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50. Samudra-Sangama, a Philosophical Work by Dara Shukoh, Son of Shah Jahan, Composed in A. D. 1655* Beale in his Oriental Biographical Dictionary' states that Dara Shukoh was the author of "a work entitled Majma -ul-Bahrain (i. e. the uniting of both Seas) in which he endeavours to reconcile the Brahman religion with Muhammadan, citing passages from the Quran to prove the several points. In 1656 he likewise with the same intent caused a Persian translation to be made by the Brahmans of Banaras of the Anikhat a work in the Sanskrit language etc. " " corIn Aufrecht's Catalogous Catalogorum there is only one MS recorded of a work called Samudra-Sangama² which is identical with Ms No. 1043 of 1891-95 in the Govt. MSS Library at the B. O. R. Institute, Poona. The title "Samudra-Sangama responds to the uniting of both Seas" or Majma -ul-Bahrain referred to above. Most probably the Samudra-Sangama is a Sanskrit adaptation of the Persian work of a similar title mentioned by Beale. *B. I. S. Mandal Quarterly, Vol. 24 (1943), 75-88. pp. 1. New Edition, London, 1894, p. 117 article on Dara Shukoh. The Chronology of Dara's life as found in this article is as follows:Dara, born- 20 th March 1615 (29 th Safar, A. H. 1024). His marriage -A. D. 1633 (A. H. 1043). Battle between Dara and Aurangzeb - 29 th August 1659 (21 st Zil-hijja A. H. 1069). Dara caused the Upanishads to be translated by Benares Pandits -A. D. 1656. 2. A work of this name is recorded by Poleman in his list of Indic MSS in U. S. A. (1938) as follows:- Page 277-MS No. 5463 ca (by fcc?) Cosmology, 44 ff. 8.25 x 4.75 (Harward 1212). Perhaps this is identical with Dara's work samudrasamgama . (435)

Prof. Kathawate who acquired the MS of the Samudra-Sangama for the Govt. of Bombay in 1891 has described its contents in detail in his Report' for 1891-95 and hence I need not deal with them in this paper. I shall only discuss here the date of composition of the work in question as recorded in our MS No. 1043 of 1891-95 which begins as follows :- 86 || sarvatra prakatah sa sarvavabhasah sa adih somtastadatiriktam vastu nastiti prativesi savasi ca sahagah sarvameva sah pataccare daridrasya ksaume rajnah sarvatah bhati samsa- dibhedoyamabhedo rahasisphutah isasya sayanam bhuyah ta chapah sarvameva sah pranamanamanamtya paramaprakasa prakasake jagatsrstinimittesmakam siddhanam siddhe paramesvarena satkrte sanmanite ca tatha pavitratame tatparivare mahattare tatpratinidhirupe ca atha kathayati vitaraga vigata- soka samdoha mahammada darasukoha || evam yadvijnaya sakalatatvatattvam nirnaya ca sasyai- katmavadatatparya asadya " etc. It appears from the above passage that mahammada darasuko, who is described by the adjectives 66 vitaraga, " " " vigatasokasamdeha, is the author of the present work. One atat is mentioned in line 6 on folio 1 b of the MS. He appears to be some contemporary mystic and perhaps a guru² of Dara Shukoh as he is reverently men- 1. Published at Bombay, 1901, Pages 18-20. 2. On folio 7 a Dara refers to some Muslim Saints and divines as follows :- " paramasiddhanusarinah te ca isvarasatkrtaparamasiddhasamayavartinah siddhastatparivarabhutasta- tpratinidhibhutasca | abubakara ummara usman ali hasan husain anyasminsamaye ca etadrsa junnunamisari junedojnaninam guruh miran muhaddin ibna aravi madguruh miyam mira mullasaha miyamvari || " - abubakara - The first orthodox Caliph (632 A. D. ). - ummara - The second orthodox Caliph ( 634 A. D. ). - usman - The third orthodox Caliph ( 644 A. D. ). ali - The fourth Caliph (656 A. D. ). hasan - Eldest son of ali and grandson of Prophet Mahomet, born in 3 A. H. husainu - Second son of ali born in 4 A. H. miyam mira - Born A. H. 938. Died 1045 A. H. frequently visited by Shah Jahan and Dara Shukoh. (Continued on the next page)

