Recently Dalhousie road in New Delhi has been renamed after Dara Shukoh by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation. The proposal was put forward to NDMC by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi who is also a council member. She explained the demand of such renaming by saying, “The council has decided to rename the road to honour Dara Shukoh for bringing Hindus and Muslims together” (The New Indian Express, 2017). Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of India from 1848 to 1856. Though such a change may seem routine and mundane, the move is significant and also political. Political in a sense, that renaming streets is also a way of endorsing or validating historical figures and their contribution. For those who haven’t heard Dara Shukoh’s name before, he was the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan’s eldest son who was also his favorite and crowned prince designated to succeed him. But he was defeated by his brother Aurangzeb who went on to become the Emperor of India. Ironically, in August 2015 a street named after Aurangzeb was renamed after former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam. The politics of bloodletting and sibling rivalry for gaining power and throne are very common in history. Then why is Dara Shukoh, a defeated Mughal Prince, remembered today by the political dispensation?
Dara Shukoh, though in history will be the vanquished prince, he has to his credit an illustrious life full of incredible scholarship. He studied Hindu religion and translated the Upanishads in Persian. Along with Upanishads, Bhagwat Gita, he also studied the Talmud and the New Testament. He was a mystic, a Sufi and a person seeking truth and spirituality. But it’s anyone’s guess that his scholarship and attempt to counter bigoted thought and beliefs is not the reason why the renaming of the road is taking place. Dara Shukoh was executed by his ‘bigot’ brother Aurangzeb by charging that Dara Shukoh “apostatized from the law and having vilified the religion of God had allied himself with heresy”. This seeming cruelty by Aurangzeb to a brother who studied Hindu religion, makes Dara Shukoh an acceptable figure for Hindu Nationalists who cite him as an example of harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Since Dara Shukoh is revoked by politics today in the discourse of who becomes a “good” Muslim and whose name can be honored by having them exhibited in public spaces, at this point of time, it is imperative to revisit Dara Shukoh to understand his life and his works.
As mentioned earlier, Dara Shukoh (1615-1659) was the eldest son of Emperor Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal. Before the birth of Dara Shukoh at Sagartal near Ajmer, Shahjahan only had daughters and thus he made supplications at the shrine of the great Sufi Saint Khwaja Mouiddin Chisti for a son. His prayers were answered and the Emperor rejoiced the birth of his eldest son. Dara Shukoh had three other brothers, Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad. But Dara Shukoh remained the closest to his father. Though the other sons were sent on assignments and conquers far away, Dara Shukoh was always kept at the court of the Emperor so that he was in the company of his father. Dara Shukoh from his early age was more inclined towards mysticism and philosophy than military pursuits. This gained him the epithet of the Philosopher Prince.
Dara Shukoh though is inevitably compared to his great grandfather Akbar in matters of patronizing scholars of other religions and undertaking comparative study of religions, there is a significant distinction between the two. Akbar’s motive of deliberation with scholars from different religions and tolerance was political and to consolidate his power in India. Dara Shukoh had no motive of power or worldly things. He undertook the study of different religions for seeking truth. He truly believed that no religion had monopoly over truth. Truth could be found in different religions and truth was manifold.
The early beginning of his journey of spirituality started with his acquaintances of great Sufi saints. He was closely associated with Miyan Mir and Mulla Shah Badakhshi. He undertook studies in mysticism. He got initiated into Qadiri Sufi Silsila. He was so entrenched into Islamic mysticism that he wrote 6 books on Sufism. In the first book itself, when he was 25 years old, he recorded the lives of almost 411 Islamic saints and divines including the Prophet and his wives. He condemned the Mullahs who interpreted Islam in a rigid way which led to dogmatism and intolerance. His study of Sufism made him realize that to be one with God one doesn’t need rituals or priests but only love and selfless surrender.
He didn’t keep the company only of mystics from the Sufi tradition. He closely associated himself with Baba Lal Das Bairagi who was a follower of Kabir and Jagannath Mishra. He studied along with the mystic traditions from different religions, Hindu mythology, Vedanta philosophy, Psalms, the Gospel and the Pentateuch. He also accepted counsel in spiritual matters from Reverend Father Buzee. He sought the company of Sanyasis of Beneras and Pandits to understand the Hindu scriptures better.
