Dara Shikoh
Encyclopedia
His Highness, The Imperial Prince (Shahzada) Dara Shikoh (full name and royal title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba, Jalal ul-Kadir, Sultan Muhammad Dara Shikoh, Shah-i-Buland Iqbal) (March 20, 1615 – August 30, 1659) was the eldest son and the heir apparent
of Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan
and his wife Mumtaz Mahal
. His name دارا شكوه in Persian
means "Darius
the Magnificent". He was favoured as a successor by his father and his sister Princess Jahanara Begum Sahib, but was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin (later the Emperor Aurangzeb
) in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. The course of the history of the Indian subcontinent
, had Dara prevailed over Aurangzeb, has been a matter of some conjecture among historians.
On September 6, 1657, the illness of emperor Shah Jahan triggered a desperate struggle for power among the four Mughal princes, though realistically only Dara and Aurangzeb had a chance of emerging victorious. Shah Shuja was the first to make his move, declaring himself Mughal Emperor in Bengal
and marched towards Agra
from the east. Murad Baksh
allied himself with Aurangzeb
.
Despite strong support from Shah Jahan, who had recovered enough from his illness to remain a strong factor in the struggle for supremacy, and the victory of his army led by his eldest son Sulaiman Shikoh over Shah Shuja in the battle of Bahadurpur on February 14, 1658, Dara was defeated by Aurangzeb and Murad during the Battle of Samugarh
, 13 km from Agra
on May 30, 1658. Subsequently Aurangzeb took over Agra fort and deposed emperor Shah Jahan on June 8, 1658.
After the defeat, Dara retreated from Agra to Delhi and thence to Lahore. His next destination was Multan and then to Thatta
(Sindh
). 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 and helped him to recruit a new army. He occupied Surat and advanced towards Ajmer. Foiled in his hopes of persuading the fickle but powerful Rajput feudatory, Maharaja Jaswant Singh
of Marwar, to support his cause, the luckless Dara decided to make a stand and fight Aurangzeb's relentless pursuers but was once again comprehensively routed in the battle of Deorai (near Ajmer) on March 11, 1659. After this defeat he fled to Sindh and sought refuge under Malik Jiwan, an Afghan chieftain, whose life had on more than one occasion been saved by the Mughal prince from the wrath of Shah Jahan
. However, Malik betrayed Dara and turned him (and his second son Sipihr Shikoh) over to Aurangzeb's army on June 10, 1659.
Dara was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains. Dara's fate was decided by the political threat he posed as a prince popular with the common people - a convocation of nobles and clergy, called by Aurangzeb in response to the perceived danger of insurrection in Delhi, declared him a threat to the public peace and an apostate from Islam. He was assassinated by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his terrified son on the night of August 30, 1659.
Dara Shikoh is widely renowned as an enlightened paragon of the harmonious coexistence of heterodox traditions on the Indian subcontinent. He was an erudite champion of mystical religious speculation and a poetic diviner of syncretic cultural interaction among people of all faiths. This made him a heretic in the eyes of his orthodox brother and a suspect eccentric in the view of many of the worldly power brokers swarming around the Mughal throne. Dara was a follower of Lahore
's famous Qadiri Sufi saint Hazrat Mian Mir, whom he was introduced to by Mullah Shah Badakhshi
(Mian Mir's spiritual disciple and successor) and who was so widely respected among all communities that he was invited to lay the foundation stone of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Sikhs. Dara subsequently developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai
. Dara devoted much effort towards finding a common mystical language between Islam
and Hinduism
. Towards this goal he completed the translation of 50 Upanishads from its original Sanskrit
into Persian
in 1657 so it could be read by Muslim scholars. His translation is often called Sirr-e-Akbar (The Greatest Mystery), 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. His most famous work, Majma-ul-Bahrain ("The Confluence of the Two Seas"), was also devoted to a revelation of the mystical and pluralistic affinities between Sufic
and Vedantic
speculation.
The library established by Dara Shikoh still exists on the grounds of Indraprastha University, Kashmiri Gate
, Delhi
, and is now run as a museum by Archeological Survey of India after being renovated.
He was also a patron of fine arts, music and dancing, a trait frowned upon by his sibling Aurangzeb. In fact, many of his paintings are quite detailed and compare well to a professional artist of his time. The 'Dara Shikoh album' is a collection of paintings and calligraphy assembled from the 1630s until his death. It was presented to his wife Nadira Banu
in 1641-42 and remained with her until her death after which the album was taken into the royal library and the inscriptions connecting it with Dara Shikoh were deliberately erased; however not everything was vandalised and many calligraphy
scripts and paintings still bear his mark.