" SAMUDRA-SANGAMA OF DARA SHUKOH " 437 tioned as caitanyasvarupa jnanamurti sadguru . The author explains why the title samudrasamgama is given to this work :- " avasyam jnatavyanam saphalanam katipayavakyanam sarasya samgrahamakaravam jnanino- dvayorapi matasamudrayoriha samgama iti nama casthapayam samudrasamgama ittham kilopa- deso mahanubhavanam yannirmatsarataya tatvavivecanam " etc. The MS ends as follows on folio 11 a :- 66 vedasamudram mathitva jnanaratnamekamidrsam niskasitam yaddevaidaityesva samudramathanam krtva niskasitesu caturdasaratnesvapi na praptam | aradhana paramesvarasya vijnapana ca ya krta tatha samudrasamgamasamaptau samathyam praptam | sahasrottara pamcasastitame samvatsaresmatparama- sakadvyatite dvicatvarimsattame ca samvatsare'sya vitaragasyapyayuso vidyamane parame- svarena satkaraniyah svajanasresthatamosmatparamasiddhah saparivarapratinidhisamuhah || || iti sri- samudra samgamanamagramthah paripurnata magamat || subham bhavatu lekhakapathakayoh || srih || samvat 1765 varse margasira vadi saptamyam camdrajavare || srih || " The above extract gives us the following information :- (1) The work was completed when 1065 th year of our era (A. H. ) had passsd away and when mullasaha - (Continued from previous page) Came to Lahore in A. D. 1614 and became disciple of Died in A. H. 1661. Highly respected by dara . miyam mira muiddina ibna arabi - - - The greatest mystic ( A. D. 1165-1240 ). I have taken the above notes from Prof. Haq's remarks (pp. 57- 63) on the Muslim Saints and Divines referred to by Dara. Khan Bahadur Prof. A. K. Shaikh was kind enough to send me an English Trans. of Dara's Risala-i-haq-numa (Compass of Truth) by S. C. Basu, Panini Office, Allahabad, 1912. Dara composed this work in A. H. 1055-56. In the extract from Dara's Safinat-ul-auliya (A. H. 1049) given by Basu in his Trans. I find one Hazrat Sheikh-Zun-nun Misary quoted on page V. He seems to be identical with misiri " mentioned in the above quoted extract from samudrasamgama . 66 junnuna 1. Compare the following Colophon of Majma '-ul-Bahrain "Praise be God for his favours, who granted me the grace of completing this tract, entitled Majma '-ul-Bahrain in the year 1065 A. H. which corresponds to the forty-second year of the age of this unafflicted and unsorrowing Fakir, Muhammad Dara Shikuh (Vide p. 75 of the edition of Majma-ul-Bahrain by M. Mahfuz-ul-Haq - Bib. Indica No. 246, 1929 ). ,,

(2) the Author ( vitaraga mahammada darasuko ) was running the year of his life. 42 nd (3) The present MS was completed in Samvat 1765, in the dark fortnight of the month of Margasirsa on the 7 th tithi which was a Monday (day of Candra)." The Hijra year (1065) was completed on 20 th October 16552 and hence we must infer that the work was composed subsequent to this date. Dara was born on 29 Safar 1024 A. H. (20 th March 1615 A. D.). According to the method of calculating age in Hijra years then current, he completed his 41 st year on 28 th Safar 1065 (28 th December 1654.) He was 41 years and 10 th months old when the Hijra year 1065 ended (last day of Zilaija) on 28 th October 1655. As he had not completed his 42 nd year when the SamudraSangama was composed we must infer that this work was composed between 21 st October (1 st Moharam 1066) and 27 th December 1655 (28 Safar 1066 A. H.) the date of Dara's completion of his 42 nd year.4 The foregoing details of the chronology of Dara's present work are in harmony with the following facts about his life and his contact with Benares Pandits as known to contemporary authors:- (1) Bernier in his letter dated 4 th October 1667 from Chiras in Persia to Monsieur Chapelain refers to Dara's heresy as follows:- 1. This date is equivalent to 23 rd November 1708 ( Vide p. 219 of Indian Ephemeris, Vol. VI ). 2. Vide p. 113 of Indian Ephemeris, Vol. VI. 3. Vide p. 117 of Beale's Ori. Bio. Dictionary. 4. I am thankful to my friend Mr. V. S. Bendre for the verification of these chronological details. 5. Vide p. 345 of Bernier's Travels (Constable, 1891)- The Editor quotes a passage regarding Dara's heresy from Alamgir Nama written in A. D. 1688 by Mirza Muhammad Kazim :- "He (Dara) was constantly in the society of Brahmans, Jogis and Sanyasis...... He was under such delusion about this Bed that he collected Brahmanas and Sanyasis from all parts of the country, and paying them great respect and attention, he employed them in translating the Bed."

