Many groups of all religious persuasions engage in processions to indicate the inauguration of the rite. The Shi‘ah also set up sabi̅l tents and stands to distribute water or sherbet to travelers in memory of the thirst suffered by the martyrs. This day is also marked in some parts of India by a rite called koḍāli̅ mārnā (adze digging), during which the fātiḥah, the exordium of the Qur’ān, is read over sugar candy representing the martyrs. The neighborhood group then goes to a predetermined spot where the digging instrument is used to strike the ground and turn over one clod of dirt. A day or two later a fire pit (alāvā) is dug in which fires are lit every night. Each evening stick and sword dances are performed around the fire, and some people who have taken vows walk across the glowing embers barefoot or throw the coals into the air with their hands. This activity occurs in numerous neighborhoods in Banaras and other locations throughout India, and the alāvā is said to represent the fiery trench dug for protection by Husayn’s party on one side of their encampment at Karbala. In some places, the alāvā is dug in front of permanent or temporary imāmbāṛās.50
Figure 5. A reverse mica painting (c. 1850–60) depicting an attendant fanning a ta‘zi̅yah with a fly flapper. The ta‘zi̅yah rests on a cauk. By permission of the British Library. Add. Or. 413.
Figure 6. A watercolor (c. 1795–1800) depicting the inside of an imāmbāṛā, with a ta‘zi̅yah in the foreground and a rauz̤eh khvān seated at the rear. By permission of the British Library. Add. Or. 938.
In Banaras, as throughout most of India, temporary shelters known as imāmbāṛās in the north are set up near masjids in many Muslim neighborhoods on this day.51 These serve as resting places for the ta‘zi̅yahs and other ritual objects, such as the special ‘alams (standards) relating to the character in the tragedy mourned that day (see Figure 6). Permanent imāmbāṛās containing nonephemeral ta‘zi̅yahs known as zari̅ḥ, which are made of precious metals and jewels, are also decorated throughout India from this day onward. The Muslim population of Banaras is not isolated to one area of the city. Sunni and Shi‘i muḥallās are often interspersed with Hindu residential areas, even though there are some large concentrations of Muslims scattered about in clusters. Some of the neighborhoods are not strictly segregated. One can find both Sunni and Shi‘i populations, as well as some Hindus on the periphery, living in a given area. A number of such neighborhoods are oriented around small masjids. Each muḥallā that can afford to have its own ta‘zi̅yah constructed does so. Others that are in close proximity to one another may combine efforts on the cenotaph construction. But in a number of places, especially in urban areas, many people purchase disposable ta‘zi̅yahs of various size, design, and execution, depending on their financial means, from professional builders who may be Hindu or Sunni.52 The imāmbāṛās also serve as gathering places for the ritual recitations of the day’s events at Karbala. Each imāmbāṛā is marked by another ‘alam, a three-sided flag hung from a banner staff that represents the one carried by Abbas, the standard bearer for Husayn’s party. The banner staffs are fastened into the ground on either the first, fourth, or fifth day (see Figure 7).53 Participants and spectators believe that these flags are imbued with the power to bestow miracles during the month of Muharram.54 Similar to Iranian custom, it is for this reason that barren women in the Panjab who take vows offer cloth for the standards (see Figure 8).55 The power invested in this temporary sacred space is transferred to all objects within its precincts. Especially powerful is the ta‘zi̅yah itself. Because of the immense power within these sacred hot spots, the complete environment surrounding it must be kept ritually pure at all times. In other words, the imāmbāṛā, as well as the objects within it, are loci of barakat, the grace of God. It is a common sight during Muharram processions to see people touching the objects or passing underneath them to avail themselves of the healing power. An account from the early twentieth century makes note of the transactions that occur:
Figure 7. A reverse mica painting (c. 1850–60) from the Banaras region depicting a standard bearer. By permission of the British Library. Add. Or. 412.
Some were Hindu women, probably unfortunate mothers, who thus paid respect to these effigies of the martyrs’ tombs, in the fond hope that Imam Husain would graciously extend his protection to their surviving children and grant them long life.… From time to time some persons, for the most part women with babies in their arms, approached the tazias, and made trifling offerings of flowers, sweetmeats, and money, which gifts were formally accepted by the attendants, and some trifling return, generally a garland of small flowers, given in exchange by way of acknowledgement to the pious and now happy oblationer, who, beaming with satisfaction and hope, would place it without delay about her infant’s neck.56
The following days are filled with prayer and mars̲i̅yah recitation both in private and in public gatherings. Once the ‘alams are posted in front of the imāmbāṛās, offerings of food are placed in their presence, censers for burning frankincense (lobān) are lit, and the fātiḥah is recited over them every night. After these evening prayers, the food placed in front of the banners is distributed to all in attendance. This special food, known as tabarruk, is considered to be a blessing and parallels the Hindu practice of distributing prasād. Hindus who observe muḥarram distribute mali̅dah, a cake made of pounded meal, butter, and sugar.57 These social acts of prayer and commensality are followed nightly by verbal reenactments of episodes from the tragedy corresponding to that particular day.58 They can take the form of poetry, song, lectures, and personal petitionary prayer (du’ā’). People from outside of the cities often visit the imāmbāṛās and ask Husayn, or the specific martyr being remembered on that given day, for favors and they frequently make vows (mannats). They may ask her or him to heal a sick kinsman, insure the wealth of the family, or to pray for the dead. In Banaras, devotees who have relatives living in the city will remain there until the tenth of Muharram, the climax of the observances. Others return to their respective villages feeling confident that Husayn will aid them in life as well as in death.
Figure 8. A Panjabi muḥarram ‘alam topped with a panjah being taken out in procession during the month of Muharram in 1973. Notice the various cloth offerings for vow fulfillment tied to the standard. Photograph by Richard Kurin. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Folkways Archive.
Although muḥarram is intensely religious for the Shi‘ah, there is also a strong social dimension associated with it. Saiyid, for example, reports that residents of the Sunni-dominated town of Chanorba, Uttar Pradesh, who live and work elsewhere try to return home each year during the period to “celebrate” the holiday.59 Sharif adds that in south Gujarat, merriment and masquerade replace grief from the fourth until the tenth.60 Although marriages cannot be performed during the contiguous months of Muharram and Safar, this social occasion provides opportunities to make matches and arrange for future unions. The kind of celebratory atmosphere that the occasion encourages is an issue to which I will return below.
On the morning of the fifth, Shi‘i processions move throughout various sectors of the