Muharam Celebrations

[Perfection]

Muharam : Shiite muslims all over the world celebrates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein as Muharam during Feb - Mar (30 Jan 2007 in India). Imam Hussein (grand son of prophet Mohammad) with 72 followers were torched to death by Yazeed in Iraq in 1324 AD.

Celebated in various parts of India - Srinagar in Kashmir, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh (Celebrations last for 14 days by wearing black cloths, processions and throngs gather at Mecca masjid), Shaniwar wada in Pune (Maharashtra), Hospet in Karnataka (near World heritage centre Hampi or Guntakal railway junction).

Hospet in Karnataka : The day time priliminaries appear to be a hybrid of Muslim and Hindu rituals and those who are scheduled to do the fire walking must be physically restrained from losing conntrol just before the event. Firewalkers walk barefooted across the red hot embers of a fire that's been burning all the day and night. Virtually the whole town turns out to watch or take part, and the excitement reaches fever pitch around midnight. Devotees commeorates the martydom by giving pain to each other and to self by beating, bleeding blood, walking on fire beds and mourning.

[34ever]

i am moslem. in my country (indonesia), which is the biggest moslem country there was no special celebration.

[Perfection]

In Muslims ther are two main sects - Sunni and Shia - of which Shia muslims celebrates it with religious processions and other ways as mentioned above. Sunnis also celebrates Muharam in a silent way.

I will be adding Muharam photos soon.

[Perfection]

Muhram celebrations vary from place to place. The following is from Sallahuddin Chisti dargah (tomb) near Shaniwarwada, Pune.

Tabuth : Tabuth used to carry dead bodies to creamtion area. Chariot like thing made of bamboo plies is decorated by pasting colourful paper and a lot of garlands (white and red flowers). Decorated Tabuth is placed for public reverence (both Hindus and Muslims) and is taken on shoulders (long bamboo poles tied to it's base). People are in a merry mood and take a person by holding his hands and legs and rotate him while moving up and down hailing 'jhoola...', 'jhoola...' (meaning 'swing').

Around 04.30 pm the tabuth bearers are ready to carry it to it's final destination - the near by river. They lift it up in unison, rotate it, tilt and shake it violently followed by a rash run of 100 metre, hailing 'jhoola...', 'jhoola...'. It was an enjoying experience with full of excitement. Normally violence will arise during the celebrations, so police force is deputed on duty to control the crowd / followers. Devotees smear their forehead and cheeks with black powder. Sweets and other food items are thrown to the tabuth and the devotees collect and consume it as 'prasad' (blessed food). Some distributed the sweets and special drinks.

The tabuth is rotated and shaken violently, moving it up and down, giving side falls on the road. It is carried while running a distance of further 500 metre by the crowd. Finally, it is thrown to the river from the bridge near by.

(Most of the religions in India considers water and rivers as holy. And the devotees are polluting the holy waters in a severe way. Eg - Ganga, Yamuna and other main rivers of India. If we are not caring our holy rivers, who will take care of them ?.

A bath in the holy river Ganga is supposd to purify a man's sin. But a devotee will find it difficult to take a dip at Allahabad or Varanasi (in Uttar Pradesh) due to the polluted water. It appears as muddy and is tested to be poisonous.

Other pollutions by hummans - air pollution by chemicals / vehicles - are causing global warming and our glaciers are disappearing - Gangotri, Pindari, Milam etc. are receeding their position.)

Muharam celebration photos