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Lost & found: Dara Shikoh
Digital Issue
www.outlookindia.com July 13, 2020
Why
Tourism
is the
Key?
The sector can be the pivot to
unshackle the viral chains on the
Indian economy. But the way you
travel and spend holidays will
dramatically change
RNI N O. 7 0 4 4 / 1961
‹ Navigator›
EDITOR-in-chief Ruben Banerjee
managing EDITOR Sunil Menon
Executive Editor Satish Padmanabhan
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Political EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora
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Chief art Director Deepak Sharma
Writers Lola Nayar, Qaiser Mohammad
Ali (Senior Associate Editors), G.C. Shekhar
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Journalist), Suraj Wadhwa (Chief
Cover Story
26
Graphic Designer),
Editorial Manager & Chief Librarian Alka Gupta
BUSINESS OFFICE Tourism comprises 10% of India’s GDP; 100 million
Chief Executive officer Indranil Roy
Publisher Sandip Kumar Ghosh jobs depend on it. A dozen states can be bankrupt
SR Vice president Meenakshi Akash
Vice presidents Shrutika Dewan,
if the sector doesn’t revive, or get a bailout. Also,
Diwan Singh Bisht
Sr General Managers Kabir Khattar (Corp),
the economy cannot rebound without tourism.
Debabani Tagore, Shailender Vohra
General ManagerS Sasidharan Kollery,
Shashank Dixit
Chief Manager Shekhar Kumar Pandey
MANAGERS Shekhar Suvarana, Sudha Sharma
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Anindya
Banerjee, Gagan Kohli, G. Ramesh (South),
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10 | Skeletons In The Mughal Closet 4 Letters
Digital Amit Mishra Have we found the resting place of Dara 7 poliglot
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INDIA MAGAZ
’S NO.1 INE
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Letters feedback › outlook@outlookindia.com
29/6/2020
LUCKNOW MUMBAI
M.C. Joshi: India has always Ashok Goswami: Routine
tried to be accommodative Chinese transgressions into
and friendly with China, while Indian territory were a pre-
China has been belligerent. meditated act. China’s devious
The story goes back to the way of skirting the agreement
great betrayal of 1962. In light of no firearms by using barbed
of the violent clashes between wire and rods was barbaric. It
Indian and Chinese soldiers thinks that by aggressively
in Ladakh, India extending pursuing military options and
undeserved hospitality to Xi passively pursuing economic
Jinping in 2014 seems foolish. interests through state-
Besides claiming Indian terri- sponsored companies, it might
tories, China has been sup- become powerful. But it is mis-
porting Pakistan. It has also taken. The world is slowly but
emboldened Nepal, an old surely recognising its mis-
friend of India, to stake claim guided plans. India must
on Indian territory. Tension- respond both with short- and
free relations with an expan- long-term strategies to
sionist China is just wishful counter their plans.
thinking—New Delhi must be
practical. India’s China policy Chennai
and ties with Taiwan need to Kangayam R. Narasimhan:
be reset. Strategic support for China’s strategy is to periodi-
the ongoing movements in cally annex small portions of
Tibet and Hong Kong against Indian territory through
Playing Beijing is another option. stealth and deceit. Now, in the
digimag.outlookindia.com
guise of doing military exer-
With Fire BANGALORE
H.N. Ramakrishna: The
cises in the Tibetan plateau, it
has intruded into eastern
boycott of China-made goods Ladakh. In its eagerness to
ON E-MAIL may not hurt for now, but please China, India lacked the
Vijai Pant: This refers to the cover story India needs to become will to question the transgres-
Dragon At The Door (June 29). With the self-reliant regardless. Many sions and relied merely on di-
youtube.com/outlookmagazine
PLA having made inroads deep into the nations are taking similar plomacy. It is also intriguing
disputed areas along the LAC, the Indian actions as they do not want to that both Ajit Doval and Bipin
army faces a formidable challenge. be dependent on China. Rawat are keeping a low profile
Restoring the status quo would test the Some are ensuring that their at this critical hour. However,
Indian government’s negotiation skills. supply chains are more India’s military capabilities
The muscular nationalism that the BJP diversified. If India has to have grown manifold over the
swears by is at stake. The brutal killings protect its indigenous past decades and China must
of 20 soldiers have pushed Modi into a industries and jobs, it has to pay now for the martyrdom of
corner—some retaliation alone can save take a pragmatic stand by 20 Indian soldiers. Besides boy-
facebook.com/outlookindia
his image of a strong, decisive leader. imposing duties on Chinese cotting Chinese goods and can-
Comparisons with Pakistan are obvious, imports, just as Trump did. celling major business
but Modi knows that China is no Trade is a powerful instru- contracts, India must upgrade
Pakistan. The pros and cons will have to ment. Global Times, the its diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
be weighed carefully before the next voice of the Chinese The LAC is 3,448km long and it
move. The blame for this situation rests Communist Party, is alarmed is uncertain where the Chinese
with the Indian government. There were at the rising calls for a boy- will intrude next. So, to counter
twitter.com/outlookindia
reports of China intruding into Ladakh cott. India is a big market. It more incursions across inter-
since March, but there was no urgency to should weaponise trade as national borders in Arunachal
deal with the matter. The recent bloody China often does. With the Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal
fracas has led both countries to harden pandemic, the world’s back- Pradesh and Uttarakhand,
their positions, so chances of escalation lash against China is picking India must intensify patrolling
cannot be ruled out. up momentum. in these areas.