In conclusion I shall explain to you the Mysticism of a Great Sect which has latterly made a great noise in Hindoustan in as much as certain Pendets or Gentile Doctors had instilled it into the minds of Dara and Sultan Sujah, the elder son of Chah-Jehan. " (2) Dara when Governor or Viceroy of Benares in 1656 caused a Persian translation to be made from the Sanskrit texts of the Upanishads. This translation was made by a large staff of Benares Pandits. It has been rendered into Latin by Anquetil-Duperron and published by him at Paris in 1801.' (3) Bernier makes the following remarks about Dara elsewhere in his travels:- " Born a Mahomedan, he continued to join in the excercises of that religion; but although thus publicly professing his adherence to its faith, Dara was in private a Gentile with Gentiles and a Christian with Christians. He had constantly about him some of the Pendets or Gentile Doctors on whom he bestowed large pensions and from these it is thought he imbibed opinions in no wise accordant with the religion of the land etc." (4) I have suggested in my paper³ on "Bernier and Kavindracarya Sarasvati at the Mughal Court" that "one of the most celebrated Pendets in all the Indies who had formerly belonged to the household of Dara" was identical with Kavindracarya Sarasvati, 1. Vide footnote 5 on p. 323 of Bernier's Travels. Duperron's version is criticised in the Edinburgh Review (Jan. 1803) by Alexander Hamilton, who was in India and who later was Professor of Sanskrit in the East India College at Haileybury. Hamilton pays a glowing tribute to Dara's abilities. On p. 592 of Elphinstone's History of India (1874) it is stated that "Dara had written a book to reconcile the Hindu and Mahometan Doctrines." Cowell in his footnote on this page states that the Persian translation of the Upanishads made by Dara's order was finished in Ramazan A. H. 1067 (A. D. 1657). He also invites our attention to "the account of Nadir-un-nikat or Seven days' dialogue between the prince and Baba Lal in Wilson's Hindu Sects (Collected Works Vol. I, p. 348). Evidently this Baba Lal is the same as his name-sake referred to in the samudrasamgama . 2. Vide p. 6 of Travels. 3. Vide pp. 1-16 of Annals of S. V. Ori. Institute, Tirupati, Vol. I, Part 4, (1940).

who after Dara's murder in A. D. 1659 was taken into service by Danechmand kan, the patron of Bernier himself. Kavindracarya's contact with Dara before A. D. 1659 may have been responsible for the production of such works like Samudra-Sangama in A. D. 1655 about which year Dara caused a Persian translation of the Upanishads to be made from the Sanskrit original. (5) Another noted Sanyasi revered by Dara was Gosvami Nrsimhasrama. Dr. C. K. Raja recently published a Sanskrit letter' of Dara addressed to this Sanyasi. I have proved in a special paper that this Sanyasi was identical with Brahmendra Sarasvati, who is a signatory to a Nirnayapatra drawn up at Benares in A. D. 1657. (6) In a Hindi work called the fat represented by a MS 3 in the Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner, there is a Section" containing Dohas in praise of Dara Shukoh. This work was recently brought to my notice by Prof. Dasharatha Sharma of Bikaner. Its author is no other than Kavindracarya Sarasvati who held much influence over Emperor Shah Jahan, to whose praise he devotes a big section of the present work. According to Prof. Dasharatha Sharma this poem was composed "Somewhere between 1638 and 1657." This poem is a direct contemporary testimony from 1. Vide Adyar Library Bulletin, Vol. IV, October 1940 and VII, October 1943, (Trans. ). 2. Vide pp. 172-177 of Adyar Library Bulletin, Vol. VI, p. 13, (1942). 3. I am thankful to Prof. Dasharatha Sharma for keeping at my disposal his own copy of the Bikaner MS of the Kavindrakalpalata. 4. This Section begins :- 66 atha darasahike kavitvataralata naranari tanamana phulata hai etc. " The Section ends :- 66 iti srividyanidhanakavindracarya sarasvativiracitayam kalpalatayam darasahi- visayaka dhrupadam dohakavitvani | " MS. This Section comprises folios 26 to 30 of my copy of the above 5. This Section comprises folios 1 to 20 of my copy of the MS It ends :- 66 " iti srisarvavidyanidhana kavindracarya sarasvativiracitayam kavindrakalpalatayam sahijaham visayakadhruvapadani ' "

