1870.] The Literary Character of Bard Shikoh. 273 



The Literary Character of Bard Shikoh. 



A particular interest attaches to the religious views and the 

 literary character of Dara Shikoh. Aurangzib calls him an atheist, 

 and the historians of his reign look upon his sentence of death as a 

 service rendered to Islam. But from his works, it is clear that 

 Dara was no atheist, but had a strong leaning to f ufism and natural 

 religion. With the Cufis he shared the belief that the ordinances 

 of the Prophet are excellent for the unthinking masses : think- 

 ing places a man above the ceremonial law, and renders him free 

 (dzdd). But the thinking man, whilst standing above the ceremo- 

 nial law, is not necessarily opposed to it ; in his search for truth he 

 has reached a stage where revealed religion and its commands no 

 longer apply to him. Hence it is unnecessary that he should formally 

 renounce Islam ; he may even outwardly conform to its ordinan- 

 ces. As far as he is concerned, Islam stands on a level with all other 

 religions, e. g., Hinduism, the study of the philosophy of which ceases 

 to be objectionable, and may even lead to further emancipation of 

 thought.* Hence Dara Shikoh devoted his zeal to the translation 

 of the Upanishads into Persian, and wrote at the same time his 

 Safinat-ulauliya, a biographical work on the lives of Muhamma- 

 dan Saints. In style and arrangement, his book does not differ 

 from similar works written by pious Muhammadans. Another book 

 composed by Dara Shikoh, treats of the principles of pdfism.f The 

 latter work only possesses a historical interest as being written by 

 a Prince of Dihli. In the former work, tlae^afinah, Dara Shikoh 

 calls himself Muhammad Dara Shikoh i Hanafi i Qadiri, to shew 

 that he was a Hanafi Sunni and a follower of the great orthodox 

 Saint 'Abdul Qadir of Gilan, whose disciples form the Qadiriyah 

 Sect. The only MS- which I have seen, belongs to the Government 

 of India, and was written in 1 151, the 21st year of Muhammad Shah. 

 It contains 216 leaves, 15 lines per page, and is very worm-eaten. 

 It begins with an alhamdu liUdhi, &c. The next sentence is — 



*\j$ wis* 3 ! i^ili/Oj Si^\ ^jua, c^r*^ of^^*^ j J'j-^f ^j^ **i k°t 



e> 



* Bernier (Calcutta Edition, I, p. 326) also speaks of Dara's close intimacy 

 with the Jesuit Father Buzee. 



t MSS. are rare. The only one I have seen is preserved among the Delhi 

 MSS. belonging to the Government of India. Its title is Risdlah i Haq-numd. 



05 



