature.
It
should be noted that besides Sufi poets Dara was deeply influenced by
contemporary Sufi priests and Hindu
Yogis. He was a great patron of not only Muslim but also Hindu,
Christian, and Jew religious scholars, philosophers, and poet-mystics. Apart from two prominent Sufi
saints Mian Mir and Mullah Shahi Badshahi of the Qadria Order, to which Dara himself belonged, his philosophical and
religious outlook evolved under the influence of the Hindu Yogi Baba Lal Das Bairagi, who is considered the founder of
various trends in Bhagti Movement7.
It
is also well known that Dara had relations with Sufi mystic Sarmad Kashani.
Sarmad was a Jew from Iranian city of
Kashan with a good knowledge of ancient books of Judaism. Later, he was
converted to Islam and renamed himself
as Muhammad Saeed and migrated to India.
The
religious thoughts of Sarmad were even more eclectic than that of Baba Lal Das
. In his poetry Sarmad propagated
syncretistic religious ideas. Many letters written by Dara Shikoh to Sarmad and
vice versa are well preserved. In these
letters Dara had addressed Sarmad as ‘My Master and Preceptor8‘while he had
used ‘My friend’ for Dara9. It means
their relations were quite frank.
Dara
had left a substantial amount of literary heritage. His early works include
‘Safinat-al- Aulia 1640, ‘Sakinat al-Aulia in 1642, ‘Risala-e-Haq Nama
(1651-1653). These books are about life and works of Sufi saints. In another
work ‘Hasanat-al- Arfeen’ 1652 Dara has
collected sayings of the saints belonging to different orders. “Mukalma-e-Baba
Lal w Dara Shikoh” written in 1653
contains Dara’s dialogue with Bhagti leader Baba Lal Das Bairagi. This book has
invited the curiosity of various
scholars interested in the study of Hindu spirituality. There are several
discussions in this book mainly on the
subjects of Indian philosophy and mythology10.
However,
the most valuable among the works of Dara are his three last books;
‘Majma-al-Bahrain’( Mingling of the
Oceans) (1653), and Ser-al-Asrar ( secret of the secrets) or Ser-al-Akbar
(great secret) a translation of Hindu religious
book Upanishad completed in 1657, and collection of his poetry under
title Akseer-e-Azam ( the mightiest Elixir).
In his work Majma-al-Bahrain’ Dara had not
only explained pantheistic terms of the Indian philosophical literature but also had given their Muslim
Sufi synonyms. In this work Dara tried to discover the affinities between Vedic and Sufi perceptions of the ultimate
truth.
This
work of Dara was re-translated into Sanskrit in 1708 under title ‘Samudra
Sangma11’.
As
early as in 1640 Dara began translation of Upanishads with help of some Hindu
Pundits from Sanskrit into Persian. Dara
believed that the hidden book Kitab al-Maknun is actually the Upanishads that
has been mentioned in the Sura 56/78 of
the Holy Koran. Since the Holy Koran thus points to it, its knowledge is
incumbent upon the Muslims, for it is ‘a
treasure –house of monotheism12. There are few thoroughly conversant with it
even among the Hindus. Thereby he also
wanted to solve the mystery which underlies their efforts to conceal it from
the Muslims.
At
present this work of Dara survives fewer than two rather different titles. In
the British Museum it is preserved as
Ser-al-Asrar and in Cambridge Royal College as Ser-al-Akbar. As the content of
both copies is identical most probably
mismatch of titles is due to the mistake of the copy writer.
In
1775, Ser-al-Asrar reached Europe and in 1801-1802 it was published in Latin by
a French scholar and traveler, Anquetil
Duperron who remained in India for some time. Later, from Latin it was
translated in different languages of
Europe13
Most
probably one of the last works of the Dara Shikoh was the collection (diwan) of
his poetry’ Akseer-e-Azam’. The
manuscript of this book earlier considered lost forever was found in a personal
collection in the 30s of the 20th last century. This manuscript was first
published in the Journal of Royal Asian Society of Bengal in 1939.
Akseer-e-Azam’’ is very important for
the study of philosophical viewpoint of Dara Shikoh14.
In this work Dara has explained his
pantheistic world outlook through poetry. In the perception of Dara, the
world and nature are parts of God and
the emanation of His essence. Therefore, everything that exists in this world
carries divine essence. All remaining
that does not carry His essence is mirage, and illusion of the man15.
According
to Dara, man himself is not only the creation of God but also the part of His
essence, therefore he calls for
cognizing oneself in order to know the essence of God. In his poetry he writes
that man is like a drop and the God is like
Ocean16
It
is characteristic of pantheism to consider the unity of opposites as the
highest substance. God as the highest
unity unifying in Him all seeming incompatible opposites therefore the
most important in pantheist philosophy is the
problem of unity and diversity, immortal and mortal and in ethical
context – problem of good and evil.
