Sufi Roshan Ali Shah and his Imambara at Gorakhpur

Sufi  Roshan Ali Shah and his Imambara at Gorakhpur
Sufi Roshan Ali Shah’s Imambara (abode of Imams) is a well known landmark of Gorakhpur and is famous for its Muharram rituals. Its history dates back to 1974 with the arrival of Syed Roshan Ali Shah. He had tremendous love for the progeny of Prophet Hazrat Mohammad and the tragedy of Karbala had a deep impact on his personality. His father Syed Ghulam Ashraf had arrived in India from Bokhara during the rule of Mohammad Shah. He left Delhi and settled at Shahpur after Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India.   Syed Roshan Ali Shah however left his father and reached Gorakhpur where he inherited a sizable land from his maternal grandfather in  Daud Chowk area now known as  Mian Bazar.  

Out of his love for Ahle- Bait, He decided to build an Imambara on the inherited land and changed the name of Daud Chowk to Imamganj. He built an Imambara and a small mosque adjacent to it in 1780 and started performing doing Azadari in Muharram. As his popularity grew by leaps and bound, a number of influential persons turned his devotees. One of them, Raja Pahalwan Singh of Satari donated  Kusmi village  along with the jungles in 1793 for Niyaz of Imam Saheb.

Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, the ruler of Oudh, offered a grant of 16 villages, Rs. 10,000 cash and a silver Tazia in 1796 to Roshan Ali Shah. An interesting story is linked with the encounter of the Sufi and Nawab. Roshan Shah The Sufi had literally no interest in worldly affairs. His world was confined to the praise of Allah, the beneficent and merciful, his Prophet and his progeny. He dedicated his life to prayer and began wandering in jungles with hardly any possessions to call his own.  Soon his fame began as a fakir who could talk to wild animals, tame the lion and cure people with his prayers. People flocked to him to request to him to pray for them, for they believed that his prayers would surely be answered by the Allah.

Imambara Sufi Roshan Ali Shah( Miyan Saheb) at Gorakhpur

It is said that once Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula happened to see the Sufi during a hunting expedition in a jungle, on a spine chilling cold night. The mystic was sitting by his dhooni with literally bno clothes on his body Nawab offered Roshan Shah his own expensive shawl to the fakir to brave cold but the Sufi threw it in his dhooni. Surprised at the strange behavior of Sufi , Nawab asked for an explanation. The mystic replied to the bewildered Nawab that the shawl was kept in the safest of places and could reproduce it on demand. Then, he took the shawl out from his ‘dhooni’ unburnt.

Amazed at his spiritual power, Nawab offered him a handsome grant but Hazrat Roshan Shan simply asked him to enlarge and expand his Imambara. With the resultant generous grant,

Shah built a ‘pucca’ enclosure around the central Imambara and added other edifices to it. Later, the raja of Rudrapur granted nine kos( 18 miles) of jungle land to him. More grants came from his queen and other local rajas and zamindaars. More so, Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daula also sent from Lucknow gold and silver plated tazias for  Imambara. These are still extant there. It is believed that the Sufi had promised to conduct azadari on behalf of the Nawab. Roshan Shah kept his words and every year he arranged for the tazia processions and other rites related to Muharram.

With love for all in his heart, regardless of caste, creed and religion, he continued his spiritual life with unflinching devotion to Azadari. He led a simple life with constant worship and   imposed rules of celibacy upon himself. As if this was not enough, he secluded himself from the world. He made a public appearance only during Muharram to lead the procession and remained elusive and inaccessible to people otherwise. He wore white robes and a white turban and never cut his hair. His Muharram procession that originate from and terminate at the Imambara is today an elaborate affair. Caparisoned horses and elephants wend their way to the streets  to the drum beat of a uniformed band. Gold and silver alams and tazias also accompany the procession that is witnessed and watched by multitude of people of all religions. Rooms, balconies and windows are occupied by the devotees to have a glimpse of holy relics accompanying the procession hours before its  arrival.

