Ashura Amin Imam Bada 2008
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1
One of the most important event on 10 th day of Moharam is Ashura the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain.This was Jan 20th 2008.
Mumbai on this day was caught in a vicious grip at one end of Mumbai was the Standard Chartered Marathon and late in the evening was a political rally of the BJP victory in Gujrat of CM Mr Narendra Modi
So it was a heavy police bandobast..on the whole.
For the Shias all road led towards Amin Imambada for the Juloos organized by the migrant Iranians , in the form of a passion play depicting scenes between Imam Hussain and Shimr the Commander of the Yazidi forces of the Ummayad Caliphate.
The entire area is jam packed in the center is a fountain that has a raised platform where the drums are beaten in Iranian style and the Juloos begins, the Taboots, the Alams and two guys dressed as women who carry the cradle of Ali Asghar the martyred infant of Imam Hussain.
Children dressed as the child in my picture are placed in the Cradle for good luck..than comes Shimr dressed in red with his army also in red , beating the crowds with whip strokes, he goes for the man dressed as Imam Hussain, and the women and the crowd go in a frenzy..All this I will show through pictures .The last is the headless body of Imam Hussain on a bier and the Juloos comes to an emd, the Iranians now break the Ashura fast with a meal of Khichda..at Fotowat
Along side the Juloos the forehead cutting the sword matam and the flagellations continue..to the chant of Ya Hussain..
The Sword Matam at Amin is the most vicious , the exponents being Habib Nasser and Mamu from Byculla..
I for the first time in my life shot all this from below, normally I would shoot from an adjacent building..Amin Imambada for any photographer is very accident prone as those who scourge have no time for others, they are in total mindless state so one has to be extremely careful here..
After this Juloos at about 5 pm starts the next segment of Ashura a Juloos from Zainabia that crawls at snails pace throught Yakub Gully to JJ Hospital all the way to end at Rehmatabad the Shia cemetery.
This time the most important event was the Iraqi Kama matam by Anjuman e Hyderi organised by Habib and Baqar Nasser , with kids and the men continously cutting their foreheads till they reached the Shia cemetery.
In the Shia cemetery is the last Majlis recited by Maulana Athar Saab Mirza called the Sham e Ghariba.
As soon as the Majlis comes to an end the hardcore slashings of the foreheads and backs begin, here too Zuljana , kids with candles the Taboots move around the crowd..
this is a very intense moment ,after this Ashura comes to an end ..
Their is a heaviness of heart as the families move away towards their home..
to meet again here at the cemetery on Chehlum or Arbaeen the 40 th day of Imam Hussains Martyrdom.