4 outlook | july 13 , 2020
00 o u tlook | july 6, 2020
Letters feedback › outlook@outlookindia.com
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA Disagree With Your ‘Both-
M. Haseen Ahmed: This Sides’ Journalism (June
refers to The Trunk Call Is 17) is on point. For some From the Daak Room
An SOS (June 15). Just time now, I have been Dear Mr Elliott,
about everybody partook in wondering whether it’s the
the furore over the inad- same Outlook magazine of I have stolen from myself the opportunity of seeing the
vertent killing of a pregnant Vinod Mehta that I used to dream of every rejected author come true. The dream of
elephant in Kerala. read. In the name of ‘both- every rejected author must be to see, like sugar plums danc-
ing in his head, please-can’t-we-see-your-next-manuscript
However, most of them sides’ journalism, inveter- letters standing in piles on his desk, all coming from pub-
turn a blind eye to the hor- ate liars have been lishing companies that rejected his previous manuscript, es-
rendous plight of emaci- peddling their hate-filled pecially from the more pompous of the fatted cows grazing
ated street animals. During propaganda on the maga- contentedly in the publishing field. I am sure that under
the lockdown, thousands of zine’s pages. the influence of those dreams, some of the finest f**k-you
cattle were abandoned, prose in the English language has been composed but, alas,
never published. And to think that the rare moment in his-
unfed and uncared for. But GURGAON
tory came to me when I could in actuality have written the
in a country where we Kamna Chhabra: prose masterpiece for all rejected authors—and I didn’t even
forced lakhs of people to Surviving in Bollywood see that history had swung wide its doors to me.
walk back home without requires more than talent, You must have known that Alfred A. Knopf turned down my
food or water, what else can especially for those who first collection of stories after playing games with it, or
we expect? As for wild ani- are outsiders like Sushant at least the game of cat’s-paw, now rolling it over and saying
they were going to publish it and then rolling it on its
mals, stringent laws alone Singh Rajput (No One’s back when the president of the company announced it
cannot provide succour to Godson, June 29). A master wouldn’t sell. So I can’t understand how you could ask if I’d
them when we keep des of his craft, he portrayed submit my second manuscript to Alfred A. Knopf.
troying their habitats for sensitive characters in reel But although I let the big moment elude me, it has given
mining and industries. life. In real life, unfortu- rise to little pleasures. For instance, whenever I receive a
nately, Bollywood demands statement of the sales of A River Runs Through It from the
University of Chicago Press, I see that someone has written
MUMBAI a thick skin to successfully across the bottom of it, ‘Hurrah for Alfred A. Knopf’. However,
Bholey Bhardwaj: This negotiate the ups and having let the great moment slip by unrecognized and una-
refers to Small Scale, Mega downs of one’s career. dorned, I can now only weakly say this: if the situation ever
Mess (June 15). The lock- Sushant wasn’t that type. arose when Alfred A. Knopf was the only publishing house
down has been a double He was a deep thinker, a remaining in the world and I was the sole remaining author,
whammy for MSMEs. loner away from the petty that would mark the end of the world of books.
Their working capital has politicking of the film ind Very sincerely,
been wiped out and work- ustry. Despite his acting Norman Maclean
ers have left at a time when skills, new projects were
businesses are reopening. hard to come by, pushing
Dancing Plums Excerpts of a letter Norman Maclean wrote to
When they should have him into depression. The
an editor at Alfred A. Knopf. In 1975, the publisher had accepted his
gone home, they were film industry, instead of
manuscript, only to later reject it. In 1981, when the editor expressed
forced to stay put and understanding his predica-
interest in his forthcoming book, Maclean wrote this response.
when the nation started ment, showed its callous-
opening, they were allowed ness with unforgiving crass
to go back. The govern- remarks against the actor.
ment’s stimulus package Opposition parties were not make suggestions. After all, the
seems good, but whether it GOA consulted and its impact was sky was not falling. Arranging
will reach MSMEs is the M.N. Bhartiya: This refers not considered. It was a shock speedy tests on a war footing
question. Unless the gov- to the special issue COVID- for the nation, just like demon- should have been given the top
ernment ensures proper 19: All We Know, All We etisation. The matter could priority in the first stage of
delivery and implementa- Don’t (June 22). The con- have been handled in a more contagion. If these measures
tion, chances are that tention that the lockdown democratic manner. There were taken, the honest, hard-
MSMEs may not be able to averted greater mortality is should have been consulta- working masses, nicknamed
turn around. not convincing. The decla- tions with all stakeholders. ‘migrants’, would have suf-
ration of the complete lock- Stranded people should have fered less. The whole issue was
BANGALORE down with four hours been given a chance to reach dealt with in a shoddy manner.
Bhaskar P.: Bravo Salik notice on March 24 was the their destinations. The Our rulers wrought huge
Ahmad! The column on Centre’s unilateral deci- Opposition and experts should human and economic losses to
the web Dear Editor, I sion—chief ministers and have got an opportunity to flatter their egos.
Outlookindia.com j u ly 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 | ou t look 5
O u t l oo k i n d i a . c o m j u ly 6, 2 0 2 0 | o u t look 00
The
News
Khakis
in Devil’s
Cosmetics brands—under pressure
over products that promote skin
Pond The family of P. Jayaraj and his
PTI
fairness amid growing voices against Custody death of son, Benick, mourn their death
racial stereotyping—are doing away a man and his son in police custory
with fair and white from their labels. was India’s George
French cosmetics major L’Oreal said it ugly spectre of police atroc-
will remove words white, fair and light.