History of Azadari in Indian Sub-Continent

History of Azadari in Indian Sub-Continent

By Prof.Mazhar Naqvi

The history of Azadari (Mourning for the Martyrs of Karbala)) in the Indian subcontinent, comprising mainly three countries, namely India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, dates back to the arrival Arabs in Sindh. The first conqueror of Sindh (now a province of Pakistan), Haris bin Mar’at al-Abdi, and his companions had brought love of Ahle-E-Bait with them. During the reign of Hazrat Ali, Shansab, a ruler of Sindh embraced Islam and was allowed to continue as a ruler of his kingdom located in the western part of the subcontinent in the name of the Caliph. Thus, Shansab was the first ruler to receive a degree to rule from a caliph of the Holy Prophet. His descendants constituted the first loyalists of Hazrat Ali and they continued to bear allegiance to Hazrat Ali long after he had died and the Umayyad had taken over the caliphate.

It is also a popular belief that a Sindhi woman had been married to Imam Zainul Abdeen, who mothered his martyr son, Zaid. Due to affinity with Sindh , many of Hazrat Ali’s loyalists  took refuge in Sindh during  the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates whenever they resorted to ruthless persecution of Imam Ali’s devotees.Those who made Sindh their home included Abdullah al-Ashtar al-Hussaini (Abdullah Shah Ghazi, buried Karachi), who came to Sindh after his father Muhammad al-Nafs was martyred. He later traveled to Kandahar with Isa bin Abdullah bin Mas’ada. During the regime of  the first Abbasid caliph, Mansur, Qasim bin Ibrahim Hasni also sought refuge in Sindh, and later shifted to Khan Garh, near Multan. Several i scholars went to seek knowledge from the seminary of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, namely  Faraj Sindhi, Khulad Sindhi Bazaz, Aban bin Mohammed Sindhi, Sabah bin Nasr Hindi, etc.

No doubt Sindh played host to the loyalists of the Ahle-E-Bait and some early traditions of Muharram rituals can be traced back to the province but  Azadari flourished in the sub- continent as a mass movement only after the formation of the Deccan states of Bijapur and Golkonda. The Qutub Shahs who ruled most parts of Deccan from 1510 till 1687 A.D. observed Muharram ceremonies with great reverence and strived to popularize azadari among all sections of the society. Muharram was observed in almost all the villages of the Qutub Shahi Empire, with the same spirit of piety and enthusiasm. According to the accounts that have come down to us as a legacy, the Hindus of Gugodu village observed Muharram every year. It was the only occasion on which the people of all castes were allowed to participate and the caste differences so rigid among them were forgotten. They called it Deen Govind. The babies born during the Muharram were Husain Rao etc. The Qutub Shahs did not impose any restriction over the diversified ways of observing Muharram rituals. They knew that neither the non-Muslims could be brought into the mosque  nor Muslims could participate in the prayers inside the temple. They established  Ashur Khanas( Imambaras) so as to enable all people to participate in the ceremonies according to their own ways. The Alams in the Ashur Khanas were made sacred not only to the Muslims but to all the people of all the religions. It was because of this that the non-Muslims, who did not believe in Islam, also paid their homage to the martyrs of Karbala. As a sequel to the liberal approach of Qutub Shahi kings, there is hardly any city, town, village of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where the ‘Alams’(Standards) are not installed . Muharram still is held as a pious ceremony not only by Muslims but other communities as well in the twin states.

Azadari also touched other parts of the sub- continent with same fervor, speed and popularity  later. The Nawabs of Awadh, the Talpur Mirs of Sindh, the rulers of Bengal and Haider Ali and Sultan Tipu’s family of Mysore took it to new heights. Punjab also did not lag behind and Azadari began in the province with the arrival of the Syeds .A noble Rajab Ali Khan gave a fillip to it further. In Kathiawar and the Rann of Kutch, members of the Khoja community not only promoted Azadari in their own region but also took Muharram rituals to far off places like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Oman, Hong Kong, Aden and elsewhere as traders. Similarly, wandering mystics, known as qalandars and haiderees, took the Muharram traditions and rituals with them wherever they went. They brought them to the subcontinent from Turkey. Initially, at Sehwan in Sindh, qalandari centers were established. The first centers of the azadari were the mosques and the military camps. In North India, historical accounts indicate that azadari began in all earnest in the 13^th century. Noor Turk, an Ismaili , preached about Karbala in Delhi by the time of Mohammed Tughlaq, when Muharram came to be celebrated widely and on a popular scale. This gave way to the raising of the alams(standard) and the tradition on the rallies. In Lataef-e-Ashrafi, it is narrated that Syed Sahib and his associates used to carry a water bag made from hide in their area during the mourning days of Muharram. They did not wear good clothes or attend any functions in Muharram. Thus, they continued to observe Ashura with solemnity for 30 years, sitting under an alam (standard) at the mosque of Jaunpur.

