New Delhi: The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), which is under the Ministry of External Affairs, has picked the “tolerant intellectual” Dara Shikoh as the subject of their next seminar expected in next few months.
Shikoh was the eldest son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and the heir apparent to the throne. He was defeated and later killed by his younger brother Aurangzeb after a bitter war of succession.
Historians and intellectuals have often debated or discussed as to how different India would have been had Shah Jahan’s favourite son succeeded him.
The ICCR is holding a series of academic exchanges of international nature on eminent Asian personalities that can bring countries, intellectuals and writers together. Celebration of the Mughal hero in a two-day long seminar with scholars from various universities in India the US is also on the cards.
Talking to News 18, the Director General ICCR, Amarender Khatua said, “Dara, an eminent heir, was tolerant, knew many things about religion, and for a diverse India such symbols are unifying.”
The officials in the council believe that the country needs to celebrate such “good national symbol.”
Historian Meenakshi Jain, member of Indian Council for Historical Research who specialised in the period 1757-1857, said, “Dara (Shikoh) is remembered for his translation and syncretic interpretation of Hindu sacred texts. He had Yoga Vasishta and Bhagvad Gita translated into Persian. Most important was his translation (with the help of pandits) of 52 Upanishads into Persian.”
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