224 Part III: South Asia
by far the most important Muslim event was the holy month of Muharram, a
very specifically Shia commemoration of the death of Husain.
Firsthand accounts from the nineteenth century illustrate the widespread
participation in Muharram. “The truth is that in those days the whole year was
spent waiting for Muharram.... After the goat sacrifices of Baqr Id the prepa-
rations for Muharram began. Dadda, my father’s mother, started to softly
chant elegies about the martyrs. Mother set about sewing black clothes for all
of us; and my sister took out the notebooks of laments and began to practice
them” (Rahi Masoom Reza, quoted in Hasan 1996). As the moon was sighted
over the Gomti River in Lucknow, the loud and clear call to prayer marked the
beginning of the holy month of Muharram.
They would renew and reaffirm their unflinching devotion to those Islamic
principles for which Imam Husain, grandson of the Prophet, had laid down
his life in 680 C.E.... They marched through the lanes and bylanes of Luck-
now in fervent lamentation chanting “Ya-Husain,” “Ya-Husain,” rhythmi-
cally beating their chests, self-flagellating, carrying replicas of Husain’s tomb,
his coffin, and standards and insignia, and his horse. (Hasan 1996:543)
It was not only the tiny numbers of Shias who engaged in this emotional
10-day mourning for an event from the seventh century that was the founda-
tional narrative of Shia Islam. Sunnis as well, and even Hindus, participated in
Muharram. Hindu princes in central and southern India, including Brahmans,Every year at Muharram, Shia Muslims commemorate the death of Husain with proces-
sions and self-flagellation that brings blood dripping off their heads, chests, and backs.