Floyd moment ities—a topic that has been
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) will headlining across the globe
stop using the word ‘fair’ in its flagship G.C. Shekhar in Chennai since the killing of George
brand Fair & Lovely. Johnson & Johnson Floyd, a 46-year-old Black
S
went a step further, saying it would American, in Minneapolis.
stop selling skin whitening creams. attankulam Public outrage engulfed
translates into Devil’s Thoothukudi, or Tuticorin
Pond. The police as it was known previously,
station attached to this small and the fire soon spread,
town in south Tamil Nadu’s forcing the AIADMK gov-
Thoothukudi district lived up ernment of chief minister
to that dystopian name when E.K. Palaniswami to the
it claimed two lives in a wall. The deaths could
horrific example of police prove costly for the party—
torture. Till that fateful night on June 19, the two men were Nadars, a “backward
People with mild, medium colour blind-
P. Jayaraj, 58, a timber merchant and his community” of traders with a sizeable
ness can now obtain driving licence,
son, J. Benicks, 31, who owned a mobile vote bank in the southern districts.
says the roads ministry. The ministry phone shop, had never stepped into the “The policemen were emboldened by
consulted medical experts, who rec- police station. The father and the son, the fact that they could get away with
ommended that mild to medium colour who regularly donated his AB -ve blood similar cases of torture. Nothing had
blind citizens be allowed to drive and and travelled around with his friends, happened even after complaints about
restrictions should only be on those were law-abiding, ideal citizens. excesses to the SP, DGP, CMO and the
with severe colour blindness. This is the Jayaraj was taken to the police station state human rights commission. Even a
norm in most countries abroad. for keeping his shop open beyond the 8 semblance of action by their superiors
pm Covid curfew. His son went to bring would have put some fear into such
him back. Ideally, he should have been policemen,” says Henri Tiphagne of Peo-
allowed to go on personal bail. But it was ple’s Watch, a human rights group.
not to be. A group of sub-inspectors and The cops showed no signs of remorse.
constables allegedly rained lathis and They reportedly deleted the CCTV
blows on them. The savagery continued footage of that night, and attempted to
for hours, the family alleged, before they wipe off bloodstains. Given such
were taken to a magistrate—who looked reports, the clamour for their arrest
at the two battered men from the second grew. The high court, which deployed
Yoga guru Ramdev, Acharya Balkr-
floor of his home—and remanded them the state CB-CID to fill in till the CBI
ishna—the Patanjali Ayurved Limited’s
in judicial custody. A government doctor took over the case, made sure the sta-
CEO—and four more faced an FIR, which
certified that they were fit to be sent to tion inspector, two sub-inspectors and
accuses them of misleading people by jail. But their condition deteriorated on a constable were arrested by July 2.
promoting the company’s drug Coronil June 22 and had to be dashed to a hospi- Four more constables were named in
as a cure for COVID-19. After facing tal, where the son died the same night the FIR. The revenue authorities took
criticism and government scrutiny, while the father succumbed to his control of the evidence and records
Balkrishna said they never claimed the wounds the next morning. and a woman head constable, who wit-
drug “can cure or control coronavirus”. The deaths brought to the fore the nessed the ghastly crime. O
6 o u tlo ok | july 13, 2020
m i x e d
Poliglot s h o t S
Thousands of families have been
forced to shift to temporary shelters as
floodwaters inundated large tracts in the
first wave of monsoon floods in Assam
Interview
‘Bihar is in a mess and we’ll change it’
Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha baar badlo Bihar, banao behtar Bihar’. What about another BJP rebel and
refuses to stay in political oblivion. Several small political parties, fellow Bihari, Shatrughan Sinha?
With assembly elections due in Bihar independents and intellectuals are ➞ I have not spoken to him yet, so
later this year, Sinha is back with a part of the Third Front. We welcome I wouldn’t know his mind. But yes,
Third Front to take on the JD(U)-BJP all like-minded people and parties to I will be talking to everyone in the
combine. The former Union minister join us in transforming the state. coming days.
tells Bhavna Vij-Aurora that his front
will contest all 243 seats as “elections Are you willing to ally with the Political strategist Prashant Kishor
are a means to bring change in a Congress and the RJD? had also talked about supporting a
democracy” and it is time to change ➞ I have not had any discussion with Third Front in Bihar. Are you in touch
Bihar. Excerpts from the interview: them, but yes, they are welcome. with him?
Anyone who is interested in ➞ I have not spoken to him yet. But
How did the idea of a Third Front for developing Bihar can join in. I am willing to explore. O
Bihar come about?
➞ In recent months, we watched the sad T r i b h u va n T i wa r i
scenes of migrant workers walking back
to their villages. The largest number was
of those who belong to Bihar. As many as
40 lakh Biharis migrate from the state to
look for jobs. Even after 73 years of
independence, why is Bihar in such a
mess? This question came to me time
and again. I am a Bihari. I studied in
Patna and was a Bihar-cadre IAS officer.
Many others—friends,
family and people of the
state—had the same “Anyone interes
question and urged me to
take the lead. I decided to ted in developing
try and lead a movement the state is
for change in Bihar, an
‘andolan’. Things are in a welcome to join
mess in the state. our Third Front.”
What kind of a mess?
➞ Nitish Kumar has been chief
minister for the past 15 years, and
when I looked at the data, I realised
Bihar continues to be at the bottom in
all development indices. For the past
27 years, Bihar has not developed in
most sectors, including agriculture,
health and education.
Are you going to contest all seats? Who
all are supporting you?