Dara Shikoh is also credited with the commissioning of several exquisite, still extant, examples of Mughal architecture - among them the tomb of his wife Nadira Banu
in Lahore, the tomb of Hazrat Mian Mir also in Lahore, the Dara Shikoh Library in Delhi, the Akhun Mullah Shah Mosque in Srinagar in Kashmir and the Pari Mahal garden palace (also in Srinagar in Kashmir).
. Dara Shikoh is also the subject of a 2010 play called Dara, written and directed by Shahid Nadeem of the Ajoka Theatre group in Pakistan. Dara Shikoh is also the subject of the 2007 play Dara Shikoh, written by Danish Iqbal. Dara Shikoh is also a character played by Vaquar Sheikh in the 2005 Bollywood film Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story, directed by Akbar Khan.
Dara Shikoh is also the name of the protagonist of Mohsin Hamid
's 2000 novel Moth Smoke
, which reimagines the story of his trial unfolding in contemporary Pakistan. The novel concludes with these words: "It is perhaps between hope and memory, in the atomized, atomic lands once Aurangzeb's empire, that our poets tell us Darashikoh, the apostate, called out to God as he died."
The character of Dara Shikoh is a quintessential Muslim liberal struggling against orthodoxy. In recent years Dara Shikoh has been a subject of many books, novels and plays. Shyamal Gangopadhyaya, Danish Iqbal and Gopal Gandhi are few contemporary writers who wrote about this forgotten liberal hero.
Danish Iqbal’s Dara Shikoh is a modern classic which was staged by director M S Sathyu of the film Garam Hawa fame in Delhi in 2003–04. In the words of critic Ramesh Chand Charlie, the stage play Dara Shikoh is a turning point of traditional theatrical sensibilities. Use of Wali Deccani's period poetry provides this Play with a very rare artistic and historical context. Use of Kathak choreography by Rani Khanum and her troupe, and authentic costumes including headgear, swords and period art work was a treat for the eyes. Use of Sufi music, context and ambience is very alluring and mesmerising. This play had a good run in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon and Banglore.
There are reports that this play is also being converted into a feature film under the direction of Sathyu.
MAJMA' UL BAHARAIN or The Mingling Of Two Oceans, by Prince Muhammad Dara Shikuh, Edited in the Original Persian with English Translation, notes & variants by M.Mahfuz-ul-Haq, published by The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, Bibliotheca Indica Series no. 246, 1st. published 1929, 4th Reprinted Edition JULY 2007, price: Rs.150.00 / $15.
Mittal, Aditya The Battle of Samugarh
Gyani Brahma Singh, Dara Shikoh - The Prince who turned Sufi in The Sikh Review
The Hindu, A forgotten symbol of composite culture
Sleeman, William (1844), E-text of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
of Mughal Emperor
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
and his wife Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal born as Arjumand Banu Begum was a Mughal Empress and chief consort of emperor Shah Jahan...
. His name دارا شكوه in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
means "Darius
Darius
Darius is a male given name, etymologically it is the English transliteration of the Persian name, Dariush, its meaning is "he possesses" or "rich and kingly".-Given name:*Darius Boyd, an Australian rugby league footballer*Darius N...
the Magnificent". He was favoured as a successor by his father and his sister Princess Jahanara Begum Sahib, but was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin (later the Emperor Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
) in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. The course of the history of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, had Dara prevailed over Aurangzeb, has been a matter of some conjecture among historians.
The struggle for succession and death
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and marched towards Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
from the east. Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh
Murad Baksh was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and empress Mumtaz Mahal, he was the Subedar of Balkh until he was replaced by his brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647....
allied himself with Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
.
Despite strong support from Shah Jahan, who had recovered enough from his illness to remain a strong factor in the struggle for supremacy, and the victory of his army led by his eldest son Sulaiman Shikoh over Shah Shuja in the battle of Bahadurpur on February 14, 1658, Dara was defeated by Aurangzeb and Murad during the Battle of Samugarh
Battle of Samugarh
Battle of Samugarh, Jang-e-Samugarh, , was a decisive struggle in for the throne Mughal war of succession 1658-1659 between the sons of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after the emperor's serious illness in September 1657...
, 13 km from Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
on May 30, 1658. Subsequently Aurangzeb took over Agra fort and deposed emperor Shah Jahan on June 8, 1658.
