Conference on Dara Shikoh to be held in New Delhi

The international conference on Dara Shikoh: Reclaiming Spiritual Legacy of India will be held on 27 April and 28 April 2017 in New Delhi.

The conference will be organised by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR).

The international conference aims at presenting Dara Shikoh's contribution and initiatives in bringing about spiritual homogenisation of Hinduism and Islam and thereby building a cohesive social and cultural edifice of India.

The conference will also see the participation of eminent scholars, academics and historians from the US, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and India.

About Dara Shikoh

• Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.

• He was also the heir-apparent of the Mughal Emperor.

• He was favoured as a successor by his father, Shah Jahan, and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum.

• However, Dara Shikoh was defeated and killed by his younger brother Aurangzeb in a struggle for the imperial throne.

• Dara Shikoh, through his research and study of Vedas and Upanishads, concluded that a common spiritual basis existed between Hinduism and Islam which should be comprehended and celebrated.

• In his foreword to the monumental work, Siri-Akbar, he wrote that a great deal of Quranic wisdom existed in Upanishads.

• He also documented the Quranic terms and their Sanskrit equivalents from Upanishads.