Besides Sindh, azadari is performed at a large scale in Pakistan. Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Multan are considered as prominent centers of azadari. In some areas Punjab and North- West frontier, Muharram ceremonies are performed on the pattern of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Even the sectarian violence has not dampened the spirit of devotees and they prefer to die instead of complying with the directive of fanatics to stop Muharram rituals. Pakistan has produced some of the most distinguished marsiya writers, nauhakhwans and Zakir-e Ahle Bait.  

The taziadari, one of the most prominent features of azadari (mourning), is believed to have started from the time of Amir Taimur. According to Hollister ‘the custom of carrying these models of Hussain’s tomb is said to date from the time of Timur (d. 808 AH/1405 AD), who brought such a miniature tomb back from Karbala, later called the tazia.’ Scholars agree on the origin of the tazia rituals in India, but differ on whether Taimur had the zarih (the miniature model) built on order, or had it brought from Karbala. Hollister does not mention the exact date when Taimur started the rituals. However, Shahid Naqvi, a poet and a lawyer by profession, has mentioned in his book that ‘Taimur set out the tradition of taziadari in 1400 AD/803 AH’ However, according to the autobiography of Taimur (translated by Marcel Breaven), ‘it was the month of Muharram (801 AH/1398 AD), when Taimur finally attacked the fort of Meerut in India.’ Naqvi defines the purpose of introducing taziadari rituals during Taimur’s invasion as: ‘some of the  soldiers of Taimur’s army requested him to allow them to visit Karbala when the war was on’. Taimur was unable to grant them permission  in the wake of ongoing war. Ultimately he found the solution to the problem and ordered the building of a tazia( a miniature model of Imam Husain’s  mausoleum. Later, tazias of monumental proportions ( Chiniot and Jhang In Pakistan) evolved from this miniature model  and they are carried out in processions with traditional fervor on Yam- E- Ashura throughout the sub- continent.

Muharram has been observed since 10th century in Bengal. In Bangladesh, a large procession is brought out from the Husaini Dalan Imambara in Dhaka on 10th Muharram. Muharram ceremonies are also held elsewhere in the country. Husaini Dalan  is a big two-storied building, constructed by Mir Murad in 1642  for the observance of Muharram.Horses and elephants are also used in the processions. The tenth day of the month of Muharram (Ashura) is a national holiday in Bangladesh.

Muharram is also observed in Nepal. On the tenth day of Muharram, the Tazias, also called Dahas are taken around town in procession with mourners beating their chests and shouting ‘Ya Husain, Ya Husain’ in the Muslims dominated areas.. In the evening, the Tazias are buried. In these ceremonies Muslims and Hindus participate enthusiastically. Muslims are a minority in Nepal, and comprise between eight and ten percent of the population. ( Author is a Kanpur –Based Heritage Management Expert with deep interest in Islamic traditions and culture. In view of ongoing Muharram , he is contributing articles on different shades of  Muharram in Indian Sub- Continent)

Famous Imambaras of India

Famous Imambaras of India

By Prof.Mazhar Naqvi

Azadari ( mourning) of Imam  Husain, is practiced in special halls called Imambaras. Throughout the month of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim calendar, as well as on other occasions important to devotees of martyrs of Karbala, assemblies (majlis) are held in the Imambaras. On the occasion of the Yaum-E- Ashura (death anniversary of Hazrat Imam Husain), the tale of Karbala is told, marsiya or elegies are recited, ritual mourning and matam (beating the breast as a sign of mourning) is done at Imambaras. The Imambara is primarily a north Indian institution , for they are known as Ashura Khana in South India. As Muharram rituals are celebrated throughout India at a very large scale for centuries, the country is dotted with thousands of Imambaras. Some of the most famous imambaras of India include Badshahi Ashurkhana, Asafi Imambara, Chota Imambara, Nizamat Imambara and  Hughly Imambara. 

