The procession having reached Kraabaallah, the whole ceremony of a funeral is gone through. The Tazia is committed to the grave with equal solemnity to that which is observed when their dead are deposited in the tomb: this occupies some time. I never witnessed the movements at Kraabaallah,—the season of the year, the confusion, and the anticipated feuds between Sheahs and Soonies, ever deterred me from gratifying my curiosity. It is always expected that the bad feelings between the two sects, amongst the lower orders of the people, may produce a real battle on the imitative ground of Kraabaallah; and I have heard of many such terminations of the Mahurrum at Lucknow, where the enthusiastic Sheahs and Soonies—having reserved their long hatred for a favourable opportunity of giving it vent,[23]—have found an early grave on the very ground to which their Tazia has been consigned. Private quarrels are often reserved for decision on the field of Kraabaallah.
I may here remark, swords form a part of every man's daily costume, from the king to the poorest peasant; save only the devout men, who having forsaken the world have no occasion for a sword. I have often heard them say, 'My trust is not resting on a morsel of steel, but on the great mercy of my God'.—'What shall I defend? my life? Where is the arm that can assault me without the permission of my God; if He ordains it, should I murmur, or ward off the blow?'—'Is it my worldly goods I am to defend? From whose bounty have I received them? Is not the great Giver able to defend His gifts? and if He wills that I should lose them, what shall I say, but as Yoube[24] (Job) said, "It is the Lord, to do His own will"; blessed be His great name for ever.' These are the sentiments of the devout men of all creeds; and these are likewise the exemplary opinions of some good Mussulmauns I have known in India.
Returned to their home, the rich men are occupied in dispensing benefits among the poor. Food, money, and clothes, are distributed in nearly as great proportions as when they have to mourn over a recent separation by death from a beloved relative. The clothes worn during Mahurrum are never retained for the next occasion, but always distributed amongst the poor, who derive so many advantages from the annual commemoration of Mahurrum, that the philanthropic heart will rather be pleased than vexed at the zeal which produces such a harvest of benefits to the necessitous.
The riches of a native city may be calculated by the immense sums expended at Mahurrum every year; and if no greater advantage be derived from the gorgeous display of the wealthy, than the stimulus to honest industry amongst the several trades, whose labour is brought into use on these occasions, there is enough in the result to excuse the expenditure of surplus cash in apparent trifles. This, however, is strictly the result, not the design, of those expensive displayers at Mahurrum, who are actuated solely by fervent zeal, in keeping a continued remembrance of the sufferings of their Emaums, and doing honour to their memory.
It is not my province either to praise or condemn, but merely to mark out what I observe of singularity in the habits, manners, and customs of the Mussulmauns, in whose domestic circles I have been so many years a sojourner. On the subject which my pen has faintly traced to your view,—the celebration of Mahurrum,—I cannot refrain from offering one remark; I think them to be actuated by so fervent a zeal, that if they could believe with me, that whatever we do in this life is for Eternity, they would still persevere in this their supposed duty of honouring their Emaums.
[1] Mendhi in its primary sense is the plant Lawsonia alba, the leaves of which are used for dyeing the hands and feet of the bride and bridegroom; hence, the marriage rites on this occasion.
[2] This edifice was built under the superintendence of Ghauzee ood deen Hyder, first King of Oude; and it is here his remains are deposited. May his soul rest in peace! [Author.] [This building was named after Shah Najaf or Najaf Ashraf, the scene of the martyrdom of 'Ali, 120 miles south-west of Baghdad. The capture of the Shah Najaf, in which the guns of Captain Peel played a leading part, was a notable incident in the relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin Campbell.—T.R.E. Holmes, History of the Indian Mutiny (1885), 398 ff.]
[3] The Gumti, Gomati, 'abounding in cattle'.
[4] The fish is a symbol of sovereignty, or authority emanating from the
sovereign, in Hindoostaun, since the period of Timour.—Possessors of
Jaghires, Collectors of Districts, &c., have permission to use the
fish, in the decorations on their flags, in the way similar to our
armorial bearings. In Oude the fish is represented in many useful
articles—pleasure boats, carriages, &c. Some of the King's Chobdhaars
carry a staff representing a gold or silver fish. [Author.] [The
Order of the Fish (mahi maratib) is said to have been founded
by Khusru Parviz, King of Persia (A.D. 591-628), and thence
passed to the Moghul Emperors of Delhi and to the Court of Oudh.—W.H.
Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections, ed. V.A. Smith, 135 ff.]
[5] Nasir-ud-din Haidar, son of Ghazi-ud-din Haidar, whom he succeeded in 1827, died, poisoned by his own family, in 1837. 'He differed from his father, Ghazi-ud-din Haidar, in being considerably more debauched and disreputable. His father had been an outwardly decent hedonist and voluptuary, but the son was under no restraints of any sort or kind, and it is probable that his character was not unfavourably depicted in that highly coloured sketch, "The Private Life of an Eastern King" (by W. Knighton, 1855). "Any one", we are told, "was his friend who would drink with him," and his whole reign was one continued satire upon the subsidiary and protected system.'—H.C. Irwin, The Garden of India, p. 117.