Allopanishad

''Allah-Upanishad'' or ''Allopanishad'' is a Sanskrit apocryphal text with many Arabic words generally argued and believed to be written in India in 16th century during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar. It describes Akbar as a messenger or prophet of God.

The ''Allopanishad'' is not part of the Upanishad canon, traditionally containing 108 Upanishads, and does not appear in any Vedas. In an issue of ''The Theosophist'', R. Ananthakrishna Sastri wrote that the work was written by converted Muslims for monetary rewards during the time of Muslim rule in India. He further remarked that the work was not in the style of ordinary Upanishads and its words appear to sound more like Arabic. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya and B. K. Sarkar categorize Allopanishad as an Islamic Work and write that it was written by a converted Muslim courtier of Akbar, as an apocryphal chapter of the Atharvaveda. Swami Vivekananda said, "I have been told that Allopanishad was written during the reign of Akbar, to bring the Hindus and Mahommedans together, and sometimes they got hold of some word, as Allah, or Illa in the Samhitas, and made an Upanishad on it. So in this Allopanishad, Mahomet is the Rajasulla, whatever that may mean."

Text

# ''I take refuge in our Allah 'La'', "to perish", and'' alla'', "eternal"who protects Mitra unand Varuna he god of water''
# ''There is but one God llelle the king, Varuna, again takes refuge (in him).''
# ''Everything is God; sun and stars.''
# ''Everything is God; Varuna, the sun, the illuminator.''
# ''The Great Breath, the Lord, is the Sacrificer. The Lord is the Sacrificer.''
# ''Allah is the first and best, the highest; Omnipresent; Highest of all Gods.''
# ''He is only One; ever remaining.''
# ''By sacrifice is Allah to be propitiated.''
# ''Allah is sun, moon and all stars.''
# ''Allah is (the God) of Rishis and all other deities, and of Indra, the first Maya rimordial matterand the ether.''
# ''Allah is in the earth and in heaven and in multifarious forms.''
# ''Everything is Allah. Everything is Allah and everything is He.''
# ''Om is Allah. Everything is He. By nature eternal. Atharvan he Rishibows down to such.''
# ''Give us water, cattle, siddhis, and things that live in water, and Phut mantra''
# ''The slayer of enemies. Hum, Hrim. Nothing but Allah; nothing but Allah. Thus ends the Allopanishad.''

Views on authorship and authenticity

In an issue of ''The Theosophist'', R. Ananthakrishna Sastri wrote that the work was written by converted Muslims for monetary rewards during the time of Muslim rule in India. He further remarked that the work was not in the style of ordinary Upanishads and its words appear to sound more like Arabic. Bhattacharya and Sarkar categorize Allopanishad as an Islamic Work and write that it was written by a converted Muslim courtier of Akbar who had, as an apocryphal chapter of the Atharvaveda. Charles Eliot suggested that the work may have been written in connection with the Din-i-Ilahi movement, and wrote that the work can hardly be described as other than a forgery.
Author S. N. Sadasivan says, "When emperor Akbar was toying the idea with new religion Din-i Ilahi, converted Muslims had written for him a new upanishad called "Allopanishad" (upanishad of Allah) which strangely was not acceptable for him". Swami Vivekananda wrote that Allopanishad was evidently of a much later date and that he was told that it was written in the reign of Akbar to bring Hindus and Muslims together. Sadasivan writes that it was written by converted Muslims for Akbar when he was experimenting with a new religion. Debendranath Tagore wrote in his autobiography that Allopanishad was composed in the days of Akbar with the objective of converting Hindus into Muslims. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote that the Allopanishad was the shameless production of some converted Muslim sycophant of Muslim rulers of India. Abraham Eraly states that the book was symbolic of the various cross-cultural pollination between Hindu and Muslim cultures during the time of the Mughals and was meant to bring the two communities together.Abraham Eraly, The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age, Penguin Books India 2007

See also

* Din-i-Ilahi

References

{{Reflist

Hinduism and Islam
Mughal literature
Religious syncretism in Asia
16th-century Indian books
Akbar
Indian literature
16th-century Sanskrit literature
Books about the Upanishads