Photo credit © BCCL
This photo shows the visit of the ta'ziyas in Kadegaon village near Karad, in Maharashtra, India, on the last day of Muharram. The village is famous for their traditional Muharram in which 14 tabuts - each from 125 to 200 feet high - are spectacularly displayed for the thousands of Shia Muslims from the area. Very often, Sunni Muslims and Hindus also visit the ta'ziya processions. Usually green color is for the martyred Husain, red for his martyred brother, Hasan, both grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. Ta'ziyas are meant to suggest the mausoleums of the martyrs.
For more on the observances of Muharram/Ashura, see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura
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Exquisitely crafted ta'ziya towers from the famous wood carving village of Chiniot, Punjab, Pakistan--carried in procession during Ashura. ____________________________________________________
Single Chiniot ta'ziya, in waiting mode.
Excerpt:
...As the author points out, "In Chiniot no one can differentiate between Shiite or Sunni devotees during the performances of the Muharram rituals, as each thinks of his/her participation in the rituals as a cultural custom and religious duty." In fact, with a few exceptions, almost all tazia-makers belong to the Sunni sect.
Even more intriguing, the form of the tazia closely resembles that of a Hindu temple. Shah Jamal Wala Tazia, one of the oldest tazias of Jhang [the district in which Chiniot is located] has the same form as the Lal Nath temple in Jhang city. Then again, the Tazia of Shadi Malang in Chiniot is similar in form to the Hindu temples of Orissa. This is, of course, the true legacy of the multi-religious subcontinent where Muslim culture took root amidst the rich cultural landscape of ancient India.
...Again, the kahars, or those who carry the tazia, are almost all Sunni and in pre-Partition India were of the Hindu faith. The Sufi tradition also embraced this concept [of mutual toleration and faith], and till today Sufi shrines throughout India and Pakistan are visited by Hindus and Muslims alike.
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