Badshahi Ashurkhana (Royal House of mourning) , located on Mahboob Shahi Road in the old city of Hyderabad,  is one of the earliest and grandest Ashurkhanas. It was built in 1594 by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad City. Badshahi Ashurkhana is remarkable for its height and abundance of Chinese tiles used in the construction. Adorned with enamel-tiled mosaics, the building houses some ancient banners and relics that are displayed only during Muharram. With the decline of the Qutub Shahis, the Ashurkhana lost its former glory and in Aurangzeb’s period, this was utilized as a prison camp. During the Asaf Jahi rule, efforts were made to revive the erstwhile glory of the place.

Bara Imambara was built in 1783 in Lucknow by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula. His objective in embarking on this grandiose project was to provide employment for people in the region during one of the worst famines that erupted during his regime. The famine continued for over a decade and so the construction of the building also remained till its disappearance. The architecture of the complex reflects the maturation of ornamented Mughal design, namely the Badshahi Mosque - it is one of the last major projects not incorporating any European elements or the use of iron.

The main imambara consists of a large vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula. At 50 by 16 meters and over 15 meters tall.It has no beams supporting the ceiling, and is one of the largest such arched constructions in the world. There are eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth with passages interconnecting with each other through 489 identical doorways.

Hughli Imambara is one of the most attractive imambaras of India. Every visitor to the town of Hughli is captivated by its large complex consisting of architecturally imposing buildings and structures featuring college, school, madarsa, mosque, hospital, marketplace, residences, tombs of holy figures, graves of Haji Muhammad Mohsin and his family members. Imambara was originally built by Faujdar Mirza Salahuddin Muhammad Khan, husband of Mannujan Khanam  in the late 18th century. Haji Mohsin had inherited the zamindari of Syayadpur from his childless half-sister, Mannujan. He maintained the family tradition by holding the muharram ceremonies  in the most public and gorgeous manner. All the buildings and rooms, mosques and saraikhanas or inns were built with marble blocks, and the walls decorated with texts from the Holy Quran. With precious furniture, carvings, chandeliers, lanterns, the silver-plated pulpit in the exquisitely decorated mosque, and a well-staffed hospital and college, the Hughly Imambara institution has assumed an exhilarating look from the 1860s.It is also a major tourist attraction of west Bengal.

Nizamat Imambara was built in 1847 AD. by Nawab Nazim Mansoor Ali Khan Feradun Jah. Son of Humaun Jah, Nazim Mansoor spent more than 6 lacs on the construction of Imambara in Murshidabad (West Bengal), after a devastating fire gutted the celebrated Imambara of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulla. The foundation of the Old Imambara was done by Siraj himself, who brought bricks and mortar with his own hands, and laid the foundation of the building. The present Imambara is 680 feet long with varying breadths, that of the central block being 300 feet. Its site is slightly to the north of the old building. It took only 6 to 7 months in construction, under the supervision and direction of Sadiq Ali Khan. During construction the workmen received food in addition to their wages, so that they could work day and night without interruption.

The Imambara, perhaps the largest in India, is divided into 3 large quadrangles, is decorated with ornamental China tiles. Its massive pillars and arches are surmounted by a dome of majestic proportions. On the top of the arches and the spaces between them the walls are decorated with extracts of texts form the Koran. The chambers on the north and south were set apart as storehouses and workshops, where hundreds of men were employed for the management of the lights during the Muharram. Various kinds of cut-glass chandeliers, wall lamps, and Girandoles, adorned the various chambers of Imambara. The floors are covered with polished marbles. With its large proportions, its stately pillars, spacious marble floors, its innumerable chandeliers, some of which form part of the presents given by the East India Company, and its other magnificent equipments, the Nizamat Imambara stands unrivalled.