One of the most acclaimed works of Dara Shukoh was ‘Majma-ul- Bahrain’ or the ‘Mingling of the Two Oceans’. In this work, Dara Shukoh has attempted to reconcile the doctrines of Islam and Hinduism by finding common ground between the two. He says, “… Majma-ul-Bahrain is a collection of the truth and wisdom of two truth-knowing groups”. In this work, Dara Shukoh elucidates on the points where the two apparent divergent or discordant religions meet. This revealed his inclination to pluralism of truths and religions by showing through his study that Hinduism and Islam have points in common and thus complement each other. It strengthened Indo Islamic thought in India which was broad based and Syncretic in nature. He didn’t uphold that one religion is superior to another. His interpretation of religions was inclusive and liberal. He says, “If I know that an infidel (Hindu), immersed in sin, is in a way, singing the note of monotheism, I go to him, hear him and am grateful to him” (Hasrat, 1982).
Again Dara Shukoh becomes relevant today because when the Hindu nationalists resort to reassert in the supremacy of “Indian” culture which they claim to be steeped in historical traditions. These traditions cited are always from ‘Hindu’ culture, as if there was no exchange of thought or cultural contribution from Islam in India. In this regard, the book Majma-ul-Bahrain is a significant contribution since it comments on commonality in both religions. Both religions lead to Truth. The book dealt with many aspects like elements, senses, devotional exercises, and soul in its 22 sections. But what is striking is the comparison of attributes of God in both religions. In Islam, the Divine has attributes of Jamal or Beauty and Jalal or Majesty. In Hinduism, the three attributes are called Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh denoting creation, duration and destruction respectively. These are identical to the Jibrail, Mikail and Israfil in Islam. Jibrail is the angel of creation, Mikail is the angel of duration or existence and Israfil is the angel of destruction. This goes on to show that there is no fundamental difference in some of the most important aspects from both religions.
The concept of Tawhid really interested Dara Shukoh. This stemmed from his earnest belief in pluralism and yet that different paths lead to the same God or Divine. He famously said, “Here is the secret of Tawhid, O friend, understand it; Nowhere exists anything but God. All that you see or know other than Him, Verily is separate in name, but in essence one with God.” (Sengupta, 2015)
The search for Tawhid or Unity of God and monotheism got Dara Shukoh to study many religious scriptures. The Holy Quran itself has many secrets whose interpretations were difficult to find. He tried to find the solutions and the possible answers to his questions in the revealed books of religions which apparently believed in monotheism. But this led only to frustrations and dissatisfaction since no questions were answered from these books. Dara Shukoh then resorted to find the answers in Hindu scriptures and translated 50 chapters of the Upanishads.
He found answers to his earlier unresolved dilemmas and inquiries. He henceforth considered the Upanishads the ‘first heavenly book’ and the ‘fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism’. He goes on to explain that the Upanishad is the Kitab-i- Maknun or the hidden book whose reference is in the Quran. The Quran states, “Indeed there is a book, which is hidden. None shall touch it but the purified ones. It is a revelation by the Lord of the worlds”. (Quran LVI: 78-81)This translation of the Upanishads was titled as the ‘Sirr-e-Akbar’ or the Great Secret. This is significant because it demonstrates the liberal and broad thinking of Dara Shukoh who was willing to seek truth or understand the unexplained phenomenon from scriptures of other religions. In today’s times the fanatical elements in Islam claim the infallibility of the Quran and consider it as the last word and on the other hand the Hindu nationalists swear by the supremacy of the Bhagwat Gita to an extent where they propose that it should be made compulsory in schools. This indicates towards supremacist and dogmatic tendencies. But Dara Shukoh in order to understand his own religion better sought the knowledge from other religions and readily accepted that other religious scriptures could explain his own religion better to him.
Overall Dara Shukoh sincerely pursued the path of study of comparative religions. He didn’t give up Islam in fact he was a devout Muslim but used other religions to increase his understanding of Islam. He studied Hinduism because he saw an inherent harmony between Islam and Hinduism. He believed that the conflicts may arise on the aspects of rituals but in spiritual matters the two religions can easily reconcile. In that sense his contribution to syncreticism in India is valuable. But is it enough to honour him merely by changing the name of a street in Delhi?