Kavindracarya himself about his intimate contact with Emperor Shah Jahan and his brilliant but unfortunate son Dara Shukoh, the author of the Samudra-Sangama. The Mishra Brothers state that Kavindracarya composed a Hindi work called in Samvat 1687 (A. D. 1631).' (8) In the history of Hindi literature by Mishra Brothers called the Hagia² we are told that Dara was the author of two Hindi works composed in A. D. 1654 (Samvat 1710) viz. (1) dohastava samgraha and sarasamgraha . A work called " babalalase batacita " containing Dara's discussion with ara on philosophic matters is mentioned in the Marathi Biographical Dictionary called the babalala is Madhyayugina Caritrakosa. Very probably this a identical with mentioned by Dara at the beginning of his present work Samudra-Sangama. Poleman refers to to a work called sarasamgraha ( or sarasamgraharaja ) on medicine in Sanskrit and Bhasa. I cannot say if this sarasamgraha is identical with the sarasamgraha of Dara Shukoh referred to above. (9) In A. D. 1597-98 Emperor Akbar had the Yogavasistha translated into Persian. This translation was very lengthy and not very useful. Dara Shikoh, therefore, got it retranslated into an abridged form in A. D. 1656.5 After this paper was drafted I 1. Vide p. 405 of Vol. II, 1928 (Lucknow ). 2. Vide p. 458 of Mishrabandhu Vinoda, Vol. II, Lucknow, 1928. For a list of Dara's works vide "Dara Shikoh as an Author" (Fournal of Punjab His. Society, II, pp. 21-28). See also Blochmann: JA. S. B., Part I (1870), pp. 273-9. The article on Dara in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (pp. 920-921) is not very exhaustive. For Persian MSS of Dara's works see Rieu's Cata. of Persian MSS and Ethe's Cata. of Persian MSS in the India Office Library (No. 647, pp. 274-316). 3. By Pt. Chitrav Shastri, Poona, 1937, p. 452.|| 4. H. I. Poleman: Indic MSS in U. S. A. etc., 1938, p. 267. MS No. 5339-dated Samvat 1903 = A. D. 1847. 5. Vide p. 397 of Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, III, No. 3 (March 1942)-article by Prof. C. H. Shaikh on a MS of this translation dated A. D. 1700 in the Parasnis Historical Museum at the Deccan College Institute. Other MSS of this translation deposited elsewhere are dated A. D. 1742 and 1782. (Continued on the next page)

