Dara Shikoh

20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659

Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) was the eldest son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and the heir apparent to the Mughal throne. A scholar and mystic of the Qadiri Sufi order, he sponsored and produced Persian translations of Hindu texts, including the Upanishads, and wrote works seeking common ground between Islam and Hinduism. He was defeated in the war of succession by his younger brother Aurangzeb and executed in 1659.

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Life events

Born near Ajmer, India
20 March 1615

Dara Shikoh was born to Prince Khurram (the future emperor Shah Jahan) and Mumtaz Mahal near Ajmer in Rajasthan.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Married Nadira Banu Begum
1 February 1633

Dara Shikoh married his cousin Nadira Banu Begum, to whom he remained devoted throughout his life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relationship ✓
Became a disciple of the Qadiri Sufi saint Mian Mir's successor Mullah Shah
c. 1640

Dara Shikoh was initiated into the Qadiri order and became a devoted student of Sufi mysticism under Mullah Shah Badakhshi.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Wrote Majma-ul-Bahrain (The Confluence of the Two Seas)
1655

In this work Dara Shikoh argued for the essential unity of Sufi Islam and Vedantic Hinduism, one of the earliest sustained comparative studies of the two traditions.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Completed the Sirr-i-Akbar, a Persian translation of the Upanishads
1657

With the help of Sanskrit scholars in Varanasi, Dara Shikoh translated fifty Upanishads into Persian; this version later introduced the texts to Europe.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Named heir apparent as Shah Jahan's health failed
c. 1657

Favored by his father, Dara Shikoh held the title Shahzada-i-Buland Iqbal and effectively governed from court while his brothers held provincial commands.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Defeated by Aurangzeb at the Battle of Samugarh
29 May 1658

In the Mughal war of succession, Dara Shikoh's army was decisively beaten by the forces of his brothers Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh near Agra.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Captured after betrayal during his flight through Sindh
June 1659

After a year as a fugitive, Dara Shikoh was handed over to Aurangzeb's forces by the Baluch chieftain Malik Jiwan and paraded in chains through Delhi.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Executed in Delhi on Aurangzeb's orders
30 August 1659

Condemned as an apostate from Islam by a council of clerics, Dara Shikoh was executed in Delhi and buried in an unmarked grave in Humayun's Tomb complex.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