Monograph on Muharram in Hyderabad City, Series-2
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CENSUS OF INDIA 1971 SERrES 2 ANDHRA PRADESH A MONOGRAPH ON MUHARRAM IN HYDERABAD CITY Field Investigation and Draft KHAJA MOINUDDIN, M.A., F.R.G.S. (LONDON) S.M.R.T.P.I. (ENGLAND) TABULATION OFFICER Scrutiny V. VENUGOPAL RAO, B.A., LL.B. Deputy Director of C<VDStlS Operations Editor T. VEDANTAM, OF THE INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE Director of Census Operations, Andbra Pradesh. CONTENTS page Foreword iii Preface CHAPTER I-Introduction 1 CHAPTER II-E'l1"'leffi3 of Ritu'lls and Activities connected with Moharrum 14 CHAPTER III-So;;io-Ecouomic Factors leading to the origin of Moharrum festivities 24 CHAPTER IV-Origin of important Ashurkhanas and Shia Religious Institutions in Twin Cities 37 CHAPTER V-Public Performance of Moharrum in Twin Cities 46 Appendices 8S Glossary 105 Photographs Facing Page 1. The Govern:>r of A'1dhra Pradesh is offering "Nazar" on 10th of Moharrum to Bibi-ka-Alam at Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Office Darushifa Locality 2. Pro~ession of Bibi-ka-Alam Passing through the streets of the city 32 3. Alam of B:tdeshahi Ashurkhana opposite Salarjung Palace. 38 4. ShowiuR" the Alam of Alwa Sartouq Darushifa 40 5. Ashurkhana Im:tm Qasim Yakutpura Locality 40 6. Ashurkhana Bibi-ka-Alam at Yakutpura Localit) 40 'Y. Showing Bibi- ka-Alam 40 8. Procession of Gosha Mahai Tabut 40 9. Showing the Alam of Hazarat Abbas in Salar Jung's Palace called Diwan Devdi. .. 48 10. Showing the Matam by Anjuman'l-Parwane-Haidery 50 11. Showing the M'ltam by Irani People living in the cit)' 54 12. Showing the M'ltam at Bibi-ka-Alwa . 54 13. Showing the Matam at Alwa Sartouq . 74 14. Commissioner of Police ul1ci Nawab ,BJ.rkat Ali Khan, the Ninm o:r!ring Chader to Bibi-ka-Alam at Pur ani lli~i % (i) (ii) Facing Page 15. Showing the Matam performing by Irani People ill 10th Moharrum in Public. ., 76 16. Showing the Procession of various Alams in the ~y n 17. A Prominent Shia is delivering a lecture in Public about the Significance of Moharrum . 80 18. Slowing offering Nazar to Bibi-ka-Alam at Azakhana Zohra 80 19. Patherghatti Nal Sahib-A devotee is offering Chader 80 20. Showing Matam at Public level in one of the Ashur~ khan3s 8. Maps 1. Showing the Muuicipallimits of Hyderabad and Secundera- bad x 2. Map showing the settlement Areas of Shias and Sun- nis in the City ., . .,. 28 3. Map showing the route of Moharrum Procession on 10th Day 34 4. Map showing important Ashurkhanas and Alwas of the city 44 FOREWORD Moharrum commemorates the death of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, and his associates. The Social Studies division of the office of the Registrar General, India, had earlier brought out a report on the ritual and social complexes of Moharrum in two north Indian cities-Lucknow and Delhi. This report relates to Moharrum in Hyderabad in ~outhern India. I am grateful to Shri T. Vedantam and his·. colleagues for the trouble they have taken over this monograph. NEW DELHI R. B. CHARI 1 November 1975 REGISTRAR GENERAL, INDIA (iii) PREFACE Indian sub-continent is known,for its unity in diver sity. In Hyderabad city, one can see the fusion of diverse cultures in an ideal way and rightly so it pro vides a bridge between the North and South. People of different religious faiths and diverse stocks, hailing from various parts of the country took their abode gene rations together. A rich heritage of tolerance, amity and understanding taught the people to fall in the main stream of unity and yet enabled them in maintaining their separate entities. Well over five centuries ago,. Islamic hegemony was imposed on the indigenous popu lation, pre-dominantly consisting of Hinduism, and its different sects and sub-sects. Golconda, now a tiny,· remote and obscure village in the neighbourhood of Hyderabad city, happened to be the successive capitals of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. The fusion, and assimilation of the two large reli gions viz., Hindu and Islam had been so thorough and complete that Hindi mixed Urdu is the media of the masses in the city and one is tend to initiate conversa tion safely in Urdu-Hindi-mix, with an unknown person coming into casual contacts. Urdu happened to be the State language for centuries. Largely and to a certain extent even now, good knowledge of Urdu is consideroo a proud privilege. Apart from other religious groups of Hindus, Jains,. Sikhs, Parsis etc., Muslims of different sects constitute a. sizeable and significant proportion of nearly two-fifths (38%) of the city's popUlation. Hindus and Muslims (v) (vi) have been equally participating 111 some of the most popular festivals like Nloharrum. PeopJe raise liberal and handsome contributions and unreservedly join the festivals, festivities and fairs. Advised by the Registrar General, India, a special study on Moharrum festival