The Modi Government has set up a seven member-panel consisting of senior archaeologists to locate the grave of “liberal Muslim” Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh (1615- 1659), who is said to be buried somewhere in Humayun’s Tomb in the national Capital.
There are around 150 graves of the clan of the Mughal rulers in the historical monument and the grave of Shikoh is said to be one among them.
The graves of many members of the Mughal clans have already been identified at the “mortuary of the Mughal dynasty”. The move to identify the grave of the Mughal Prince comes close on the heels of a symposium named “Dara Shikoh: A hero of the Indian syncretist traditions”, held recently in Delhi. Among others, it was addressed by Krishna Gopal, joint general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The Mughal Prince is touted by the RSS as a liberal Muslim who was said to be rooted in the “Indian knowledge tradition — a truth-seeker who tried finding commonalities between the Hindu and Islamic spiritual traditions — and initiated a healthy debate and a dialogue between the two faiths”.
The panel constituted by the Union Culture Ministry last week has been given three months to locate the grave of Shikoh on the premises. The other members of the panel headed by ASI Director (Monument) TJ Alone include RS Bisht, Sayeed Jamal Hassan, KN Dikshit, BR Mani, Mohmmed KK, Satish Chandra and BM Pandey, senior archaeologists and ASI officials.
Shikoh is known for his mastery in Sanskrit and had translated the Bhagavad Gita into Persian language.
“We have been asked to submit the report within next three months,” said Sayeed Jamal Hassan, ex-director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and one of the members of the panel.
He said “temporary records and a biography of Shahjahannama compiled by Muhammad Saleh Kamboh, a court historian during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, has dedicated at least two pages detailing last days of Shikoh, on how he was brutally murdered and buried somewhere at the historical monument built by the wife of Humayun in her husband’s memory.”
An Islamic inscription has been written on Shikoh’s grave, as per the epic, said Hassan.
French historian Jean Filliozat in his book has written that Shikoh’s Samudra Sangama (The Confluence of Oceans), is the most important text for the comparison of sufism with Indian doctrines and spiritual practices.
Shikoh’s greatest literary achievement was the translation of 52 Upanishads from Sanskrit into Persian, titled Sirr-i-Akbar (The Great Secret) and, in some manuscripts, Sirr-ul-asrar (The Secret of Secrets). He was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
According to the ShahJahannama, after Auragzeb defeated his brother Dara Shikoh in 1657 in the war for the control of the Mughal empire, he brought the latter to Delhi in chains and paraded him all over the city. Shikoh’s s head was then cut off and sent to Agra Fort where his father had been imprisoned in a Fort overlooking the Taj Mahal he had built for his wife Mumtaz. Aurangzeb took over the reins of the Mughal Empire. Dara’s remains were buried in an unidentified grave somewhere at Humayun’s Tomb.