The Trial of Dara Shikoh
The Trial of Dara Shikoh is a three-act play by Pakistani-American professor and playwright Akbar Ahmed.
The play is based on the true story of Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) and his younger brother Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
Background
The main character of the play is Dara Shikoh, a prince and a Muslim intellectual with Sufi leanings. He was engaged in dialog with people of other religions and rejected harsh, rigid interpretations of Islam. This play depicts the trial at which a court in Northern India sentenced Shikoh to death, after his young brother Aurangzeb, seeking the throne for himself, accused Dara Shikoh of apostasy from Islam. The play exposes the shallowness of the arguments against Shikoh, and highlights the role of his sister in honoring his intellectual openness. The Royal Diaries
Characters
- Main characters:
- Qazi Faisal Haq (judge)
- Dara Shikoh
- Prosecutor Abdullah Khan
- Aurangzeb (Dara Shikoh's younger brother)
- Jahanara (Dara Shikoh's elder sister)
- Roshanara (Dara Shikoh's younger sister)
Secondary characters
- Attendant 1
- Attendant 2
- Gopi Lal, first witness (Hindu mystic)
- Bahadur Singh, second witness (Sikh religious leader)
- Courtoom Attendees
- Sipihr (Dara Shikoh's son)
- Guard
- Hakim Bukhari (court physician)
- Jahanara's Attendant
Plot
Act 1
The play opens in a courtroom in Delhi in August 1659. Aurangzeb, a Mughal prince, seeking to consolidate and build his power, has accused his brother Prince Dara Shikoh, whom Aurangzeb views as competition, of apostasy. The judge is Qazi Faizul Haq. Dara Shikoh represents himself without a lawyer. The Prosecutor is Abdullah Khan. Prosecutor calls three witnesses: a Hindu, a Sikh, and Dara Shikoh.
Act 2
Noon, the following day. In Scene One, Jahanara, Dara Shikoh's elder sister, pleads with their brother Aurangzeb for religious tolerance and to spare the life of Dara Shikoh. Roshanara, Dara Shikoh's younger sister, sides with Aurangzeb. In Scene Two, Sipihr, Dara Shikoh's teenage son, is confused AbOUT what is going on and he talks with his father.
Act 3
September 1681, twenty-two years after Dara's execution. There is unrest in Aurangzeb's empire. Jahanara makes her case to Aurangzeb to lessen his religious fanaticism and instead learn from the wisdom of their brother executed for supposed "apostasy," Dara Shikoh.
Reviews
"For anyone interested in the state of Islam today...these plays are nothing less than compulsory." Ari Roth (from the introduction to the 2009 published EDition of The Trial of Dara Shikoh and Noor).
“Not only a fascinating drama, but a most important, highly instructive study of the major forces within Islam . . . that grip our modern world and may help decide our global future.”—Stanley Wolpert, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
Performances
The Trial of Dara Shikoh premiered in 2008 at the Katzen Arts Center of the American University in Washington, DC.
Translations
Akbar Ahmed wrote this play in English and it was first published together with his play Noor, play in 2009 by Saqi Books.
The Trial of Dara Shikoh has been translated into Urdu by Behjat Gilani (unpublished translation).
References
Akbar Ahmed, Akbar Ahmed: Two Plays. London: Saqi Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-86356-435-2