in this cosmopolitan city of Hyderabad has been taken up in 1967. Celebration of this festival is well over 400 'years old. It reflects the composite character of the culture of the city and stands as a monument of univer -sal brotherhood. As a prelude to this, an exploratory '.study was made by Sri Khaja }\1oinuddin, Tabulation Officer. Later on, the scope of the study was enhrg- ,-ed. The wise counsels of Late Nawab Mehdi-Nawaz lung Bahadur, the then Governor of Gujarath, and Jate Nawab Inayat lung Bahadur have immensely helped in pushing through this study. Sri Mehdi Nawaz Jung has kindly issued an introductory letter to all the nobles of the city requesting them to furnish inf9rma tion and photographic material to Sri Khaja 1vIoinuddin. My grateful thanks to these gentlemen of nobilty. I feel deeply indebted to Sri A. Chandrasekhar, I.A.S., the then Superintendent of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, and subsequently Registrar General, India, who has been the guiding spirit behind this re search work. His keen sense of curiosity and sus tained interest was a source of encouragement for Sri Kbaja Moinuddin to pursue and complete the study of the festival. I will be failing in my duty, if I do not thank Sri . Hamid Bin Shabbir, Retired District and Sessions Judge, ,who has gone through this manuscript and made valu able suggestions at various stages. I express my thanks to many institutions, the scholars and others who helped (vii) the Census Organisation in conducting this study. Part cular mention of 1\1r. lVLT.A. Hashmi, Advocate, Dr. Jaffar Hassan, M.A., D.Litt., Retired Head of Sociology Department, Osmania _University, Prof. Hafiz Akther Ajrni, of Arts College, Bangalore, Dr. Akther Ahmed, Raj~l Ratan Gopal, Raja Mehboob NaraY:Jn. Raja Dharmwanth Bahadur, Dr. Abdul vVaheed Khr!il, Direc tor, Archaeology Department, and Dr. Gnlmn J afIer. PrincipaL Senior Tutorial College, is equally a 'mu::;t' for their unreserved appreciation of the venture ar:d sus tained cooperation rendered at frequent intervals. Credit for conducting necessary Survey and Research study and preliminary drafting of the monograph should pri marily go to Sri Khaja l\ioinuddin, Tabulation Officer, of this office. I also express my thanks to Sri V. Venugopal Rao, Deputy Director of Census Ope1·~tions who scrutinised the monograph. T. VEDANTA~1, lAS, DIRECTOR OF CENSUS OPERATIONS - CHAPTER I [NTRODUCTlON Although Moh<lrrum is the name of the first month of the Islamic Calendar, but since the· great martyrdom of Hussain, son of Ali on the tenth day at Kerbala (Iraq) a10ng with all his 18 family members and 54 companions, who were slain at the· order of Yazid SOl1 of Muaviyah, 'Moharrum' has assumed greater religious and historical significance. Though it is the Shia Muslims who put their heart and soul in the mourning and performing religious rites, many Sunni Muslims, particularly the Sufis and 'Ahl-e-Tariqat' participate ill" the functions and arrange mourning congregations. Simulta neously people of all castes and creed especially th.! Hindus, show great enthusiasm in the festivities by installing 'Alams', taking out 'Alam' processions and arranging offerings in various· 'Ashur Khanas' and 'Alawas'. Some Hindus such as the 'Hussaini Brahmins' (named after Hussain) even claim that they have direct spiritual relations with Hussain, without the interven tion of Muslims or anyone. So far as the term 'Hussaini Brahmin' is concerned, further .:;nquiries have been made to dig out its: history and the origin. No authenticated d:"lta throwing sufficient details could be gathered. There appears to be no such individual or households as Hussaini Brahmin. Presumably, during the regime of Nizam and State supervision of the festivals, at impor t:ant Ashur-Khanas, some selected households of Hindus used to act as guides alUi help the participants in arranging Fateha, Nazar-Niaz and discharged other functions similar to Brahmins. in the temples, and thus called Hussaini Brahmin. Shias believe that after the prophet Mohammad, the twelve Imall.is of the Progeny of Mohammad, from Ali to the l!V!!!g Imam Hazrat Mehdi son of Imam Hasan Askari, are Divinely commissioned, and are the only rightful successors of Mohammad· and Guardians of the faith and that others who declared them selves or were designated by people as successors of Mohammad· were usurpers. They believe that the prophet had already by command of God, on iieveral occasions, and more proIP.incntly on 18th Zelhaj 10 Hijri at Ghadir-e-Khum, towards his parting> days had declared Ali as his successor and Viceregep.t (Th~ Prophet died on 28th Safar l1 Hijri). Shias further say that for a Divine commission there is no question of election. (Sufis~ and 'Ahl-e-Tariq at' are generally of the view that only from 2 Ali upto the twelfth living Imam, are the spiritual sucCessors of Mohammad and that Abubekcr, Omer, Osman and others were temporal rulers.