➞ Yes. We are going with the slogan ‘Is
O u t l oo k i n d i a . c o m
Poliglot
telangana
A Suitable Gift
M.S. Shanker in Hyderabad Narasimha Rao, per-
haps didn’t want to
T
displease the Con-
he Telangana government led by gress by seeming to
CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao has give him full credit
decided to pass a resolution in the for the reforms. So his government has KCR pays tribute to P.V. Narasimha Rao on his
state assembly asking the Centre to proposed to get Manmohan Singh to 99th birth anniversary on June 28
consider conferring the country’s chair and address a conclave on reforms
highest honour—the Bharat Ratna—to in Delhi as part of the celebrations. his astute political skills. Heading a
India’s ninth PM Pamulaparthi Venkata “The government proposes to organise minority government from 1991 to 1996,
Narasimha Rao. “This is the least we can conclaves across India and in some for- Narasimha Rao combined a pioneering
do as Telanganites for PV, our most eign countries on some of PV’s pet top- thrust on economic reforms with main-
valuable gift to the nation. After all, he ics, including literature, foreign policy taining stable relations with foreign gov-
was the second leader from outside the and human resources,” says Shekhar ernments. His political career, which he
Nehru-Gandhi family to become PM,” Maramraju, son-in-law of Narasimha started as a follower of Ramananda Tir-
says Telangana Rashtra Samiti secre- Rao’s daughter and member of the tha, took him first to the freedom move-
tary-general Dr K. Keshava Rao, a Ramananda Tirtha Memorial Commit- ment against British rule and then the
Congress veteran and PV’s close tee. “We are delighted by KCR’s magnan- agitation against the Nizam in Hydera-
follower, who has been entrusted by imous gesture to honour PV, whose bad. Eventually he joined the Congress
KCR with the responsibility of oversee- contribution as a politician during his and came to be known as a loyalist of the
ing the year-long birth centenary chequered five-decade-long political Nehru-Gandhi family. Although the
celebrations of Narasimha Rao that career is immeasurable by any yard- relationship came under strain after
began on June 28. stick.” Reminiscences of some of PV’s Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, it didn’t
Narasimha Rao and then finance min- contemporaries are being compiled to stop him from becoming the PM. He was
ister Dr Manmohan Singh are famously be published as a coffee table book, later sidelined by his party, many say
associated with unleashing the liberali- which will be released at the concluding because the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya
sation-privatisation-globalisation pro- function on June 28, 2021. was demolished on his watch. His final
cess, also called economic reforms, in the Besides being a linguist of repute, Nar- rites could not be performed in Delhi
early 1990s. KCR, who would not miss asimha Rao was the first politician to nor was land allotted for a memorial of
out on honouring a son of the soil like earn the epithet of ‘Apara Chanakya’ for the kind that previous PMs had got. O
brevis
Milton Glaser, the Charles Webb, Choreographer Rajinder Singh, Yusuf Memon, a
graphic designer who a lifelong non-con- Saroj Khan, a 73, a British Sikh from 1993 Mumbai serial
adorned Bob Dylan’s formist whose three-time Nation- Harlington in west blasts case convict
silhouette with psyche- debut novel The al Award winner London, who became and brother of ab-
delic hair and summed Graduate was a has died of cardiac a social media hit as sconding accused
up the feelings for his deadpan satire of arrest. She was the “Skipping Sikh” Tiger Memon, has
native New York with “I his college educa- 71. She choreo- after he skipped and died at Nashik Road
(HEART) NY,” has died tion and wealthy graphed more than raised funds for the Central Jail. He was 57.
on his 91st birthday. In background adapt- 2,000 songs in her National Health Ser- Yusuf was accused of
posters, logos, advertise- ed into the classic 40-year career, vice (NHS), has been allowing his flat and
ments and book covers, film of the same including films like awarded the Points of garage at Al-Husseini
Glaser’s ideas captured name, has died. He Mr. India, Tezaab. Light honour by PM building in Mumbai
the spirit of the 1960s. was 81. Boris Johnson. for terrorist activities.
8 o u tlo ok | july 13, 2020
Poliglot
MixedShots
No Mandarin In This Mukku
T
he violent face-offs between the Chinese and Indian armies
is causing repercussions as far as Kerala. After the incident,
the people of China Mukku (literally China Junction) want
to change the name they got stuck with seven decades ago. Like
every other problem contemporary India faces, some have traced its
antecedents to Nehru. Legend has it that when India’s first prime
minister visited Konni gram panchayat in Kerala, he noticed a sea of
red flags in a communist stronghold. He apparently saw red and
asked whether it was a China junction. That, supposedly, was the
genesis of the anti-national name, which residents are now trying to
dissociate themselves from. O
deadWood’s d-day moonshot for a Lunar loo
W S
hat do you do when your child is not pace travel can be quite
particularly bright? Well, some doting a shitty affair—literally
parents feed them Horlicks, some almonds so. After all, you
and some marry them off to wooden wouldn’t want your
effigies. The latter was the fate of a excretions floating like
man in Ghurpur, Uttar Pradesh. feathery seeds in
His father Shiv Mohan explains, zero-gravity spaces.
