In contemporary discourses, Dara Shikoh, the heir apparent to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, is hailed as a champion of religious syncretism, a great patron of the arts, and a pioneer of translating sacred Hindu texts. But he is seldom evaluated from the public leadership angle, even though he was groomed to be a monarch. In this talk, Sreejit Datta explores the leadership credentials of Dara Shikoh, based on the historical accounts written by his contemporaries as well as by historians of a later era. This exploration also sheds light on the political history of the late Mughal period and the shaping of India’s socio-political destiny in the decades following Dara’s murder.