Dara Shikoh, known as Dara Shukoh, was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
21 Facts About Dara Shikoh
2.
Dara Shikoh was executed in 1659 on Aurangzeb's orders in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne.
3.
Dara Shikoh was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim as opposed to the orthodox Aurangzeb; he authored the work The Confluence of the Two Seas, which argues for the harmony of Sufi philosophy in Islam and Vedanta philosophy in Hinduism.
4.
The course of the history of the Indian subcontinent, had Dara Shikoh prevailed over Aurangzeb, has been a matter of some conjecture among historians.
5.
Dara Shikoh was the first son and third child of Prince Shahib-ud-din Muhammad Khurram and his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
6.
Dara Shikoh had thirteen siblings of whom six survived to adulthood: Jahanara Begum, Shah Shuja, Roshanara Begum, Aurangzeb, Murad Bakhsh, and Gauhara Begum.
7.
Dara Shikoh shared a close relationship with his older sister, Jahanara.
8.
Dara Shikoh was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim unlike his father and his younger brother Aurangzeb.
9.
In 1633, Dara Shikoh was appointed as the Vali-ahad to his father.
10.
Dara Shikoh had at least two concubines, Gul Safeh and Udaipuri Mahal.
11.
From Sindh, he crossed the Rann of Kachchh and reached Kathiawar, where he met Shah Nawaz Khan, the governor of the province of Gujarat who opened the treasury to Dara Shikoh and helped him to recruit a new army.
12.
Dara Shikoh was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains.
13.
Dara Shikoh is widely renowned as an enlightened paragon of the harmonious coexistence of heterodox traditions on the Indian subcontinent.
14.
Dara Shikoh was an erudite champion of mystical religious speculation and a poetic diviner of syncretic cultural interaction among people of all faiths.
15.
Dara Shikoh was a follower of the Armenian Sufi-perennialist mystic Sarmad Kashani, as well as Lahore's famous Qadiri Sufi saint Mian Mir, whom he was introduced to by Mullah Shah Badakhshi.
16.
Dara Shikoh subsequently developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai.
17.
Dara Shikoh devoted much effort towards finding a common mystical language between Islam and Hinduism.
18.
Dara Shikoh's translation is often called Sirr-i-Akbar, where he states boldly, in the introduction, his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Qur'an as the "Kitab al-maknun" or the hidden book, is none other than the Upanishads.
19.
The library established by Dara Shikoh still exists on the grounds of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi, and is run as a museum by Archaeological Survey of India after being renovated.
20.
Dara Shikoh was a patron of fine arts, music and dancing, a trait frowned upon by his younger sibling Muhiuddin, later the Emperor Aurangzeb.
21.
The 'Dara Shikoh' is a collection of paintings and calligraphy assembled from the 1630s until his death.