“I have nine sons; eight of Thankfully, space shuttles
come equipped with toilets.
them are married. The ninth
But NASA is hoping to cut
is not intelligent and has
costs with a compact WC that
no property. So I got him
weighs less than half of the toilets in
married to an effigy.” We
use. As an incentive, they have launched the Lunar Loo
can’t wait to see what progeny Challenge with prizes worth Rs 26 lakh. If NASA’s Artemis
this unique union will produce. Moon mission is successful, a man and woman will land
Now if only all parents were as on the moon in 2024. And hopefully, they won’t have to
realistic about their darling offspring’s prospects! O stock up on adult diapers. O
G
Ki Khaike GI Banaras Wala
one are the days when any lowly stuffed betel leaf could
masquerade as the king of paans—the Banarasi paan. For it
is soon going to get the Geographical Indication (GI) tag,
which will not allow people outside the region to appropriate the
product and provide an impetus to exports. The Banarasi paan is
not a lone ranger, however. It is in the august company of Banarasi
langra mango, Barabanki handlooms, Adamchini rice and
Muzaffarnagar jaggery—among the 26 products in Uttar Pradesh
that are set to receive the coveted GI tag. O
Ill u st r at i o n s : saa h i l , T e x t b y A l k a G u p ta a n d S y e d S aa d A h m e d j u ly 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 | ou t look 9history/the mughals
The Dara In
Humayun’s
Tomb
A Delhi municipal engineer digs out the brother Aurangzeb beheaded—the
one who eluded history’s gravediggers for centuries
P h o t o g r a p h : T r i b h u va n T i wa r ihistory/the mughals
Jeevan Prakash Sharma
I
F medieval Indian history has one big what-if question,
it’s this: what if Dara Shikoh had become emperor
instead of Aurangzeb? There’s now a gap between the
words ‘Mughal’ and ‘Indian’ in the popular mind—a gap not
sustained in history. In the common telling of India’s past,
‘Mughal’ is the name of things built over a land. This idea
has been there only since the British: it was born with them.
It’s their idea of history that was built over the land. What
happened before that was more complex. A meeting of soils,
one that produced a natural petrichor, a deeply civilisation-
al aroma that travelled, without leaving a clear sign of its
origin. India, as the West got to know it during the colonial
age, was transformative for the West. And a key figure
mediating that encounter was Dara Shikoh. But where was
Dara Shikoh himself? He had vanished into the bone-dry
dust of the Doab.
No actor is yet known for portraying him. No Mughal-e-Azam
was made for him (though Karan Johar has recently threat-
ened to try). Nor was any political movement waged against
him. None was needed, of course. What would you protest
against? The translation he steered of the Upanishads? That’s
what travelled westward, an army of a subtler kind. The intel- Forgotten Prince A portrait of Dara Shikoh
lectual history of the West would have been different. But Dara
Shikoh himself fell off the map in 1659—apparently beheaded side the Humayun’s Tomb.
on his own brother Aurangzeb’s order. Yes, you heard that right. Singh says one of the chambers
He vanished so completely in fact that, even over 300 on the first floor of Humayun’s Tomb has Dara Shikoh’s
years after his death, his exact place of burial remains a tombstone: it lies there, unmarked, along with two others,
mystery. Evidence in history is often coloured in grey, but which belong to two sons of Akbar, Daniyal and Murad. How
there’s finally a new beam of light that potentially leads us did a municipal engineer unlock a door that historians had
to his interred body. Historical documents are often mutu- not managed to even reach? Well, it was a labour of love that
ally contradictory on details. Was he beheaded? Were his took him four years: he studied history, pored over histori-
head and body buried separately? Which contemporary rec cal documents, did everything a scholar would have done.
ord should be believed? What was Aurangzeb’s own attitude A fascinating hunt that has led to a strong claim. Strong
towards his brother’s grave? For all this, it has been a matter enough to earn accolades from at least five members of the
of some consensus that he was buried in Humayun’s Tomb. committee, which includes Padma awardee K.K.
Only the exact grave was unknown, as the tomb has over 140 Muhammed, former director general, National Museum,
graves of different Mughal family members. No historian or Dr B.R. Mani and three ex-directors of the Archaeological
researcher had yet managed to fine-tune the lens to afford Survey of India: Dr Syed Jamal Hasan, B.M. Pande and
us more close-range clarity. Ghulam Syed Khwaja.
Trying to fill that gap, ironically enough, is a government So how did Singh find his way around in this unlit part of
made up of a party not particularly renowned for its love of history? Before setting out on his hunt in 2016, Singh was
the Mughals. This February, just before India went into a aware of the popular belief—which even historians had
lockdown and Delhi was dealing with deadly questions of accepted—that Dara’s grave was in Humayun’s Tomb. But
history, the Union ministry of culture decided to try and beyond that, there was only anonymity. “As a matter of reli-
unlock this big, magic door into the past. It did what govern- gious principle, graves don’t have any concrete construction
ments do, setting up a seven-member committee of India’s on the ground level. That’s why, in Humayun’s Tomb, the ac-
top archaeologists to pinpoint Dara’s grave. Before it could tual graves are beneath the plinth, right below the respective
do anything, the country-wide lockdown brought tombstones,” Singh says. With material evidence unclear, he
everything to a grinding halt. But some three months later, needed documentary and literary proof. So he read up on all
as life tried to resume, and the members were going to as- the details available online on the architecture and design of
semble, something else happened. Much to their surprise, Mughal gravestones—from Babur’s in Kabul to Bahadur Shah
Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a 49-year-old civil engineer from Zafar’s in Rangoon. Then, he pored over the chronicles left by
South Delhi Municipal Corporation, came up with a star- travellers and historians. Next, he went over official Mughal
tling claim. He said he had spotted Dara Shikoh’s grave in- documents and biographies—a goldmine of information,
O u t l oo k i n d i a . c o m j u ly 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 | o u t look 11history/the mughals
even if not self-sufficient as evidence. “Many Maasir i Alamgiri by Saqi Mustad Khan,
prominent Mughal figures have their burial Muntakhab-al Lubab by Muhammad Hashim
grounds in Pakistan.… Jahangir, Nur Jahan, Khafi Khan, and Tarikh-i-Farahbakhsh by
Asaf Khan,” says Singh. He scanned the dar- Muhammad Faiz Bakhsh. Then there were
gah complex at Nizamuddin, Qutbuddin the modern works: Military Memoirs by
Bakhtiar Kaki’s grave in Mehrauli, Akbar’s George Thomas, Wanderings of a Pilgrim by
tomb at Sikandra, the Safdarjung Tomb, Fanny Parkes, Rambles and Recollections by
Itimad-ud-Daulah’s grave in Agra (one of the William Sleeman, Archaeology and
prototypes of the Taj), and Taj Mahal itself. Monumental Remains of Delhi by Stephen
And he started seeing patterns: a clear dis- Carr—right up to the Memoirs of the ASI by
tinction between graves made for males and Maulvi Muhammad Ashraf Husain.
