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)