Chhota Imambara, known as Hussainabad Imambara, is an imposing monument also located in not far away from Bara Imambara. Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, the third king of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum. It is also known as the Palace of Lights because of its decorations during Muharram. The chandeliers used to decorate the interior of this building were brought from Belgium. It has a gilded white dome and several turrets and minarets. The tombs of Muhammad Ali Shah and other members of his family are inside the imambara. The walls are decorated with Arabic calligraphy.( Author is Kanpur- Based Heritage Management Expert with deep Interest in Islamic Architecture. The article has been written in view of the starting of Muharram ceremonies from October 26, 2014 ))

Azadars' Faithful Platform-Imambaras

Imambara- A Faithful Platform for Muharram Mourners  

By Prof.Mazhar Naqvi

Imambara literally means residence for the Imam.  The word however stands for an assembly hall for observing Moharrum ceremonies. It is primarily a north Indian institution that originated in the 18th century, for buildings dedicated to Imams are known as Ashur Khanas in South India.

Throughout the month of Muharram as well as on other occasions important to devotees of martyrs of karbala, assemblies (majlis) are held in the Imambars. On the occasion of the death anniversary of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R), the tale of Karbala is told, marsiah or elegies are recited, ritual mourning and matom (beating the breast as a sign of mourning) is done.

Imambaras also  perform many other  functions. They serve as places for ritual mourning and worship, as literary salons, as personal monuments, as family cemeteries, a secure means of passing on wealth to future generations in any case, traders and laborers might otherwise have had no place to make one another's acquaintance. The imambaras and smaller buildings, as well as the homes of believers, became centers of social networks.

The development of the imambara as an architectural form under the patronage of the Nawabi court and courtiers provided a crucial meeting place for devotees of Imam. Previously scattered and reticent, they could now come out in public to commemorate the death of its Imams.

The history records that Safdar Jung (1708-54) had constructed a house at Delhi for holding majlises during Moharrum but the building was not called Imambara. But when his grandson Asafuddaula, built an imposing building in Lucknow it instantly  became famous as Imambara-i-Asafi.  In the early 1800s, only the high notables had their own imambaras , whereas the middle notables held mourning ceremonies in their large homes. In the 1820s, when Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, a British lady who married an Indian nobleman, lived in the capital, many more of the wealthy had built imambaras.

They erected them on the public, male (mardanah ) side of the house, designing them as square buildings with cupola tops. Their size depended on the wealth of the builder, and they often served also as family mausoleums. Guests sat on a calico covering overlaying a cotton carpet on the floor of the imambara . Its walls boasted many mirrors, intended to multiply the candles and reflect the brilliance of the chandeliers, and the notables competed in decorating their imambaras with great splendor. Two ritual props graced the room, a stairway-like pulpit (minbar ) and a replica of the tomb (zarih or taziyah ) of the Imam Husayn in Karbala, both facing Mecca. The pulpit, constructed of silver, ivory, ebony, or other fine materials, often matched the cenotaph. The reciter of elegies sometimes sat, and sometimes stood, on the steps of a pulpit covered with gold cloth or broad cloth (green, if owned by a Sayyid). On each side of the cenotaph were ranged banners of silk or with gold or silver embroidery and fringes, hanging from staffs topped by crests with outspread hands whose five fingers represented the "five pure souls": Muhammad, Fatimah, ‘Ali, Hasan, and Husain. At the base of the cenotaph the host arranged objects that might have been used by the Imam, such as a fine sword and belt, set with precious stones, a shield, bow and arrows, or a turban.

Believers fashioned the cenotaphs from all sorts of materials, from pure silver. to paper and bamboo, depending on the wealth of the owner. Different styles of cenotaphs developed in Lucknow, Delhi, Calcutta, and Hyderabad. In the Great Imambara stood fourteen tombs of pure silver, one for each of the Twelve Imams, the Prophet, and Fatimah. The tomb replicas designed for an imambaras or a private residence was often made of ivory, ebony, sandalwood, or cedar. Mrs. Ali saw some wrought in silver filigree, and admired one the nawab had made in England of green glass with brass moldings. The inexpensive cenotaphs, made in the bazaar from bamboo and colored materials, ran from two to two hundred rupees in price. The laboring and lower middle classes set these up in their homes during Muharram and carried them in street processions. Since the lower-middle-class mourners could not afford to build a separate imambara, they decorated the best room in their dwelling as a substitute. ( Author is Kanpur- Based Heritage Management Expert with deep interest in Islamic Studies)