females, local variations within the same One challenge was language: most original
time-frame, and a natural diachronic evolu- It took Sanjeev Mughal chronicles are in Persian. “I did face
tion across the Mughal period. this problem. I know a little bit of Urdu…so I
Kumar Singh four managed to narrow down my search because
Contemporary chronicles from the three
well-known Western travellers who saw years of hard work of the common alphabet, and then took those
India that time—François Bernier, Jean to finally locate portions to Dr Aleem Ashraf Khan, head of
Baptiste Tavernier and Niccolo Manucci— the grave of Dara the Persian department in Delhi University,”
were a natural source of reference for Singh. Singh says. The most vital clue came from
But like with everything else, he got only Shikoh, brother Alamgir Namah, which contained the words,
clues. According to Manucci, Dara’s head of Aurangzeb. “His body was taken to Humayun’s Tomb and
was buried at the Taj in Agra, and his body at buried in the basement chamber (tahkhana)
Humayun’s Tomb. Bernier writes of a beheading and a bur- below the dome, where Daniyal and Murad, Akbar’s son, lay
ial at Humayun’s Tomb. Tavernier talks only of the behead- buried....” The clearest reference, yet inconclusive. Singh had
ing. “Three different versions, but I placed more reliance on to proceed to architecture. “Once I narrowed down my search
Bernier as he was present in Delhi,” says Singh. to ‘below the dome’ of Humayun’s Tomb, I studied the design
The literature also opened up new aspects of Dara’s person- aspects of each and every tombstone in the chambers under
ality: including the common perception that Dara was a kind the dome on the first floor,” he says. That helped him zero
of soft counterpart to the harsh Aurangzeb. “When I read in on one of the chambers. It had three ‘male’ tombstones.
Bernier, I came to know that at times he was short-tempered, The torchlight was finally closing in. Here were Akbar’s two
rude and arrogant with people who used to question him,” sons, Murad Mirza and Daniyal Mirza, buried in 1599 and
says Singh. It’s a disputed point among historians, but it adds 1605 respectively, and perhaps Dara—whose burial came half
depth to what’s otherwise only calendar art. More granularity a century later, in 1659. The sequence was logical. Murad,
came to Singh via memoirs such as Amal-i Salih (penned by who died first, occupied the middle, so Daniyal took one
calligraphist and Shah Jahan’s official biographer end. Therefore Dara had to be accommodated near the en-
Muhammad Saleh Kamboh), Alamgir Namah by Aurangzeb’s trance, the other end.
handpicked early chronicler Mirza Muhammd Kazim, “If you enter the chamber on the first floor, you find Dara’s
The tahkhana that
holds Dara’s gravehistory/the mughals
3-Shahzada MURAD
Of the three cenotaphs (2,3 and 4)
of chamber 5, number 3 shows the
architectural characteristics of
Akbar’s period; thus it can be ded
uced that it is the earliest con-
struction of this chamber. It thus is
dedicated to Akabar’s son prince
Murad, who died on May 22, 1599.
4-Dara Shikoh 2-Shahzada Daniyal
The remaining cenotaph (No. 4), Similarly, from the transitioning
constructed at the end of the architectural characteristics strad-
chamber (the west) shows archi- dling Akbar’s and Jahangir’s reigns,
tectural trends of Shah Jahan’s we can deduce that cenotaph No. 2,
reign. It’s certainly dedicated to located towards the end of the ent
Dara Shikoh. The cenotaphs also rance of chamber 5 (the east), is of
indicate the burial spots of these prince Daniyal, Akbar’s son, who
princes in the basement chamber. died on March 11, 1605.
Humayun’s cenotaph is one of the five male
cenotaphs and it is located in the central
chamber (chamber No. 1). The south-west
chamber (No. 4) has cenotaphs of a man and
a woman while the north-west (No. 5) has
Male cenotaphs cenotaphs of three men. The other cenotaphs
Chamber No. 5 in chambers 2 and 3 are of women.
Chamber No. 1
4 3 2
Chamber No. 2
Female cenotaphs
Chamber No. 4 Position of cenotaphs, chambers on first Chamber No. 3
Female, male cenotaph 1 floor under the dome in Humayun’s Tomb Female cenotaphs
O u t l oo k i n d i a . c o m j u ly 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 | o u t look 13history/the mughals
as the last tombstone. But if you visit the basement, where
the actual graves are, the first grave is of Dara because the
entrance is on the opposite,” Singh says. How is that conclu-
sion warranted? Because Murad and Daniyal’s graves are
almost similar—a time gap of only six years. The third is dis-
tinctively different. “As we move closer to the date of Dara’s
burial, we find similarities among gravestones constructed
around that time,” says Singh. “For instance, the cenotaphs
of Akbar’s half-brother, Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, laid out in
1624, Itimad-ud-Daulah’s grave in Agra laid in 1622 and Nur
Jahan’s in 1645 in Lahore bear some resemblance with
Dara’s, despite local differences.”
