Writing to his acolyte Jadunath Sarkar more than a century ago, William Irvine, the pioneering historian of Mughal India, lamented the perseverance of the “drum and trumpet school” of historians who gave scant justice to the losers of history, the prime example being the Mughal prince Dara Shukoh (1615–59), who was defeated and executed by his brother Aurangzeb. While much has been written about Dara Shukoh since Irvine's complaint, the historical injustice to him is at last comprehensively rectified by this noteworthy book, which presents a thoroughgoing reconsideration of the prince's life, intellectual production, and legacy.
Supriya Gandhi's The Emperor Who Never Was is organized into nine chapters, each marking a phase of unequal length in Dara Shukoh's abbreviated life. Beginning with the prince's birth in 1615, it traces his early childhood in the Mughal harem; his youthful activities and his increasing interest in matters of religion and involvement in...
