Where the two oceans meet: an attempt at Hindu-Muslim rapprochement in the thought of Dara Shikuh

The seventeenth-century Mughal prince Dara Shikuh translated and authored many challenging works to highlight what he recognized as mystical parity between Hindu and Muslim traditions. His central hermeneutical claims were that, because the Qur'an affirms the existence of other divine revelations, the Upanishads must be considered one such revelation. Furthermore, the Upanishads, because they preceded most other scriptures, should be regarded as invaluable for our understanding of the divine mysteries and even placed above the scriptures of Jews and Christians. Consequently, many Islamic authorities regarded Dara's position as heretical. Despite several methodological and hermeneutical problems, Dara's effort at rapprochement between Hindus and Muslims through his study of Hindu religious texts represents an opening for continued explorations and dialogue between scholars of Islam and Hinduism as well as between Muslims and Hindus. This essay recognizes Dara's efforts, while arguing for the need to adopt more appropriate methodologies for a comparative study of Hindu and Islamic textual sources.
I. Introduction Dara Shikuh (d. 1659), the Mughal prince and heir apparent, was also a scholar and a mystic in his own right. (1) He was popular among Hindus as [...]