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rbharath's review
4.0
With his tolerance and sincere attempt at understanding & fostering harmony between different faiths during Mughal rule – Dara Shukoh holds respect among most Indians. It is also difficult to refer to Dara Shukoh, without also mentioning Aurangzib. So, this book is as much about Aurangzib, as it is about Dara Shukoh. Though there is some degree of disagreement some have with the dominant leftist historians writing of history, there has been agreement among most Indian historians that even by the standards of past eras, Aurangzib was an extremely cruel bigot. This has held, is backed by events, and is also in line with the rich oral tradition of story-telling India has had till just about a generation or two back. But then history is very much hostage to the ideology of the writers. There are a few exceptions to this viewpoint including by fundamentalists and also a few others who claim many decisions of Aurangzib as being only political. There are also some largely nonsensical, insensitive & repulsive narratives recently claiming Aurangzib could have been much worse had he wanted to – well so could any other tyrant in history I suppose.
This book is very balanced and is insightful about the power struggles among Shah Jahan’s sons. The coverage starts right from Shah Jahan taking over the empire from Jahangir with descriptions of the early life of his children – Dara, Aurangzib, Murad, Shuja, Jahanara & Raushanara. Dara, since the beginning was Shah Jahan’s favourite child. While brave, his true interest seemed to lie in exploring the inner self of man rather than expanding or administering the empire. Aurangzib in contrast was astute in warfare and good at intimidating challengers & forming alliances. As Dara delves deeper to understand the beliefs in Hinduism, he finds a surprising alignment of the deeper beliefs – and declares the Upanishads as a true treasure of monotheism, which is hidden and unknown to many. He authors many works – Majma ul Bahrain (Mingling of the two Oceans), translations of the Upanishads to Persian and others. As the author points, this was especially risky as though Akbar & Jahangir exhibited tolerance towards other faiths, it was after they were emperors (also probably more from being practical). Also, Shah Jahan had already started moving away from Akbar & Jahangir’s tolerance.
The last chapter on the author’s visit to Humayun’s tomb, is a fitting way to end the book. As a person there tells him – history is on Dara Shikoh’s side today. Though many references are listed, the inability to directly access primary sources is a limitation. There is substantial amount of space devoted to warfare, and while Dara Shikoh’s dialogue with Baba Lal on Hinduism is beautiful, more of that would have been good.
This is a book I certainly recommend for its mature coverage of a man who went further than most in trying to obtain a deep understanding of faiths towards furthering harmony. I have heard of Jadunath Sarkar’s books on the Mughal period, especially Aurangzib and hope to read them sometime soon.
This book is very balanced and is insightful about the power struggles among Shah Jahan’s sons. The coverage starts right from Shah Jahan taking over the empire from Jahangir with descriptions of the early life of his children – Dara, Aurangzib, Murad, Shuja, Jahanara & Raushanara. Dara, since the beginning was Shah Jahan’s favourite child. While brave, his true interest seemed to lie in exploring the inner self of man rather than expanding or administering the empire. Aurangzib in contrast was astute in warfare and good at intimidating challengers & forming alliances. As Dara delves deeper to understand the beliefs in Hinduism, he finds a surprising alignment of the deeper beliefs – and declares the Upanishads as a true treasure of monotheism, which is hidden and unknown to many. He authors many works – Majma ul Bahrain (Mingling of the two Oceans), translations of the Upanishads to Persian and others. As the author points, this was especially risky as though Akbar & Jahangir exhibited tolerance towards other faiths, it was after they were emperors (also probably more from being practical). Also, Shah Jahan had already started moving away from Akbar & Jahangir’s tolerance.
Spoiler
A war for power breaks out among Shah Jahan’s sons and Aurangzib & Murad gang up against Dara, and win. Dara flees several times after losing battles and is finally betrayed by Malik Jiwan who delivers him to Aurangzib. Dara is paraded in chains through the streets of Delhi much to the shock and grief of the local population. He is beheaded and his head rumoured to have been paraded and later delivered to his father Shah Jahan who was imprisoned, as also are Murad and Dara’s sons. Among Dara’s sisters, while Raushanara hates him, Jahanara (portrayed as mature, broad-minded, and brave) stands by him and also Shah Jahan.The last chapter on the author’s visit to Humayun’s tomb, is a fitting way to end the book. As a person there tells him – history is on Dara Shikoh’s side today. Though many references are listed, the inability to directly access primary sources is a limitation. There is substantial amount of space devoted to warfare, and while Dara Shikoh’s dialogue with Baba Lal on Hinduism is beautiful, more of that would have been good.
This is a book I certainly recommend for its mature coverage of a man who went further than most in trying to obtain a deep understanding of faiths towards furthering harmony. I have heard of Jadunath Sarkar’s books on the Mughal period, especially Aurangzib and hope to read them sometime soon.
b00kr3vi3ws's review
4.0
I was hoping for a fictional story to tell me about the life of this ‘could-have-been-king’ prince when I picked up the book. Instead what I found between the pages was a non-fictional but well researched biography. It was my fault as I overlooked the genre mention in the review request email. However, I it turned out to be a happy mistake as I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and looking up places and people while reading it.
The author has presented the biography in a way that almost makes you feel that the stories / incidents are being told by someone who had witnessed it all first hand. Right from the first chapter ‘Rites of Passage’, there was a feel of storytelling in a way that you would expect in a fiction. It has this feel of ‘let me tell you the story of the life of this Prince’, rather than ‘here are the facts and the research to back up those facts about the life of the Mughal Prince’. As such the narrative of this biography made it a very engaging read.
Read the full review on Bookish Indulgences with b00k r3vi3ws
The author has presented the biography in a way that almost makes you feel that the stories / incidents are being told by someone who had witnessed it all first hand. Right from the first chapter ‘Rites of Passage’, there was a feel of storytelling in a way that you would expect in a fiction. It has this feel of ‘let me tell you the story of the life of this Prince’, rather than ‘here are the facts and the research to back up those facts about the life of the Mughal Prince’. As such the narrative of this biography made it a very engaging read.
Read the full review on Bookish Indulgences with b00k r3vi3ws
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