There is politics to naming and renaming entities in public spaces. It reinforces stereotypes. By pitting Dara Shukoh against Aurangzeb and creating a dichotomy of ‘acceptable’ and non acceptable’ Muslim historic figures, the Hindu nationalists are trying to establish a norm and an order. Apart from communalization of history by vilifying Mughal rulers like Aurangzeb through painting them as bigot zealots and cruel, such selective favoring of Muslims is also in effect setting up a litmus test for the country as to who will qualify as “acceptable”. By revisiting the life and ideas of Dara Shukoh one can reflect if the very ideas of Dara Shukoh that are cited as the reason for honoring him are being respected in India today.
In the atmosphere where Hindu religion is hailed to be supreme over all other religions, does the idea of pluralism as understood by Dara Shukoh figure in the policies formulated by the State? By making yoga mandatory for example, does the State remember Dara Shukoh’s doctrine of liberal philosophy and different ways or religions lead to one God? Didn’t he fight the very bigotry that we witness in India today? How does the cow become so holy and people are killed and beaten up for it that it is forgotten that Dara Shukoh emphasized on looking beyond superficial symbols of religion but to focus on commonalities between religions? Do the ideas of Dara Shukoh really resonate in way culture is explained and understood by the State? If not then renaming a street in the honor of Dara Shukoh is only a tainted hollow political gesture.
Warning: Undefined array key 0 in /home/shi9fruqstv087j9/public_html/monthly/wp-content/plugins/wp_edit_pro/main.php on line 1765
Warning: Undefined array key "wp_edit_pro_buttons_wp_visitor" in /home/shi9fruqstv087j9/public_html/monthly/wp-content/plugins/wp_edit_pro/main.php on line 1795
Insert WP Edit Snidget
Select a WP Edit Snidget below to add it to your post or page. Yes, they can be used in content areas too!
He has been a radio producer (Earthstar Radio, San Francisco), organized and worked with the homeless, and is an advocate/activist in the nonviolent protest movement for safe energy, human rights, and peaceful solutions.
He is USA Vice President of the World Constitution and Parliament Association whose mission is to build a parallel world body to the United Nations, an emerging Earth Federation with a Provisional World Parliament under the Earth Constitution.
[/themify_box]
First published at:
">Roger Kotila PhD Dr Gary G Kohls MD[/caption]
is a retired physician who practiced holistic, non-drug, mental health care for the last decade of his forty year family practice career. He is a contributor to and an endorser of the efforts of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and was a member of MindFreedom International, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
While running his independent clinic, he published over 400 issues of his Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter, which was emailed to a variety of subscribers. (They have not been archived at any website.) In the early 2000s, Dr Kohls taught a graduate level psychology course at the University of Minnesota Duluth. It was titled “The Science and Psychology of the Mind-Body Connection”.
Since his retirement, Dr Kohls has been writing a weekly column (titled “Duty to Warn”) for the Duluth Reader, an alternative newsweekly published in Duluth, Minnesota. He offers teaching seminars to the public and to healthcare professionals.
[/themify_box]
">Gary G Kohls George Monbiot[/caption]
Studied in Oxford University, columnist with The Guardian newspaper, also the author of the bestselling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, as well as the investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed, No Man’s Land, How Did We Get into This Mess? Politics, Equality, Nature and other.
Prof Johan Galtung was born in Oslo. He earned the PhD degree in mathematics at the University of Oslo in 1956, and in 1957 a year later completed the PhD degree in sociology at the same university.
Prof Johan Galtung received nine honorary doctorates in the fields of Peace studies, Future studies, Social sciences, Buddhism, Sociology of law, Philosophy, Sociology and Law.
State Councilor of St. Petersburg, Russia. Founding President, Global Harmony Association (GHA) since 2005. Honorary President, GHA since 2016. Director: Tetrasociology Public Institute, Russia. Philosopher, Sociologist and Peacemaker from Harmony. Author of more than 400 scientific publications, including 18 books in 1-12 languages. Author of Tetrism as the unity of Tetraphilosophy and Tetrasociology – science of social harmony, global peace and harmonious civilisation. Director, GHA Web portal “Peace from Harmony”. Initiator, Manager, Coauthor and Editor in Chief of the book project “Global Peace Science” (GPS).
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Leo M Semashko Robert C Koehler[/caption]
writes for the Huffington Post, Common Dreams, OpEd News and TruthOut. He considers himself a “peace journalist.” He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, Chicago. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Robert Koehler has received numerous writing and journalism awards over a 30-year career in USA. He writes about values and meaning with reverence for life. He is praised as “blatantly relevant” and “a hero of democracy”.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Robert C Koehler Robert J Burrowes PhD[/caption]
has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?‘
[/themify_box]
">Robert J BurrowesProf Richard Falk[/caption]
an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.
Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is Achieving Human Rights (2009).
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Richard FalkDr Gray Corseri, PhD[/caption]
is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including, TMS, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and Counterpunch.
He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Gary CorseriAntonio Carlos Silva Rosa, Editor, TMS[/caption]
born 1946, is the editor of the pioneering Peace Journalism website, TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS, an assistant to Prof. Johan Galtung, and Secretary of the International Board of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
He completed the required coursework for a Ph.D. in Political Science-Peace Studies (1994), has a Masters in Political Science-International Relations (1990), and a B.A. in Communication (1988) from the University of Hawai’i.
Originally from Brazil, he lives presently in Porto, Portugal. Antonio was educated in the USA where he lived for 20 years; in Europe/India since 1994.
[/themify_box]
First published at :
">Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist, Associate Professor Emeritus, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory.
He is an Indian citizen & permanent resident of Australia and a scholar, an author, a social-policy critic, a frequent social wayfarer, a social entrepreneur and a journalist;He has been exploring, understanding and implementing the ideas of social-economy, participatory local governance, education, citizen-media, ground-journalism, rural-journalism, freedom of expression, bureaucratic accountability, tribal development, village development, reliefs & rehabilitation, village revival and other.
For Ground Report India editions, Vivek had been organising national or semi-national tours for exploring ground realities covering 5000 to 15000 kilometres in one or two months to establish Ground Report India, a constructive ground journalism platform with social accountability.
He has written a book “मानसिक, सामाजिक, आर्थिक स्वराज्य की ओर”on various social issues, development community practices, water, agriculture, his ground works & efforts and conditioning of thoughts & mind. Reviewers say it is a practical book which answers “What” “Why” “How” practically for the development and social solution in India.
worked as a mediator for the church in Belfast; as faculty at The School of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, and as Executive Director, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. He has founded several Indian NGOs, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
[/themify_box]
First published at -
">Vithal RajanRene Wadlow[/caption]
is the President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation on and problem-solving in economic and social issues.
[/themify_box]
">Rene WadlowBaher Kamal[/caption]
[themify_box]
Baher Kamal
Egyptian-born, Spanish-national secular journalist. He is founder and publisher of Human Wrongs Watch. Kamal is a pro-peace, non-violence, human rights, coexistence defender, with more than 45 years of professional experience. With these issues in sight, he covered practically all professional posts, from correspondent to chief editor of dailies and international news agencies.
[/themify_box]
Credits :
">Baher KamalRosa Dalmiglio with Lama Mongolia[/caption]
She is a member of the China Council Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (special art, culture and humanity), which touches the hearts of all people and portrays the strong willpower so encouraging to 60 million Chinese disabled persons.
Ms. Dalmiglio is Intermediary Agent of CICE, Centre International Cultural Exchange, a direct subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China. CICE is a comprehensive institution engaged in cultural exchange programs, professional publication and presentation of cultural art works such as exhibits, receiving foreign art troupes and artists, holding international cultural research programs, and producing intercultural and interreligious documentary films.
She is a member of China Disabled Person’s Federation, CDPF. She is also a member of the International Women Federation, which is concerned with the financial ethics of women s enterprises in underdeveloped areas.
[/themify_box]
credits:
">Rosa Dalmiglio
Director, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies.
A recipient of Cultural Doctorate of Philosophy of Economics from USA. He is an active member of various professional bodies, namely -
He participated and presented papers in various International/national/regional seminars, conferences etc.. He remained member of the Academic Council of Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. An unwearied researcher has about 200 research papers published in various international and national journals of repute and 15 research monographs to his kitty. Besides, he has authored/co-authored /edited 15 books which have been well received and highly acclaimed during his three decades of professional career. He was honoured by various national and international awards, namely, Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award and so on.
Dr Ron Paul served in U.S. House of Representatives three different periods: first from 1976 to 1977, after he won a special election, then from 1979 to 1985, and finally from 1997 to 2013.
During his first term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul founded the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE), a non-profit think tank dedicated to promoting principles of limited government and free-market economics. In 1984, Paul became the first chairman of the Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a conservative political group founded by Charles Koch and David Koch 'to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation.' CSE started a Tea Party protest against high taxes in 2002. In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound Economy being renamed as FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation becoming Americans for Prosperity. The two organizations would become key players in the Tea Party movement from 2009 onward.
