[39] Ziyarat, 'visitation', especially to the tomb of the Prophet or that of a Muhammadan saint. The pilgrim says, not 'I have visited the Prophet's tomb', but 'I have visited the Prophet'. (Burton, Pilgrimage, i. 305.)
[40] The grave is said to be nine yards long: according to others, much longer. See the flippant remark of Burton, ibid., ii. 273 ff.
[41] Mir Haji Shah.
[42] Hajj, 'setting out'.
LETTER II
Celebration of Mahurrum.—The Tazia.—Mussulmaun Cemeteries.—An Emaum-baarah.—Piety of the ladies.—Self-inflicted abstinence and privations endured by each sex.—Instances of the devotional zeal of the Mussulmauns.—Attempted infringement on their religious formalities.—The Resident at Lucknow.—Enthusiastic ardour of the poor.—Manner of celebrating the Mahurrum in opposition to the precepts of the Khoraun.—Mosque and Emaum-baarah contrasted.—The supposition of Mussulmauns practising idolatry confuted.
My former Letter prepares you for the celebration of Mahurrum, the observance of which is at this time going forward here (at Lucknow) with all that zealous emulative spirit and enthusiasm which I have before remarked the Mussulmaun population of India entertain for their Emaums (leaders), and their religion.
This annual solemn display of the regret and veneration they consider due to the memory of departed excellence, commences on the first day of the Moon (Mahurrum). The Mussulmaun year has twelve moons; every third year one moon is added, which regulation, I fancy, renders their years, in a chronological point of view, very nearly equal with those of Europe. Their day commences and ends when the stars are first visible after sunset.
The first day of Mahurrum invariably brings to my recollection the strongly impressed ideas of 'The Deserted Village'. The profound quiet and solemn stillness of an extensively populated native city, contrasted with the incessant bustle usual at all other times, are too striking to Europeans to pass by unheeded. This cessation of the animated scene, however, is not of long duration; the second day presents to the view vast multitudes of people parading backwards and forwards, on horseback, in palkies, and on foot, through the broad streets and roadways, arrayed in their several mourning garbs, speeding their way to the Emaum-baarahs[1] of the great men, and the houses of friends, to pay the visit of respect (zeearut), wherever a Tazia is set up to the remembrance of Hasan and Hosein.
The word Tazia[2] signifies grief. The term is applied to a representation of the mausoleum at Kraabaallah, erected by their friends and followers, over the remains of Hasan and Hosein. It is formed of every variety of material, according to the wealth, rank, or preference, of the person exhibiting, from the purest silver down to bamboo and paper, strict attention being always paid to preserve the model of Kraabaallah, in the exact pattern with the original building. Some people have them of ivory, ebony, sandal-wood, cedar, &c., and I have seen some beautifully wrought in silver filigree. The handsomest of the kind, to my taste, is in the possession of his Majesty the King of Oude, composed of green glass, with brass mouldings, manufactured in England (by whom I could not learn). All these expensive Tazias are fixtures, but there are temporary ones required for the out-door ceremony, which, like those available to the poor and middling classes, are composed of bamboo frames, over which is fixed coloured uberuck[3] (lapis specularum, or tulk); these are made in the bazaar, of various sizes and qualities, to suit the views of purchasers, from two rupees to two hundred each.