Sunday, April 19, 2015

Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh

Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh translating the Upanishads.
Dara Shikoh was the eldest & preferred son of Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. He was an enlightened Muslim, a sufi scholar and saint, having translated all the Upanishads from the Persian. Yet he remained a Muslim, starting all this translations by invoking Allah's name. But because Aurangzeb was jealous, he had Dara imprisoned and then beheaded for apostasy. If Dara Shikoh had become emperor, the whole of history of Islam in India - and even in the world, would have been different. Today every western nation is desperately looking for the type of moderate and tolerant Islam that Dara embodied - but cannot find it anymore.
FACT, has mounted a unique exhibition on Dara Shikoh with the help of Professor V.S. Bhatnagar, ex dean of Rajasthan University , department of History and our team of miniature painters in Jaipur. Each scene is properly documented and historically accurate, such as the one below showing Dara Shikoh translating the Upanishads with two pandits from Benares. It is now permanently exhibited in Shivaji Maharaj Museum of Indian History, Pune.
See the pictures of the exhibition online here:
http://dara-shikoh.blogspot.in/

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