Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/303

Korán, before it, and in other religious rites. On a raised seat squats the venerable Mohla, surrounded by the Hadjees and other dignitaries and eldersof the Moslem Church; and at a distancesquat vast multitudes of the faithful. To the breathless audience the voice of the Mohla is "more than the miraculous harp." In tones of intense anguish does he recite the tale of woe—how one of the heroes was poisoned by the foul assassin at Yezd, how the other was slaughtered by the dastard soldiery of Damasens, on the field of Kerbalá. In the course of the recital, the High Priest lays solemn emphasis on an incident here and there, swaying his portly person backward and forward. At such times his deep-drawn sigh generally makes itself heard at a distance—a sigh that seems "to shatter his bulk." This prolonged inspiration is taken up by the audience, converted into a loud sob, aunited but discordant groan, decidedly more striking to the ear than harmonious. Here the agonised spirit finds vent in moans of "Hai Hassan, Hai Hussein." Here ply the brawny hands on the livid breast—a cruel torture unfelt, owing to the self-abandonment of the hour, though to the onlooker the breast is a piece of raw flesh be sprinkled with the vital fluid.