After the defeat, Dara retreated from Agra to Delhi and thence to Lahore. His next destination was Multan and then to Thatta
Thatta
Thatta is a historic town of 220,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Thatta's major monuments especially its necropolis at Makli are listed among the World Heritage Sites. The Shah Jahan Mosque is also listed...
(Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
). From Sindh, he crossed the Rann of Kachchh and reached Kathiawar
Kathiawar
Kathiawar or Kathiawad is a peninsula in western India, which is part of the Saurashtra region on the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat state. It is bounded on the north by the great wetland of the Rann of Kutch, on the northwest by the Gulf of Kutch, on the west and south by the Arabian Sea, and on...
, where he met Shah Nawaz Khan, the governor of the province of Gujarat who opened the treasury to Dara and helped him to recruit a new army. He occupied Surat and advanced towards Ajmer. Foiled in his hopes of persuading the fickle but powerful Rajput feudatory, Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh was a ruler of Marwar in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He was a Rajput belonging to the Rathore clan. His father was Maharaja Guj Singh.-History:...
of Marwar, to support his cause, the luckless Dara decided to make a stand and fight Aurangzeb's relentless pursuers but was once again comprehensively routed in the battle of Deorai (near Ajmer) on March 11, 1659. After this defeat he fled to Sindh and sought refuge under Malik Jiwan, an Afghan chieftain, whose life had on more than one occasion been saved by the Mughal prince from the wrath of Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
. However, Malik betrayed Dara and turned him (and his second son Sipihr Shikoh) over to Aurangzeb's army on June 10, 1659.
Dara was brought to Delhi, placed on a filthy elephant and paraded through the streets of the capital in chains. Dara's fate was decided by the political threat he posed as a prince popular with the common people - a convocation of nobles and clergy, called by Aurangzeb in response to the perceived danger of insurrection in Delhi, declared him a threat to the public peace and an apostate from Islam. He was assassinated by four of Aurangzeb's henchmen in front of his terrified son on the night of August 30, 1659.
Intellectual pursuits
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
's famous Qadiri Sufi saint Hazrat Mian Mir, whom he was introduced to by Mullah Shah Badakhshi
Mullah Shah Badakhshi
Mullah Shah Badakhshi, popularly known as "Mullah Shah" was a Muslim Sufi, spiritual successor of the famous Mian Mir. He belonged to the Qadiri order of Sufism. He was the spiritual mentor of the mughal prince Dara Shikoh Qadri. Dara Shikoh desired to be initiated into the Qadri order at the hands...
(Mian Mir's spiritual disciple and successor) and who was so widely respected among all communities that he was invited to lay the foundation stone of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Sikhs. Dara subsequently developed a friendship with the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai
Guru Har Rai
Guru Har Rai was the seventh of ten living Gurus of the Sikhs who became Guru on 8 March 1644 following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Guru Har Gobind, who was the sixth guru. Before he died, he nominated five year old Har Krishan, his youngest son as the next Guru of the Sikhs...
. Dara devoted much effort towards finding a common mystical language between Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. Towards this goal he completed the translation of 50 Upanishads from its original Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
into Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in 1657 so it could be read by Muslim scholars. His translation is often called Sirr-e-Akbar (The Greatest Mystery), where he states boldly, in the Introduction, his speculative hypothesis that the work referred to in the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
as the "Kitab al-maknun" or the hidden book, is none other than the Upanishads. His most famous work, Majma-ul-Bahrain ("The Confluence of the Two Seas"), was also devoted to a revelation of the mystical and pluralistic affinities between Sufic
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
and Vedantic
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
speculation.
The library established by Dara Shikoh still exists on the grounds of Indraprastha University, Kashmiri Gate
Kashmiri Gate (Delhi)
The Kashmiri Gate is a gate located in Delhi, it is the northern gate to the historic walled city of Delhi...
, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, and is now run as a museum by Archeological Survey of India after being renovated.
Patron of art
Nadira Banu
Nadira Banu was the wife of Dara Shikoh, the heir to Shah Jahan's throne and the crown prince of the Mughal Empire. After his brother’s rise to power, Prince Dara’s immediate family and all of his supporters were in grave danger...
in 1641-42 and remained with her until her death after which the album was taken into the royal library and the inscriptions connecting it with Dara Shikoh were deliberately erased; however not everything was vandalised and many calligraphy
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
scripts and paintings still bear his mark.