Singh’s work is now with the experts, and most of them are
endorsing it. Says the old ASI hand and Padma awardee,
K.K. Muhammed, “Even I wasn’t aware of so many histori-
cal and architectural facts. He has churned out the essence
from the available resources.” Ghulam Syed Khwaja, who
was director, epigraphy, at ASI, too says, “He has done seri-
ous and pioneering research.” Dr Mani finds it “convincing
and worthwhile”. Pande and Syed Jamal Hasan, both emi-
nent archaeologists, second those views.
B
ut finding Dara has long been a challenge. One that
Supriya Gandhi of Yale University, author of The
Emperor Who Never Was (2019), the latest historical Last Waltz An artwork depicts Dara Shikoh’s wedding procession
work on Dara, is well aware of. She hasn’t seen Singh’s res
earch work yet. But she wrote to Outlook on email about pre- who died on March 11, 1605, is a decent guess. The third cen-
vious attempts to identify Dara’s tombstone, including ones otaph, on the western side, has architectural features
that relied on oral traditions. The late Dr Yunus Jaffery, for proper to Shah Jahan’s period. This is Singh’s Dara.
instance, had his own hypothesis. “There is evidence that his Gandhi isn’t completely convinced: she feels everyone has
grave had a visible tombstone, news reports from been looking for a group of three graves, but such a concate-
Aurangzeb’s court suggest this,” she says. “But it is hard on nation isn’t exactly spelt out in contemporary records. “A
the basis of literary evidence to identify its exact location.” search for three cenotaphs has guided their exploration. But
The textual evidence is indeed short of conclusive. “The there is nothing in the Alamgir Namah to suggest the tomb-
Amal-i Salih gives a metaphorical account of a Quranic verse stone must be one of three contiguous cenotaphs.
inscribed on the gate of Time, which other sources have mis- Distinguishing features of 17th-century cenotaphs too has
read and taken literally. The Alamgir Namah merely men- subjective elements, and may not lead to a conclusive an-
tions Dara was buried in the same place as Murad and swer,” she says. There are other possible directions that his-
Daniyal…it does not give the precise location,” she adds. tory gives us, she says. “For instance, the account from
Thing is, there are five tahkhanas (basements) under the Aurangzeb’s court suggests the condition of Dara’s grave
dome in Humayun’s Tomb—their corresponding chambers was deteriorating, which might mean it was exposed to the
are on the first floor, which accommodates eleven ceno- elements on the terrace outside instead of being located in
taphs, six of women and five of men. Humayun’s own is one the inner building. We cannot be absolutely sure,” she told
of the five male cenotaphs, located in the central chamber Outlook. She and other historians, of course, are in no doubt
(No. 1). The south-west chamber (No. 4) has cenotaphs of about the sheer seminal influence Dara had.
a man and a woman, chambers 2 and 3 are reserved for Prof Akhlaque Ahmad Ansari, a Persian expert at JNU,
women. And three men rest in the north-west one, Chamber says Dara was in essence so anti-establishment that he was
5. Three men, under the dome—both the requirements disowned by his own friends and contemporary scholars.
mandated by . The corresponding But Dara was not alone in that grand cultural enterprise,
below too is a close fit for the three shahza- where religion wasn’t quite the factor it became with British
das. The cenotaph numbered ‘3’ exhibits all the characteris- definitions of India. Knowledge was never circumscribed by
tics of Akbar’s period: the deduction that it belongs to identity before the British, says Ansari. “Take Abdul-ul-
Shahzada Murad, who died on May 22, 1599, is strongly war- Qader-Badauni, an orthodox Muslim who translated the
ranted. The first to die, so centrally placed. Cenotaph No. 2, Ramayana into Persian. It never courted any controversy.
located towards the entrance or the eastern side, features And orthodox Brahmins became great scholars of Islamic
the transitioning architectural characteristics straddling religious texts,” he adds. That is the grave that India has lost,
Akbar’s and Jahangir’s periods. Thus, Shahzada Daniyal, and is struggling to recover. O
14 ou tloo k | july 13, 2020Strat TALK
Realigning to
the new normal
with
Rahul Kumar
CEO, Lactalis India
In conversation with
V Keshavdev
Executive Editor, Outlook Business
July 9,
Thursday, 7:00, PM
To Register, Visit: outlookbusiness.com
Presented by
Co-Sponsored byindia-china/app ban
Mitron, Have A concerns are being articulated in other
countries,” Ashok Kantha, former
Indian ambassador to China and
Samosa Now
director at the Institute of Chinese
Studies, says. One of the ironies of
Digital Silk Road is China’s attempts to
take advantage of free media regulations
in democratic nations while blocking
Indian app developers will have to step up their foreign apps and websites, including
Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
game to beat the country’s dependence on China Indian websites, including newspaper
sites, are also banned in China.
Saibal Dasgupta user base of Chinese apps may not India managed to stir a debate against
immediately follow suit, the Indian the Belt and Road Initiative—President
T
action—an apparent retaliation to the Xi Jinping’s pet programme to enhance
HE Indian government’s border face-off in Ladakh—will initiate worldwide influence through connectiv-
decision to ban 59 Chinese the process of rethinking about their ity infrastructure—by raising objections
mobile applications, including implication in terms of national security, since 2017 and refusing China’s request
the popular TikTok, WeChat and Helo, analysts say.“I won’t be surprised if what to launch it in the country. This led to
will have a snowballing effect on India has done will result in a broader Malaysia cancelling and later restructur-
Beijing’s international soft power push questioning about the Chinese apps. ing a major Chinese-backed rail project
under the “Digital Silk Road” pro- Something similar might happen and more countries demanding price
gramme. Though countries with active elsewhere as more broad-based discounts from Chinese companies on
infrastructure projects. “We took a lead-
ership position by thinking ahead of the
WHAT NEXT?
