Islamic Saint Saw Upanishads as Secret Book of Quran

[Guest guest]

By Shweta Austin

 

Prince Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD)

"...there is his Persian version of the Upanishads and Bhagvad Gita.

While many are familiar with Dara Shikoh's translation of the

Upanishads, few know that in the preface to the translation, he

speculates that the Upanishads may well have been the secret book

mentioned in the Quran. It was for this reason that he called the

Upanishads, The Great Secret."

 

Prince Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the

favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan.

Known the world over for his unorthodox and liberal

views. He was a mystic and a free thinker.

 

Dara Shikoh, wrote in his Persian

translation of the Upanishads.

 

"After gradual research; I have come to

the conclusion that long before all heavenly books,

God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis

of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books

of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama

Veda and the Atharva Veda."

 

He had learned Sanskrit and studied the Hindu

scriptures in the original.

 

He translated the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and

Yoga - Vashishta into Persian directly from

Sanskrit and called it Sirr-e-Akbar (The Great Mystery).

Titled "The Upanishads: God's Most Perfect Revelation"

and then into Latin by Anquetil Duperron (1801 and 1802)

under the title Oupnekhat, contained about fifty.

The Quran itself, he said, made veiled references

to the Upanishads as the "first heavenly book and

the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism."

 

In his Majma al-Bahrain, he sought to reconcile

the Sufi theory with the Vedanta.

 

He was able to affirm that Sufism and

Advaita Vedantism (Hinduism) are

essentially the same, with a surface

difference of terminology.”

 

And in introduction to this work he says

that one finds in Upanishads the concept of

tawhid (the doctrine of Unity of God, the

most fundamental doctrine of Islam) after the

Qur'an and perhaps the Qur'an refers to Upanishad

when it refers to Kitab al-Maknun (The Hidden Book).

His work Majma`ul Bahrayn (Mingling of the Two Oceans i.e.

Hinduism and Islam) is very seminal work in the history of

composite culture of India.

 

Two years after the completion of the

Sirr-i-Akbar, Dara was executed on the

orders of his brother - Aurangazeb.

 

 

It's a strange feeling to feel lost in your own city. It happened

after spending hours trying to locate what was once considered the

pantheon of all knowledge and the glory of Shahjahanabad, the

library of Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's eldest son. After hovering near

the Kashmiri Gate area in the scorching heat for hours my efforts

finally paid off as I entered the huge colonial bunglow which is now

the office of the Archeological Department of the Delhi government.

 

With little idea of what the century-old library would look like, I

was nevertheless somewhat taken aback to find the entire complex

surrounded by jamun trees, huge white pillars, speaking of British

architecture, and wooden blinds covering the verandahs. The only

remnant of Mughal architecture could be seen in the basement.

 

Dara, a professed Muslim, was known the world over for his

unorthodox and liberal views and was deeply imbued with the

heretical mysticism of the Sufis. He mixed freely with philosophers

and scholars of other religions. In fact, due to his relations with

priests like Father Buseo, there were even rumours at one time about

his embracing Christianity. During the autumn of 1657, after endless

intrigues, when Aurangzeb finally ascended the throne, Dara fled

westward.

 

The Rajputs were the main supporters of Dara Shikoh and if Jaswant

Singh of Marwar had not behaved treacherously, he might have won.

Later, he was betrayed by his Afghan host, Malik Jeewan, a person

whose life he had once saved from the wrath of Shah Jahan. The court

theologians readily humoured Aurangzeb's penchant for legal

proceedings and passed the death sentence against Dara Shikoh. Dara

was beheaded and his corpse paraded through the city and buried

without ceremony in a vault near Humayun's Tomb.

 

The death of Dara also meant the destruction of his library. Dara's

estate, comprising the palace, library and garden were given to the

subedar of Lahore, Ali Mardan Khan, and later taken over by Wazir

Safdarjung, before being captured by the British. According to the

records at the Archeological Department the building changed hands

at least seven times, each time being modified by its owners.

 

The first to do so was the Viceroy of Punjab, Ali Mardan Khan

Mohammad, around 1639. Then came Sir David Ochterlony Bart around

1803, after which it was taken over by the government college

between 1804 to 1877 and later by the the District College in 1877

to 1886 until the Municipal Board School took it till 1904. It

finally came to the Delhi College of Engineering till recently when

it came under the Delhi government.

 

This perhaps explains why nothing typically Mughal in style or

architecture is visible here, asserts Nita Bali, the secretary of

Art and Culture, Delhi government. The guiding force behind the

renovation of the Ghalib Manzil, Nita observes, "It has not been

easy for us to restore the 'original' touch to the library since no

original plan has been recovered. On our part, we have tried to

preserve whatever traces of Mughal architecture that still existed."

 

Referring to the inaction of the government in preserving the

monument till now, Bali's opinion is to let the past rest and

concentrate on doing some good work in the present. She has come up

with a Citizen's Charter aiming at the digitisation and upgradation

of the archaeological museum set up on the premises, besides an

advisory committe chaired by her which will be responsible for

ensuring conservation.

 

At present, the departmant is also planning to extend its

conseration activities to the Mutiny Memorial near GTK Depot,

Baradari at Sadhana Enclave, Zail at Bawana and Lodi period tomb at

Katwaria Sarai, all within a budget of Rs 50 lakh. However, Bali

maintains that "till the Delhi Ancient and Historical Monuments and

Sites and Remains Bill awaits the assent of the President of India,

we are not equipped to effectively preserve monuments of local

importance."

 

Also commendable is the fact that the basement of the monument

(Dara's library), known to be the only original portion of the

library which still exists, has been preserved. Dr B S R Babu the

deputy director of the archaeology department who showed me around

the basement with its typically Mughal pillars, cleaned and carved

out after the debris from the structure was cleared, says the

conservation work was started in February in phases.

 

The first phase is complete and a feast awaits lovers of history.

The first task it faced was having to tear down the encroachments

that had come up in all these years before beginning renovaitons in

keeping with whatever records and references they could lay their

hands on.

 

However, it remains to be seen how the department approaches the

issue of Dara's original manuscripts which have been missing since

the time of his death. For instance, there is his Persian version of

the Upanishads and Bhagvad Gita. While many are familiar with Dara

Shikoh's translation of the Upanishads, few know that in the preface

to the translation, he speculates that the Upanishads may well have

been the secret book mentioned in the Quran. It was for this reason

that he called the Upanishads, The Great Secret. Among his literary

works is his book Majmua-ul-Baharain which aims at bringing Islam

and Hinduism closer. While it is said that Dara's passion for books

saw him spend most of his time in the library, which was close to

his living apartments and contained a valuable collection of works

brought from Turkey, Persia, Greece, Egypt and various parts of

India, apart from his own scholarly works. Sadly enough, the library

stands empty today.

 

Interestingly, some see it as part of Aurangzeb's plan to blot out

every memory of Dara, his 'infidel' brother whose work he considered

heretical. Others say these works found their way to auction houses

and private collectors of England. Dr Babu says the works may be in

Lahore, the Royal Asiatic Society Bengal, Asfiya Library in Hydrabad

and the Punjab University according to references. "We will try to

locate these," he says. As to how he plans to do this, it's

anybody's guess!