By Krishan Kant
In reference to Majma-ul-Bahrain by Prince Muhammad Dara Shikuh
It was Muhammad Dara Shikuh (son of Shahjahan, born at Ajmir on the last day of Safar, who even after living during the reign of the cruelest and most fanatic ones recited a tune of harmony for the world. It was this tune of harmony and love for all that ringed in his heart till his last breath. Dara was born at the city of a great mystic and he turned out to be a devout Sufi. Out of the four sons, Dara, Shuja, Murad and Aurangzeb, of Shahjahan he was the only one who serenaded the hymns of brotherhood and love for all religions. Dara was the eldest and most loved. It was after the death of his beloved wife Nadira Begum that he resigned himself to the will of God.
His philosophy of religion and humanity was despised by other three sons of Shahjahan and he was found guilty of apostasy from Islam. The barbican of Islam never let other three brothers recognize the importance of humanity for good world order. Aurangzeb passed orders for his execution which was carried out on the night of Wednesday, 21st Dhul Hijja, 1069 A.H. A saint who worked for bringing the two oceans of humanity together died at the hands of a cruel emperor and brother. A man having sufistic leanings succumbed to rashness displayed by Aurangzeb. His studies in Sufism lead him to say that Truth is not the exclusive property of any particular or chosen race but that it can be found in all religions and at all times.
In Dara’s Majma-ul-Bahrain we read of the parallel he drew between philosophy professed by Hinduism and one by Muslims in the world. It has been called as Muslim intellectual perception of Hinduism. It was the establishment of Turkic rule in India that opened up many opportunities for contact between Hinduism and Islam.
Initially, it was Maktab Khana, a translation bureau of Akbar that helped considerably to change the Muslim perception of Hinduism. Akbar carried a view that translation of texts from both Hinduism and Islam would form a basis for a united search for truth. Truth that is perceptible for all. This he felt would enable the people to understand the true spirit of their religion. This was being propagated by the great king Akbar to heal the religious differences amongst his subjects. Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy was given due value by Muslim intellectuals only after it was translated into Persian from Sanskrit.
It was Prince Dara Shikuh who carried forward Akbar’s Sulh-i-Kulh or path of uninterrupted peace in relationship with all people. It was Dara who first criticized the Hindu theologians for hiding the Upanishadic truth from both Hindus and Muslims. He worked with an aim that his translations would help mystics of both faiths.
In his Majma-ul-Bahrain or The Mingling of Two Oceans Dara tried to prove that an appreciation of the deeper elements in Sufism and Hindu mysticism could be achieved only by the elite of both religions. He found that the concepts of both the religions were identical and it is for the elite of these religions to help people in general understand them. Through his theological discourses, he infused the spirit of liberalism into medieval Indian life and made a nascent effort for expanding the horizons of Indian mind.
In India, Hinduism and Islam have remained oil and water. The individual endeavors of Akbar and Dara Shikuh to introduce Hindu thought and speculation into Persian literature have remained almost completely isolated. Its sterility has been kept oblivious.
Speyer in his De Indische Theosophie has dealt with the influence of Indian theosophy on the West and has shortly spoken about Kabir, the Sikhs, Akbar and Ram Mohan Roy. De Massignon has published and translated the conversation between Dara Shikuh and Baba Lal Das.
Johan Van Manen says in introduction to Majma-ul-Bahrain that from this little book we can work backwards and forwards and it is an apt focus for further research.
Dara in order to form a vision for life studied the well known works of the Sufis of Islam and had examined their contents very closely and minutely.
Giving his connotation on five elements he said that first is the great element, (unsure-i-A’zam), which the men of faith call Arsh-i-Akbar or the great throne, second is the wind, third the fire, fourth the water and fifth the dust. In Indian philosophy we know them as Panch Bhut, namely bhumi (earth), gagan (sky), vaayu (air), anal (fire) and nal (water). There are three akas (sky) he further writes: bhut akas, man akas and chid akas. Bhut akas surrounds the elements, man akas encircles the whole existence and chid akas is permanent enveloping all.
Dara’s unquenchable quest for understanding of the Hindu religious systems is clearly visible in his work and philosophy. He worked a lot for the study of Sanskrit. It was his meeting with Baba Lal Das Bairagi proved quite enlightening in his life.
It was Dara who found some common elements in the Qadiri ashghal and the yogic meditational exercises.He translated the Yoga Vasistha into Persian in 1650 A.D. In order to have a better understanding of Indian philosophical thought, he translated the Bhagwad Gita.
He translated 50 Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian. Dara ha d a notion that the ‘Great Secret’ of the Upanishads is the monotheistic message abd this message is identical to the basis of Quran.
He worked tirelessly hard to search for common elements in Hinduism and Islam. In his research he could find remarkable parallels between the holy Quran and the Upanishads in respect of tauhid or unity of God. He concluded that the Quran and the Upanishads enshrined two different facts of God.
Dara Shukoh’s translation of the Upanishads into Persian played a significant role in introducing the Upanishdic philosophy to the west. Victor Cousin, a French Philosopher stated that Vedanta, “the philosophy of the Upanishads, is the highest philosophy that mankind has ever produced”. Due to such impressions given for the Upanishads and the holy Quran Eastern philosophy was much appreciated by the western philosophers.
It was with the efforts of Dara Shukoh, that the wisdom of Vedas kissed the shores of West and earned much appreciation.
Here it stands noteworthy that both the Quran and the Gita accept that God is the Supreme Being and has the absolute power. It is only God who lets us choose our path and be responsible for it. Allah or Krishna never let your prayers go unheard. Just as Islam believes in zakat, the Hindus believe in daan and being humane Hinduism and Islam shun human killing. As Islam believes in salat the Hindus believe in bhakti.
Islam is an Arabic word, which comes from the word ‘Salm’ which means peace and from ‘Silm’, which means submitting your will to Allah – the Almighty God. In short Islam means peace acquired by submitting your will to Allah (swt). The word ‘Hindu’ has geographical significance and was used originally to refer to those people who lived beyond the river Sindhu or the region watered by the river Indus. According to the Hindu Scholars, Hinduism is a misnomer and the religion ‘Hinduism’ should be either referred to as ‘Sanatana Dharma’, which means eternal religion, or as Vedic Dharma, meaning religion of the Vedas. According to Swami Vivekananda, the followers of this religion are referred to as Vendantists. (Ref: Majma-ul-Bahrain by M.Mahfuz-ul-Haq, 1998)