THE ECONOMIC TIMES Aug 16 2015
Murad Ali Baig
NEW DELHI: In 1658 the Mughal
Empire
was
at the peak of its opulence, but the escalating
rivalry between Emperor Shah Jahan's sons Dara
Shikoh and
Aurangzeb over the past two decades had split not only the royal family
but also changed
the history of the nation says Author Murad Ali Baig.
"The book is about
a gap in Indian history. A lot has been written
about the great emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan,
Aurangzeb but the battle of succession between the sons of Shah Jahan was actually
one of the turning points in Indian history." says Baig.
Titled "Ocean of Cobras" the book is a historical fiction and is a recount by a eunuch Mubarak Ali. who is intimate with all the princes,
princesses
and
personages
of the Mughal
court. He takes
the reader from the magnificent royal
palace into
the harem. to royal hunts and to the kjngdoms
of rival and vassal rulers.
"Roughly
25 per cent of the book is work of fiction
essentially
to fill in the gaps
and the rest
is based on pure historical facts with proper foot notes. The book is packed
with so much
information of five battles, evolution of the religion history
of the period and so on," Baig told
PTJ.
Dara, the pampered
prince
was
a poet and philosopher who had to turn a soldier to combat
his bitter but battle
hardened
brother.
The
conflict between Dara's love of all religions and Aurangzeb's narrow
Islamic
beliefs
was to make the battle much more
than simply one for the
throne. It became
a series of battles
for the very soul of India.
"How were we to know that this battle for succession
would
also be a battle for the very soul of India; that this would
be a battle
between
Dara's belief
in the essential unity
of all religions and Aurangzeb's conviction that the straight
path
of Islam was the only way to human salvation?" says the author.
Mubarak Ali, the narrator. fights
in the armies
of the rival princes and describes
six exciting battles. His adventures take
the reader from
the limpid
lakes
of Kashmir to the deserts of Sind and the lush forests
of every part
of India. He tells the story of the forgotten Prince of the
Mughal Empire.
"Dara was rather
condemned by the court historians
as soon as he lost the battle of Samugarh
because
of the betrayal
by his own
commander. Because of that betrayal the whole history of India turned. Dara then vanished
from history. Dara was probably
the most interesting of all the Mughal Princes and therefore his story
is the story that needed
to be told." says Baig.
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