In
the works of Dara the image of highest substance –God is compared with the
image of a limitless sea or ocean. And
the world, surrounding the human are like the waves, bubbles and drops made by
the movements of the God-ocean. By these
images Dara Shikoh emphasizes mortality of all existing and immortality of God-
Ocean, which gives birth to all
existing, that will at the end return to Him.
The problem of opposites existing in the highest unity –God, led Dara to dialectical conclusion that there is universal link between the opposites and they are inter-dependent on each other. In one of the quatrains Dara writes that without death your name cannot live for ever and no real master can be master without servant, freedom emerges from the chains and if there will be no master there will be no slave17.
The
ideas of the contrast of good and evil being a part of highest substance-God,
is typical for pantheist thinking about
the unity of opposites. In the works of Dara the unity of opposites in the form
of good and evil is found in man as he
is a part of divine essence. He wrote that when you will cognize essence
of the truth you will become confident of the
secrets of the God. When you will recognize God as creator of good and
evil, you will be aware of your guilty and you will become a sinner18.
The
existence of good and evil in the highest Beginning-God should make human being
unconcerned to earthly wrongdoing and
injustice therefore, according to the teachings of Sufism, man should renounce
worldly concerns. In the one of his
quatrain Dara explains the motive of the renouncement of one’s ‘self’. I have
rejected my life and existence .Good and
evil have become irrelevant to me. Now it is not possible to pronounce my or
His name. If I will choose a name He
will be unhappy with me.
In
the works of Dara Shikoh we also find the glorification of man and its reasons.
As man has developed in himself a divine
beginning he has become the object of worship not only for human beings but
also for such a spiritual forces as
angels, and jinn.
Like
other Sufi thinkers we observe anti-mullah trends in the writings of Dara. His
poetry is directed against the dominance
and inertness of Muslim clergy and the ignorance and hypocrisy of mullahs and
urban ascetics .In his work ‘Hasanat-al-
Arfeen’ he writes that mullahs teach ignorance because they are themselves
ignorant. The protest of Dara against
clergy to some extent ensues from the essence of the main Sufi dogma about the
possibility of direct link between man
and God without any mediator. In his verses he writes, that paradise is there,
if there is no mullah, because there is no noise and quarrel. Let the world
become free from mullahs. Let nobody follow their fatwa. If a mullah is in a
town it means no wise person is there19.
Dara
was against religious intolerance which was the characteristic feature of the
representatives of orthodox Muslim
clergy. According to Dara if one struggle for union with God it is the highest
point of his/her religious devotion. He
wrote’ You call me non-believer because of my distress. I agree with your
words. For me are the same greatness and
misery. My religion is the religion of seventy two nations of the
world20.
The
religious thoughts of Dara in general, were identical to mystic poet
Jalal-ud-Din Rumi who teaches that
beliefs of the Muslims, Christians and Jews are the same in Spirit
therefore differences in religion are not important for a Sufi21.the same ideas were preached by the
Bhagats, who rejected the personification of God by the Hindus and Muslims and put forward the idea of single God. Such
religious teachings were popular in India since 16th century. These ideas were popular not only among the wide section of
masses but also in some groups of the ruling class, particularly supporters
of centripetal trends of Mughal rulers.
Dara was a staunch supporter of Bhagti preaching’s and condemned religious ceremonies, as these were integral part of
the performance of orthodox religious rites. Thus, condemnation of
religious ceremonies, preaching of the
concept of private God and personal links with Him ultimately led to the
rejection of the need of religious
rituals and consequently to the idea of uselessness of the ministers of
religion. Therefore, Bhagats and Dara
Shikoh were bitterly criticized by the mullahs.
Dara’s
views in many respect differed from the teachings of the Bhagats. While Dara
preferred to keep silence about the
inequality of the people and social injustice, the Bhagats in general,
supported the idea of the equality of people
before God irrespective of their religious affiliation, caste, and
social status. These ideas of the Bhagats incited the ordinary people to protest and struggle against
existing social inequality, repression and exploitation. Obviously, this thesis
of Bhagats was missing in the ideas of
Dara Shikoh as it was against the social system, of which he was an integral
part. As for as, the idea of the
unification of Hindus and Muslims was concerned it suited him because religious
merging of both could reinforce the
existing system.
The religious and philosophical views of Dara
can be characterized as monism tinted, to a certain extent, with pantheism. In the beginning, Sufism played an
important role in the formation of Dara’s philosophical outlook. However, as result of the influence of Indian
pantheism of Upanishad, and Bhagti trends, Dara was declared heretic by the
orthodox clergy and official Naqashbandi
School of Sufism. The official historian of the Mughal court, Khafi Khan
pointed out that ‘Following the heretic-
Sufis, Dara defamed the essence of Sufism, declared infidelity and Islam twin
brothers, and wrote books on this
subject. He not only befriends Brahmans and Gosians but also supported their
ideas22.