secured a critical edition of the Majma' -ul-Bahrain with English Translation, Notes and Varients by Prof. M. Mahfuz -ul-Haq of the Presidency College, Calcutta, 1929 (Bib. Ind. No. 246). From a perusal of the English Translation of this work I have gathered an impression that the Sanskrit Samudra-Sangama is an adaptation of the Majma' -ul- Bahrain made almost simultaneously in the year 1065 A. H. which is recorded as the date of composition in the ending portions of both these works. Dara may have got this Sanskrit abridgment made by some Benares Pandit in his employ in A. D. 1655. 66 I have already referred to babalala mentioned in the samudrasamgama as on folio 1 of our MS of A. D. 1708. Prof. Haq has also drawn our attention to the reference to this Hindu Saint found in the Majma' -ul-Bahrain (p. 24 of Eng. Trans.) where he calls him Baba Lal Bairagi and puts him side by side with those Muhammadan Saints and divines who have been the best representatives of the Sufi order in Islam. Prof. Haq observes:-" The inclusion of the name of a Hindu in such an exclusive list of Muslim divines shows unmistakably the high esteem in which this devotee was held by Dara Shikuh." Prof. Haq has collected much valuable information about the contact of Dara with Baba Lal. I shall here record a brief summary of it as it would be useful to know the Hindu influence on Dara's mind in his quest for Truth. Baba Lal (BL) was a Hindu devotee of the Punjab. His actual name was Lal Dayal. He was a Khatri of Kasur living at Asthan, at Dhianpur near Batala. He was a friend of Miyan Jiv. He came down to Lahore and conversed with Dara. (Continued from the previous page) On folio 8 a of Ihe B. O. R. I. MS of the Samudra-Sangama Dara quotes from vasistharamayana as follows :- 66 taduktam vasistharamayane - - kalpamtavayavo yamtu yamtu caikatvamarnavah | nayamtu dvadasaditya nasti nirmanasah ksatih || " 2. On page 32 of his Introduction Prof. Haq refers to an Arabic translation of Majma-ul-Bahrain preserved in the Imperial Library, Calcutta. He also refers to an Urdu translation by Gokul Prasad lithographed at Lucknow in 1872. These translations show the popularity of the work.

we find a sumA work called "Mukalima -i- Dara wa Baba Lal mary of the questions asked by Dara on the various topics of Hindu religion and the replies given to them by BL. These conversations took place on Dara's return from Kandhar in 1062 A. H. i. e. 3 years before the composition of the Samudrasangama in 1065 A. H. (A. D. 1655). Dara refers to BL in his work called "Hasanat-ul-Arifin " composed A. H. 1064 as follows:- "Baba Lal Mandiya is one of the perfect Arifs and I have seen none in the Hindu community who is equal to him in majesty and firmness. He told me 'There are 'Arifs, and perfect (divines) in every community through whose grace God grants salvation to that community." Dara's private secretary Chandar Bhan took a verbatim report of the whole dialogue between Dara and BL and thus prepared the book Mukalima-i- Dara Shikuh wa Baba Lal." 66 In the Curzon Collection of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (1908-1910) there is a copy of Puthi Urisi in Persian which contains memoirs of BL and an account of BL's interview with Dara in 1059 A. H. (=A. D. 1649.) Prof. Haq notes the following paintings in which BL and Dara are portrayed :Plate No. XXII in Binyon's Court Painters of the Grand Moghals (Oxford University Press, 1921)- Binyon states:Lal Swami......was a Kshatriya born in Malwa in the reign of Jahangir; after having been initiated he settled near Sirhind in the Punjab, where he built himself a hermitage together with a temple and was visited by a large number of disciples. Among those who were attracted by his teaching was Dara Shikoh; two learned Hindus who were in this prince's service have recorded in a work entitled Nadir-al-Nikat the conversation that took place between them in the year 1649. " (2) In plate XIX of Binyon's book BL appears in a group of 12 Indian divines viz. Ray Das. Pipa, Namdiv, Sa'in, Kamal, Awghar, Kabir, Pir Machandar, Gorakh Jadru (?), Pir Panth Swami (?), and is styled there as Lal Swami. (3) A painting was exhibited at the Second Meeting of the Indian Historical Records Commission in which Dara and BL are shown in each other's company. (4) An unidentified painting in Percy Brown's Indian Paint-