Dara Shikoh is also credited with the commissioning of several exquisite, still extant, examples of Mughal architecture - among them the tomb of his wife Nadira Banu
Nadira Banu
Nadira Banu was the wife of Dara Shikoh, the heir to Shah Jahan's throne and the crown prince of the Mughal Empire. After his brother’s rise to power, Prince Dara’s immediate family and all of his supporters were in grave danger...
in Lahore, the tomb of Hazrat Mian Mir also in Lahore, the Dara Shikoh Library in Delhi, the Akhun Mullah Shah Mosque in Srinagar in Kashmir and the Pari Mahal garden palace (also in Srinagar in Kashmir).
In art
The issues surrounding Dara Shikoh's impeachment and execution are used to explore interpretations of Islam in a 2008 play, The Trial of Dara Shikoh, written by Akbar S. AhmedAkbar S. Ahmed
Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, or Akbar Ahmed, is currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University in Washington, D.C., the First Distinguished Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the...
. Dara Shikoh is also the subject of a 2010 play called Dara, written and directed by Shahid Nadeem of the Ajoka Theatre group in Pakistan. Dara Shikoh is also the subject of the 2007 play Dara Shikoh, written by Danish Iqbal. Dara Shikoh is also a character played by Vaquar Sheikh in the 2005 Bollywood film Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story, directed by Akbar Khan.
Dara Shikoh is also the name of the protagonist of Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani author best known for his novels Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist .- Biography :...
's 2000 novel Moth Smoke
Moth Smoke
Moth Smoke is a novel written by Mohsin Hamid, published in 2000. It tells the story of Darashikoh Shezad, a banker in Lahore, Pakistan, who loses his job, falls in love with his best friend's wife, and plunges into a life of drugs and crime...
, which reimagines the story of his trial unfolding in contemporary Pakistan. The novel concludes with these words: "It is perhaps between hope and memory, in the atomized, atomic lands once Aurangzeb's empire, that our poets tell us Darashikoh, the apostate, called out to God as he died."
The character of Dara Shikoh is a quintessential Muslim liberal struggling against orthodoxy. In recent years Dara Shikoh has been a subject of many books, novels and plays. Shyamal Gangopadhyaya, Danish Iqbal and Gopal Gandhi are few contemporary writers who wrote about this forgotten liberal hero.
Danish Iqbal’s Dara Shikoh is a modern classic which was staged by director M S Sathyu of the film Garam Hawa fame in Delhi in 2003–04. In the words of critic Ramesh Chand Charlie, the stage play Dara Shikoh is a turning point of traditional theatrical sensibilities. Use of Wali Deccani's period poetry provides this Play with a very rare artistic and historical context. Use of Kathak choreography by Rani Khanum and her troupe, and authentic costumes including headgear, swords and period art work was a treat for the eyes. Use of Sufi music, context and ambience is very alluring and mesmerising. This play had a good run in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon and Banglore.
There are reports that this play is also being converted into a feature film under the direction of Sathyu.
Works
- Majma-ul-bahrain Or The Mingling Of The Two Oceans, Adam Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-7435-461-1.
MAJMA' UL BAHARAIN or The Mingling Of Two Oceans, by Prince Muhammad Dara Shikuh, Edited in the Original Persian with English Translation, notes & variants by M.Mahfuz-ul-Haq, published by The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, Bibliotheca Indica Series no. 246, 1st. published 1929, 4th Reprinted Edition JULY 2007, price: Rs.150.00 / $15.
See also
- Mughal EmpireMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
- Shah JahanShah JahanShah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
- Jaigarh FortJaigarh FortJaigarh Fort is situated on the premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela of the Aravalli hill ranges; it overlooks the Amber Fort and the Moata Lake, near Amber in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India...
- Mughal–Safavid War (1649–1653)Mughal–Safavid War (1649–1653)The Mughal–Safavid War of 1649-1653 was fought between the Mughal and Safavid Empires in the territory of modern Afghanistan. The war started after a Persian army, while the Mughals were at war with the Janid Uzbeks, captured the fortress city of Kandahar and other strategic cities that controlled...
External links
- Bernier, Francois Travels in the Mogul Empire, AD 1656-1668
- Manucci, Niccolo Storia de Mogor or Mogul Stories'
- Srikand, Yoginder Dara Shikoh's Quest for Spiritual Unity
Mittal, Aditya The Battle of Samugarh
Gyani Brahma Singh, Dara Shikoh - The Prince who turned Sufi in The Sikh Review
The Hindu, A forgotten symbol of composite culture
- Dara Shikoh Library
- Nadira Banu's tomb
- Mazar Hazrat Mian Mir
- Ancient Monuments of Kashmir by Ram Chandra Kak
- The Dara Shikoh Album British Museum Online Gallery
Sleeman, William (1844), E-text of Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official