cradle of Ali Asghar and his nurse singing wistfully, and a red-clad Harmala (the archer who killed the infant) shooting arrows into the grieving audience’s midst.44 Depicting such key episodes becomes the core of the exhibitionary complex and provides the central motifs for observances in India, where they take on new forms, while preserving the central ingredients of the master narrative.
It is clear that such massive displays were, and continue to be, an emotional and colorful spectacle for all concerned. Indeed, as the dastehs pass by lines of spectators on either side, the spectators may be moved by emotion to join in the process. As the ambulatory rituals continued to evolve, numerous props were added to increase the spectacle’s grandeur. Decorative items such as textiles, mirrors, lamps, and rugs donated by local participants were thus added to the dasteh out of devotion. The decorative items contributed by the devout once again reaffirm the communal nature of the event, reminding us that even though the event is primarily religious, it also functions as a social occasion for fostering a common group identity. Today some of the donated items are attached to biers, coffins, and standards. A lamp is often placed inside the replica of Husayn’s coffin (tābūt) to symbolize the light emanating from his corpse.45
The dastehs, organized by guilds or special committees representing various districts of a town, follow a prescribed order of precedence, each carrying ‘alams (standards) inscribed with the name of the sponsoring organization. Sometimes a mobile passion play is performed as part of a mourning dasteh. In the past, all these elements added glamour and color to complement the crimson of the flagellants’ flowing blood. In the present, all the elements described above are embellished with objects of modernity, such as villains wearing sunglasses. Although virtually everyone participates in the events on the level of popular practice, such forms of piety have not always gone without challenge and criticism from certain sectors of learned Shi‘i society. William Beeman, for example, indicates that the performances were never popular with the clerical establishment, and we have already seen that the Shah had them officially banned, even though they were tolerated to a certain extent.46
Werner Ende has pointed out that flagellation rituals, as well as other aspects of the drama during Muharram, have been controversial throughout the 1900s.47 He indicates that certain members of the Shi‘i ‘ulamā’ (clerical establishment) have over the years questioned the way that muḥarram is observed. The issue revolves primarily around the use of flagellation as a legitimate means of identification with the martyr. The great fitnah (struggle), as the debate came to be known in the twenties, was aroused by a pamphlet authored by a Lebanese Shi‘i Muslim named Sayyid Muhsin (d. 1952), in which he declared flagellation, among other aspects of the processions, to be unlawful innovation (bida‘). Although Ende’s study is concerned with Shi‘i communities in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, the same issue has been raised on occasion in Iran.48
Gustav Thaiss writes of the tense relationship between the ideal form of Islam propagated by the orthodox literary tradition and the concepts and practices of everyday life as follows: “In many instances they are often the same, but often there is a divergence between what the learned men of Islam believe and teach and what people believe and practice. Perhaps most outstanding here is the official attitude of disapproval of the majority of Shi‘a ‘ulema toward the self-mutilation and flagellation involved in the mourning processions during the month of Moharram, in contrast to the acceptance of such practices by a large number of believers in the bazaar as religiously praiseworthy behavior.”49 Most recently, there has been a ban placed on flagellation in Iran as a result of the tension Thaiss describes. The practice, however, continues in South Asia to the present day, especially in the form of breast-beating (mātam). The tension between so-called high and low culture on the level of ideology and practice is a theme that runs through interpretations of Muharram wherever it is practiced. In Trinidad, where flagellation is absent, the tension rests not in the mutilation of the body but in other practices with cognates in South Asia. For my purposes in this book, I thus want to draw attention to another material feature of Iranian observances during Muharram, for it provides a useful point of comparison with some of the objects used in processions both in India and Trinidad.
Figure 1. An unadorned nakhl frame from Nain, located in central Iran, being constructed for muḥarram processions. Photograph courtesy of Peter J. Chelkowski, Sr.
Figure 2. A large nakhl from Mahriz in procession on the tenth. Photograph courtesy of Peter J. Chelkowski, Sr.
Perhaps the most outstanding structure to emerge out of this ceremony is the huge teardrop-shaped nakhl, which is constructed on a lattice wooden frame (see Figure 1).50 Virtually every town and village in central Iran has one, and although there is a general uniformity in its teardrop shape and design, each is built in proportion to the specific community’s financial prosperity. Some of them are as small as a baby’s cradle, while others are incredibly large, such as the one in Yazd, which weighs, according to knowledgeable sources, three tons, requiring hundreds of men to carry it on their shoulders during the processions.51 At the height of approximately one meter, wooden beams set roughly a meter apart protrude around the bottom of the structure. Those who carry the nakhl use these beams to lift the object in the manner of weight lifters. There are additional beams along the length of the nakhl above these, which rest upon the shoulders of those who carry it. These huge structures are focal points for the processions. The nakhl in Mahriz, for example, is a colossal structure that accommodates 156 people, 39 on each side (see Figure 2).52
The word nakhl means date palm in Arabic. According to those directly involved in the construction of Yazd’s ritual objects, the nakhl’s structure, with all of its decorations, symbolizes the ma‘fah of Imam Husayn. Ma‘fah in the local dialect refers to the coffin of a holy person. Since it is said that the bier of Husayn was covered with date palm leaves to protect his corpse from the blazing sun of the desert, the structure symbolizing it has come to be known as a nakhl. Others call this structure a naql, a term that means “carrying from one location to another.”53 In Persian religious poetry, nakhl stands for “stature,” especially of the martyred imām. Edward Browne makes this point in his translation of Safavid-period poet Muhtasham’s (d. 1588) celebrated haft-band (poem of seven-verse strophes). In the fifth verse, we read: “Many tall palm-trees from the grove of the ‘Family of the Cloak’ [Holy Family] did the people of Kúfa fell in that plain with the axe of malice.” Then in verse eleven the term appears again: “They cast to the ground his [Husayn’s] tall palm-tree even as the thorn bush; A deluge arose from the dust of the earth to heaven.”54
In eastern India, “stature” becomes translated into the “courage” of Husayn. There Husayn’s courage is embodied in an object taken out in procession known as a sipar (shield) in Urdu and Hindi (see Figures 3 and 11). The shape and design of the sipar suggest strong parallels with the nakhl.
During the days preceding ‘āshūrā’, the structure is covered from top to bottom with black cloth, which is the sign of mourning, and it is decorated with various objects made specifically for this purpose. Anyone can assist and participate in the ceremonial decoration of the nakhl, which is called nakhl bastan. Some do it because of a naz̤ar (vow) and some out of sheer love for Imam Husayn. During the ceremony, people utter words of praise and greeting to the Prophet and his family. I describe the ornamentation here because it serves as a strong marker of continuity with the material culture of the tradition as it passes from Iran to India