ing under the Mughals (Plate No. XLVI) portrays in the opinion of Prof. Haq the meeting between Dara and Baba Lal. In Prof. Haq's edition of the Majam-ul-Bahrain I have not found any reference to the Samudra-Sangama. He states that a very difficult task which confronted him was that of identification and transliteration of Sanskrit terms which had been so mutilated in the Persian text that in many cases it became almost impossible to identify them correctly. Prof. Haq, therefore, availed himself of the help of Dr. S. N. Das-Gupta in going through some portion of the English translations and further the identification and translation of Sanskrit terms was carried out for Prof. Haq by Prof. N. Chakravarti. I believe that this difficulty could have been overcome by the above professors had they known about the MSS of the Samudra-Sangama, which being a Sanskrit counterpart of the Persian original executed in the year 1065 A. H. had the advantage of Dara's own supervision in its composition, even if we presume that the work was written by some Benares Pandit for Dara. Now that the Persian original of the Samudra-Sangama has been critically edited and translated by Prof. Haq the work of editing the Samudra-Sangama would be made easy. In fact my friend Mr. K. Madhav Sarma, Curator of Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner, intends to edit the work. He has secured a MS of this work already and I am keeping at his disposal the oldest dated MS A. D. 1708 (No. 1043 of 1891-95) in the Government MSS Library, B. O. R. Institute.) Mr. Sarma will have to identify and transliterate correctly the Persian terms in the Samudra-Sangama in the same manner as the Sanskrit terms have been dealt with by Prof. Haq in his edition of the Persian original. At any rate we have now two MSS of the Sanskrit work, one of which was copied 53 years after the date of its composition and hence possesses great value for purposes of textual reconstruction. As I don't possess any first-hand knowledge of Dara's Persian works I must rely on Prof. Haq's scholarly exposition of "Dara's Religious Views" (pp. 26-30 of Introduction to Majam-ul-Bahrain) from which I note the following points for the information of Sanskrit scholars :- (1) According to one authority Majam-ul-Bahrain, the last original work of Dara, was the very work which brought about his death. (2) The earlier studies of Dara were purely Sufistic in character.

(3) Dara writes in his translation of the Upanishads that after his discipleship of Mulla Shah he came in close contact with the the divines of various religions and perused the Psalms, the Gospels and the Pantateuch. Before A. H. 1062 Dara expressed no opinion on various religions more especially Hinduism. (4) In his Shathiyat (1062 A. H.) Dara quotes Baba Lal's aphorism that "Truth is not the monopoly of any one religion". (5) In 1065 A. H. Dara composed Majma-ul-Bahrain (or c) in which he expressed his views in a fearless manner as follows:- "I have written this book for the members of my family and have nothing to do with the common ones of both the religions. " ( Cf. samudrasamgama folio 1 - " svanubhavanusarena ca ninaya tatvartham svakutumbe - dhvanukampaya krtoyamarambhah | na punarajnanino vibhinnamatasambamdhinobodhanena prayojanam || ) ' ' sama (6) In the Samudra-Sangama Dara appears as a student of comparative religion, showing the points of identity between Hinduism and Islam without exalting or undermining either. (7) Prof. Haq states that "Dara had not renounced his own faith and become a Hindu as is asserted by a biased section of the community (p. 27 of Intro.). Dara believed in the Kuran and was of opinion that "the Vedas were in accordance with the Kuran or rather they were an interpretation of that". ( Cf. samudrasamgama folio 6 b - " apauruseya gramthosmakam kuranam siddhanam veda ityucyate " ) (8) Dara was indicted by the ecclesiasts of Aurangzeb's Court for his apostasy, but Prof. Haq states:-"Any one can choose to be the champion of Islam and remove all those who stand in the way of the realization of his political ambitions." It was obviously the mixture of politics and religion in Dara's days that made Dara a martyr to his views. I now close this paper on the Samudra-Sangama of Dara Shu- 1. Cf. Bhagavadgita : "na buddhibhedam janayedajnanam karmasamginam | josayetsarva karmani vidvanyuktah samacaran || "

T 446 STUDIES IN INDIAN LITERARY HISTORY koh with a request to Sanskrit Scholars and the students of the Mughal history to reconstruct the history of Dara's contact with Benares pandits which yet needs careful exploration and reconstruction on the basis of contemporary sources, both Sanskrit and Persian. In fact this Samudra-Sangama of various historical sources can alone lead to historical truth, divested of the mythical gossip that generally gathers round the life-history of unique historical personages of every age and clime. May Dara's soul rest in eternal peace. Dara died a Socratic death. 66 yadgatva na nivartante taddhama paramam mama "