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'Dara Shikoh was founding father of secularism in India'

Inaugurating the international meet titled 'Dara Shikoh: Reclaiming the Spiritual Legacy of India', Minister of State for External Afffairs MJ Akbar called Dara 'a child of India' who lost the battle of life but won the war of harmony among different religion bodies.

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Minister of State for External Afffairs MJ Akbar speaks at inauguration of the international meet titled ‘Dara Shikoh: Reclaiming the Spiritual Legacy of India
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Two months after Dalhousie Road was renamed as Dara Shikoh Road, the eldest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was remembered once again at a two-day conference organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi.

Inaugurating the international meet titled 'Dara Shikoh: Reclaiming the Spiritual Legacy of India', Minister of State for External Afffairs MJ Akbar called Dara 'a child of India' who lost the battle of life but won the war of harmony among different religion bodies.

"Why was Dara chosen as the preferred successor at a time all warrior princes had to fight for the throne? Why did Shah Jahan keep Dara Shikoh in court but sent all his other sons as Governors to the States?... Shah Jahan knew that India could not be ruled by force alone but through the spiritual philosophy of harmony and recognized that if you can't win hearts of people you can't rule," said MJ Akbar.

Referring to his book 'Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan' and a letter written by Shivaji to Aurangzeb, he said, "Shivaji told him that while the Quran had clearly said Allah was the lord of all people and not just of the Muslims, and he (Aurangzeb) had forgotten the lord himself."

The event which saw participation of scholars and historians from seven countries namely Iran, USA, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and India stressed that the environment would have been different if Dara would have become the Mughal emperor instead of his younger brother Aurangzeb.

Stating that we need to get closer to each other, Iranian Ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari described 'tolerance' as the legacy of Dara. Relating it with the history of India, he said, "Democracy in India is different from other countries as here it is indigenous."

ICCR president Lokesh Chandra described Dara as the founding father of secularism in India and credited him of bringing different cultures into dialogue and finding a closer connection between Hinduism and Islam.

"The study of India begins with the translation of the Upanishads and Dara Shukoh had them translated into Persian. The Europeans at that time did not read Sanskrit and so they read the Upanishads in Persian which were later translated into Latin... So Dara Shikoh is directly responsible and because of him the whole process of the study of India's culture began," said Chandra in a press release.

Speaking about the conference, ICCR Director General Amarendra Khatua said that it is time we go back to our roots to discover spiritual fillings that can keep all of us together. To meet this purpose, Dara Shikoh seems to be the right icon as his legacy is about tolerance, harmony and togetherness. The two-day meet aimed at foregrounding Dara's contribution in bringing spiritual homogenization of Hinduism and Islam and also saw a 90-minute theatrical production titled 'Dara' by National School of Drama's Acting department head Tripurari Sharma.

Who is Dara Shikoh?

Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was defeated and later killed by his younger brother Aurangzeb in a bitter struggle for the throne. In the past few years, efforts have been made to bring him to the foreground as a secular icon who learnt Sanskrit language and studied Vedas and Upanishads and also commissioning the translation of Upanishads in Persian from Sanskrit language in his effort to spread the traditional text.

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