Painting of Mughal era. - File Photo.

KARACHI: Lives of two Mughal princes, whose character sketches have been distorted by historians, their relations, religious views and a bitter struggle over political control of the culturally and economically rich empire, were explored at a programme attended by a small gathering of people on Wednesday evening.

Dara Shikoh, heir apparent of Emperor Shah Jahan, and his younger brother, Aurangzeb, were the central figures of the interesting discourse, New perspectives on the Mughals: the case of Dara Shikoh , held at T2F.

The talk by Dr Munis Faruqui, assistant professor at the South and Southeast Asian Studies Department of the University of California, Berkeley, presented a unique side to the brothers, often disregarded in history.

“Our history has been written in such a way that Dara Shikoh is presented as a particular kind of a person, and Aurangzeb is presented as another kind,” said Dr Faruqui. Focusing on the fact that neither of the brothers were saints or devils, the professor discussed Dara's character and his deepening interest in Sufism, eventually zeroing in on the prince's attempt to find common language between Islam and Hinduism.

After a brief discussion on his literary pursuits — with a special mention of his book, Majma-al-Bahrain (The confluence of the two seas) — Dr Faruqui traced Dara's journey from his quest for solace and talked about the prince's perception of the Quran and the Bible. Not able to find the answers he was looking for, Dara went on to study the Upanishads, the philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. He came to the conclusion that the 'hidden book' mentioned in the Quran is none other than the Upanishads and believed that in order to understand the Quran, one needed to study the Hindu text. He even drew an equation between Adam and Brahma — a view which, according to historian, branded him as a heretic and led to his execution.

Dr Faruqui also explored the relationship that the misunderstood brothers shared and their struggle for the throne while highlighting the striking contrast between the two. While Dara, he said, almost never left the safety of his Mughal court, Aurangzeb was a skilled warrior — a fact evident in the battleground where Aurangzeb triumphed over his brother.

While discussing a brief sketch of Aurangzeb, Dr Faruqui kept his talk confined to the time before the prince had won the throne. He said that contrary to general perception, Aurangzeb cultivated even those who disagreed with him, and was in fact tolerant of other faiths; he enjoyed strong military and political support in Muslims as well as non-Muslims.

“It is clear in my mind that just as Aurangzeb did not represent an Islamic backlash in the mid 17th century, neither did Dara seek to offer tolerant Sufi version of Islam,” concluded Dr Faruqui.

“Ultimately, it was nothing more, or less, than Dara's inconstant ability to antagonise friend and foe alike, compared to Aurangzeb's unequalled ability to paper over differences that enabled one prince to ascend the throne, while consigning other to the grave.”

An animated question and answer session followed the talk mainly on the dynamics of the Mughal Empire with regular reference to Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb.

During the session, Dr Faruqui also shed light on the bureaucratic nature of the empire, how the economy worked throughout the empire and the role the Mughals played in building a powerful South Asia.