Dr Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, while himself serving a few terms in the House of Representatives. In 1984, he decided to retire from the House in order to run for the U.S. Senate, complaining in his House farewell address that 'Special interests have replaced the concern that the Founders had for general welfare.... It's difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic.'
He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry.
In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces.
[/themify_box]
Credits:
">Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.Jason Hickel[/caption]
He is international consultant of the UN – FAO and international consultant for sustainable development and sustainable future of humankind of Universal State of the Earth - USE.
On 8th October 2016 he was appointed as The Chairman of the Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment protection Committee of the USE, the Supreme Council of Humanity - SCH from Athens, Greece and London, UK.
He is researcher working on: Nature; the Nature, Space and Environment protection; the Climate change system; System thinking; Globalization and global studies; Networking, Complexity and Swarm research: Sustainable Development and Sustainable Future of Humankind. He was among the pioneers researchers (1986 – 1994) to apply nature, space, and environment protection in a local community by activities we call today Local Agenda 21 Processes – a holistic program for survival of our civilization under new challenges of the third millennium.“Commencing from Local Community Sustainable Future and moving towards Sustainable Future of the Global Community of Humankind”.
He is independent researchers with many domestic and international publications and talks. Together with many researchers in co-operation worldwide within philosophy, operational research, global studies, case studies and complex problem solving research, system thinking, requisitely holism, networking and complexity, swarm research, integration and disintegration of matter and energy and universal upbringing, education and lifelong learning. He is contributing a systemic, requisitely holistic and a better understanding of the present. His latest research within the system theory, system thinking, networking, complexity and swarm research may provide a possible answer enabling people to better understand our world of humans.
During 2014 he completed 50 years of research work (1964 - 2014). This year he completed 50 years of been Dr. Vet. Med. Since 1986 he worked on the protection of Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment and completed 30 years of research.
For research on the climate change system and the book “System Thinking and Climate Change System (Against a big “Tragedy of Commons” of all of us), Ecimovic, Mayur, Mulej and co-authors, 2002, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize 2003. His work on “The Information Theory of Nature” was his second nomination for The Nobel Prize during 2007 in Physics. His third nomination for The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was for “The Environment Theory of the Nature”, published in the book “Three Applications of the System Thinking”, Ecimovic, 2010. Within last 10 years he has contributed trilogies: “The Nature”, “The Sustainable Future of Mankind” and “The Life 2017” – please see at: www.institut-climatechange.si
I grew up in Chile, got my medical degree there, began an academic career in 1970, and left for the USA due to the military coup in early 1974. My first job in the USA was working as a public nutrition professor in the international programme of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
I started to travel to Africa in 1975, and worked a year in Cameroun in 1980 helping to prepare their five-year nutrition plan. I then moved to New Orleans, to Tulane University’s School of Public Health, and taught in the department of nutrition for ten years, before moving to Nairobi where I was an advisor in the Ministry of Health. Seven years there got me into extensive consulting in Africa, often on nutritional issues. In 1995 moved to Vietnam where I worked for two and a half years in the Ministry of Health as a senior primary health care advisor.
Many years of touching the reality on the ground, in Latin America, then the USA, then Africa and Asia, has made me understand that the real challenge is in the social and political determinants of malnutrition. I have devoted my writings and teaching to that. Over the years, I have found an important shift in my colleagues’ attitude and understanding towards acknowledging the basic causes of malnutrition. But yet I see little happening as a result. I submit that it is our guild’s lack of experience in the political arena that explains this dichotomy. I devote much of my energy to bridge this gap, and am a fervent advocate of empowering claim holders to demand needed changes from duty bearers. Nutrition is a perfect port of entry for that. Equity, social justice and people’s empowerment in a human rights sense is what really will make a difference.
There is no alternative but to deal with nutrition problems as indivisibly linked to social, political and environmental problems. We need to address them as such. The question is: are we all prepared to do that? The answer, in my view, decides whether we are part of the solution or part of the problem. Travelling and living in different parts of the world has reinforced my conviction that we need to get down from our academic ivory towers, and need to change the curricula of our young and upcoming colleagues, to give them the tools to act in such a context. To me, public health nutrition cannot be anything but that.
[/themify_box]
">Claudio Schuftan Dr MDProf. Ram Puniyani[/caption]
