THE MUHARRAM.
A SHIAH HOUSE OF MOURNING IN MADRAS.
BY CHARLES E. GOVER, M.R.A.S., &c.
WHILE the outward signs of the Muhar ram, as they are noticed by a European, are those of the extravagant festivity of an Eastern Carnival, it is known that the Shiahs,
to whom the occasion properly belongs, observe it as a fast and as a time of the deepest mourn ing. The Muharram to them is the anniversary of the foul murder of their revered Imāms, who were cut off at Kerbela by a ruthless usurper. The mourning is both public and private ; public at the mosque and in the procession, which, where the Sunnis permit, passes through the streets from Imāmbarah to Imāmbarah.
Many persons have seen the procession; few have been permitted to be present at the mosque services. The writer has been honoured with the
friendship of influential Shiahs, and was permit ted to view the Muharram rites in every detail,
both public and private. The latter were most in teresting on account of their novelty and the peep they afforded into the domestic celebrations of a community which is perhaps the least known in all India. The service takes place on the last day but two of the feast, and is kept strictly private,
their people are very prejudiced, tell us the reason of our imprisonment. We protest that boots are removeable, that we are unwill
ing to hurt the feelings of a houseful of people merely because our rules of politeness are somewhat different from theirs.
This wins the
day. In our stocking feet we enter the court, pass into the middle of the assembly, and wait for our chairs.
Then we learn that chairs are
also tabooed in a sacred place. So down we sit, tailor-fashion on the mat and carpet that cover the floor of the court.
The court-yard is large, some thirty feet square. On the East side is a deep double veranda, on the other three sides ordinary single verandas. The walls are draped with black
cloth—even the very well in the centre of the court has its wall draped. On the north and west sides the funeral cloth hangs from the front of the veranda, enclosing behind it a sort
probably because at this one season alone
of long narrow room, where the women hide from the men, though able to hear all and see much of the proceedings. On a sort of frieze that passes round the walls and also conceals the rugged tile edges of the veranda roof, are
does the dignified Muhammadan divest himself
written in large characters verses from the more
of the solemn decorum which is so marked a
favourite songs in honour of the martyrs; while
habit of the more respectable followers of Islam. My presence was only permitted after consid erable discussion, and on the distinct under standing that no alteration whatever in the mode of conducting the service should be made in supposed deference to the feelings of a Christ ian stranger. The place chosen for the ceremony is an ordinary native house, selected for the purpose because of its unusually large courtyard and deep verandas round it. Enter then with me this house of mourning. The door is guarded by fierce followers of the martyrs, whose busi
on the east wall there hangs a frame enclos
ness it is to see that none but those who love
centre of the east wall is the punja or standard
the Imāms are admitted. We are challenged, but a guide pacifies the guards, and leads us with in, not into the court where the people are as sembled, but into a close and dingy room from whence we may see the whole proceedings. This portends a terrible evening for ourselves, and we ask permission to sit with the people in the court. A glance at our shoes and the remark that
of the martyrs. It is of peculiar form, having an immense brass head in the shape of a heart up side down, and from the apex project the five
ing the names of the martyrs, their children, their mother, and grand-father.
This frieze
greatly relieves the dim blackness of the place, and is aided in this respect by two long narrow
strips of paper, on which are painted pictures of the greater tombs of the martyrs in the Shiah cities of the East.
On the northern side
of the double veranda is a pulpit, if so it may be called, where the preacher merely sits, and has no front board. We might better call it a sort of rude throne; this too is covered
from top to bottom with black cloth.
In the
spear heads which give the standard its name. In the centre of the brass heart is written a sentence from the Koran. The lower part of the
punja is also hidden in black cloth. Right opposite, in the centre of the west side, is a