The
religious and philosophical quest of Dara and his accusations against the
official clergy were enough for them to
declare him traitor of Islam and his activities and ideas a threat for Islam23.
In
September 1657, Shahjahan became dangerously ill, resulting in the war of
succession among his four sons Dara
Shikoh, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad. This war continued for two years
and ended with the victory of Aurangzeb, who
proved himself more capable military commander and skillful statesman.
Dara was no match to him in both qualities.
Moreover, Aurangzeb was fully supported by the Muslim orthodox circles.
He
was captured in Baluchistan while trying to flee to Iran in search of
assistance and was beheaded on September
10, 1659 at the age of 44 years.
CONCLUSIONS
The works of Dara Shikoh are of great
significance not only politically but also academically. In political
respect, his attempt to find common
ground between Muslim and Hindu spirituality was for creating harmony among the
two largest religious communities of
Mughal Empire with an objective to consolidate the empire. He could not achieve
his objective because Dara was defeated
in battle field by his younger brother and rival for the Mughal throne
Aurangzeb. Dara Shikoh was put to death
by his brother’s order. The tragic execution of Dara Shikoh dealt a serious
blow to the efforts of the preceding
Mughal rulers for a strong, sustained, and centralized state based on communal
harmony between the Muslims and the
Hindus. The victory of Aurangzeb was the triumph of narrow-minded Muslim
orthodoxy. Aurangzeb used brutal methods
to suppress all kind of opposition. Though, for some time he was successful in
delaying the fall of the Mughal Empire.
However, his policies of intolerance against Hindus and Shias severely damaged
the very foundations of the empire.
After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, India was overwhelmed by chaos and
political disintegration which weakened
India at a very crucial point of her history- that was the beginning of the
expansion of European colonial powers.
Dara
Shikoh’s work on mystic Islam and Hindu scriptures particularly his translation
of the Upanishads into Persian played a
very important role in stirring Western academic interest in the wisdom of
subcontinent. Later, from the Persian
translations of Dara Upanishads were translated in various European languages.
Thus Dara opened the window of Indian
Mysticism and philosophy for the intellectual circles of the West.
Dara Shikoh' sought for and found similarities
between Islam and Hinduism following Sufi traditions. That is why he was declared heretic and traitor of
religion by his contemporary fanatics and fundamentalists. It is not
coincidence that today main target of
terrorist attacks perpetuated by the fanatics are shrines of Sufi saints
because they among others also
highlighted common humanistic ethical values of all religions. In such
circumstances it is highly pertinent to
popularize teachings of the Sufi saints and persons like Dara Shikoh who
uphold the truth of all religious traditions.
REFERENCES
1.
Bhagti was popular mystical current in medieval Hinduism in which the love
between man and God is emphasized.
2.
Encyclopedia of Islam, vol.2, f.24, London-Leiden, 1961, p.135.
3.
Pentateuch refers to five books of Prophet Moses Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy, 4. J. Sarkar,
History of Aurangzeb, Mainly based on Persian Sources.vol.1, Calcutta,
1912.p.296-297. 5. A. Schimmel, Islam in
the Indian Subcontinent. Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, 2003, pp.85,
86. 6. Z.G. Rizaev, Indian Style in
Persian Poetry in 17th and 18th Century. Tashkent, 1971, p.53. 7. B.J. Hasrat, The Diwan and Quatrain of
Dara Shikuh,-‘Islamic Culture’ Hyderabad, 1944, No, 3, p.148. 8. B.J. Hasrat, Dara Shakuh; Life and Works.
Calcutta, 1953, p.239.
9.
Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. p.100.
10.
B.J. Hasrat, Dara Shakuh; Life and Works., p.254
11.
Dara Shakoh, Sakinat-al-Auliya Urdu translation by Professor Maqbool Beg
Badakhshani, Packages Limited, Lahore,
1971, p.alif jeem.
12.
B.J. Hasrat, Dara Shakuh; Life and Works, p.213.
13.
A. Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. p.100.
14.
A. Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. p.100
15.
Dara Shakoh, Sakinat-al-Auliya Urdu translation by Professor Maqbool Beg Badakhshani,
Packages Limited, Lahore, 1971, p.te
-zoe
16.
Countries of South Asia; History and Present, Levin S..F..and Semenova
N.I.(editor), Nauka Publishers,Moscow,
1976,p.45
17.
Dara Shakoh, Sakint-al-Auliya Urdu translation, p.khe,zal
18.
B.J. Hasrat, The Diwan p.163.
19.
B.J. Hasrat, The Diwan p.159.
20.
B.J. Hasrat, The Diwan p.152.
21.
B.J. Hasrat, The Diwan p.158.
22.
Hafi Khan Nizam-al-Mulki, Muntkhab-al-Lubab, vol.2, Calcutta, 1874, p.4.
23.
Rasheed Akhtar Nadvi. Aurangzeb (in Urdu).Sing-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, pp.
194-197.
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