Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son and heir-Apparent of the Eniperor Shah Iahan, is a unique figure in the Mughal imperial family. He is chiefiy remembered for his tragic end, but few people realise that the tragedy lay not so much in his death as in his life. The Mughal princes who followed Akbar belonged to a set type. Valiant, debauched and luxurious, they excelled in fighting and drinking, and very often in both. The imperial throne was their only objective and pomp and power their sole aim in life. They divided their time between camp and harem, and wine and women formed their chief diversions from the exertions of Warfare. They cared very little for knowledge and still less for any higher intellectual pursuits. They moved in a narrow groove and lacked all liberal ideas or noble statesmanship. The pleasures of the flesh alone made any appeal to their animal instincts and they never bothered about any higher spiritual life of which man is capable.