In China, thousands of foreigners and
many Chinese use banned apps and
websites by connecting through vir-
tual private network (VPN) which can
make your online activities untracea-
ble. The Communist government has
failed to control their almost mush-
rooming growth.
There is a strong possibility that VPN
would become an extensively used
option in India because a vast popula-
tion of Indians have become addicted
to TikTok or use Chinese apps simply
because it is already downloaded in
their mobile phones.
At present, few people other than try-
ing to access porn sites use VPN in
India. There are several VPN apps
available over the Internet and many
people suspect the motives of com-
panies who provide the freebies with-
out even earning from advertising.
Chinese companies may begin distrib-
uting free VPN apps to retain their
customer base, analysts say. The
government may have to find a way
to resolve what appears to be an
emerging challenge.
16 o u tlook | july 13, 2020 G r ap h ic b y L e e laindia-china/app ban
curve. Many of India’s concerns have Beyond India, worried about security others rolled out by tech companies
become mainstream concerns and per- threats emanating from Chinese apps under the brand names Mitron and
ceptions about the BRI have since in the are widely felt in Europe, the US, Chingari, Samosa, InShorts and Myantra
past three years,” Kantha says. Australia and parts of Asia. Several coun- etc. But most of the top 10 Chinese apps
Chinese apps are usually bundled with tries are looking closely at China’s tele- have 10 to 50 times more users in India
China-made mobile phones. In India, com equipment exports out of fear they than their Indian counterparts.
they control the bulk of the market. The may contain malware and spy software. One reason for this is China’s ability to
ban on these apps will seriously effect TikTok has proved to be extremely produce extremely user-friendly apps
their sales and open new market seg- popular with young Indians eager to that encourage tech-unsavvy users to
ments for Samsung and other brands express their creativity through short create and use content. The result is a
besides some low-end phones made in videos, and managed to create a positive network of users that act as a marketing
India, which has the largest number of view of China. The ban has created a vac- mechanism for the app company.
users of the short-video platform, uum that cannot be immediately met by “Indians are known to adopt new tech-
TikTok, at 120 million. Followed by US at YouTube operating at a different level. nologies very fast. But they are not the
nearly 40 million, Turkey at 28 million, best when it comes to creating digital
Russia 24 million, Mexico 20 million, Serious questions media platforms,” Sinha says. “Besides,
Brazil 18 million and Pakistan 12 million. The ban has raised questions about the huge investments are required to con-
WeChat, akin to WhatsApp, has not inability of Indian companies to come tinuously upgrade the platforms and
made much of an impact in India but it up with equally popular apps and digital market them,” he adds.
has a huge potential. WeChat Pay, the platforms and capture even one-fourth An important question whether the
transaction platform within the social of the Indian market, instead of allowing ban is merely a non-military response to
media app, is available in 40 countries
and in 12 different currencies other than
the Chinese Yuan. “Chinese ban on Download Central
Google, Facebook and other apps created
an ecosystem that led to the creation of Chinese apps Users in Alternative apps Indian apps
India (foreign)
many successful Chinese apps. This
could be an opportunity for develop- Tiktok, 120 m YouTube, Instagram Mitron, Chingari
ment of apps in India,” Kunal Sinha, a Helo 50 m ShareChat, Roposo. Samosa
consumer and media expert in Mumbai,
who spent many years in Shanghai, says. UC Browser 130 m Chrome, Firefox Jio browser
On the other hand, Indian technology ShareIT 200 m Dropbox, Google Drive ShareAll, Jio Switch
start-ups are financed with Chinese
MI Community 80 m Google Play store
money, he points out. “Developing new
apps in India would require alternative CamScanner 100 m Adobe Scan,
sources of funds,” Sinha says. Microsoft Office
This is an opportunity for Indian com- WeChat WhatsApp, Snapchat Jio browser
panies to look at non-tech sectors, and
make the most of the massive market
that has been suddenly made available
by the ban on Chinese apps. The ques- Chinese and American companies to Chinese aggression on the border or part
tion is whether they will move quickly. control almost all of it. The ability of the of a larger plan hatched in New Delhi’s
Issuing the ban, the government said the ministry of information technology to South Block. A long-term strategic pro-
applications are engaged in activities think long-term and encourage compa- gramme would involve encouraging
“prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity nies to play an important role is being Indian tech firms to come up with new
of India, defence of India, security of questioned too. platforms and enrich existing ones to
state and public order”. For instance, the ministry knew all take advantage of the market gap.
Chinese apps like TikTok assert that along that the banned apps come pre- Put together, the banned Chinese apps
they do not share Indian data with any installed with Chinese phones. There are known to have total users exceeding
foreign government, including China, was hardly any attempt to create a suita- 800 million with every third mobile
but there are widespread concerns about ble ecosystem for production of mobile phone user using at least one of them.
cybersecurity. A worrying aspect is the phones even if it meant seeking the coo The government has not banned a some
large-scale use of Chinese branded mo- peration of South Korean companies. popular Chinese apps, including
bile phones with their apps by security Indian apps have emerged on the scene AliExpress, TurboVPN, PUBG Mobile,
personal in border/sensitive areas. Short to challenge Chinese and get a piece of PUBG Lite, MV Master and App Lock. Is
video apps make certain situations and the market pie. These include some it because India does not see them as
regions particularly vulnerable. launched by Reliance’s Jio and several security risks or simply forgot? O
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