Abstract: Dara Shikoh, the Mughal poet-prince, comes to limelight at intermittentintervals. This time it is because Dalhousie Road in Delhi has been renamedas Dara Shikoh Road; and also because Audrey Trus che has written a booktitled *Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth. *Trusche’s illuminating work contextualizes the life of Aurangzeb and attempts to free him from thelabel of “bigot.” In doing so, however, she plays into the binary ofDara/Aurangzeb: Dreamy poet/ Statesman King all over again in the sectionthat she deals with the conflict of the brothers. Dara is still caught in amoment of “What if?” where counterfactual history starts indulging in a free play of imagination.