KAMA ZANI Shia Head Cutting

KAMA ZANI Shia Head Cutting, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

Kama Zani is the ritual of cutting your forehead with a dagger or a sword.
The head is washed with water, the hair parted in the center , you take the dagger make seeps across the top of the head , while the group surrounding you encourage you invoking the name of Hazrat Ali..you slash perhaps once or twice the guys surrounding you try to snatch the blade away from you, than you beat your cut head to draw out the blood, some let it flow, if it is very severe the first aid guys bandage it applying generous amount of rose water nothing else.

At Rehmatabad in the cuts are far to sever than the first aid guys rush yu to the local Habi Hospital for medical attention, stitches in most cases.My friend Baqar Nassear cuts open his back with the deadliest sword he takes about 72 stitches,the piece of flesh is not to be found in most cases.
In Lucknow a guy called Guddu Bawarchi, slashes himself with a sword rushing into the crowds not letting any one stop him...than there is a guy in the anjuman of Bane Qama who pushes the blade deep into the crevice of the head than deliberately turns the blade severing the scalp.. nothing happens .
I have done it at Athvi in Lucknow , with a sword , than again I did it in Ashura in Lucknow this year , I have not had the curiosity to see the pictures shot by Guddu, I had to be bodily held by half a dozen guys before I gave the sword back, I had taken the sword slashed-it while falling to the ground.. I dont know whether Guddu shot those pictures.


In Delhi at Jamma Masjid I snatched a guys sword slashed my head , he pulled it from my hands , it was blunt nothing happened, it is in this scuffle that I cut the tendon of my right hand.

In Hyderabad they cut their foreheads like they cut onions, I have not seen such syncchronized forehead cutting anywhere else...Sameers, Syeds kids from Palla Gulli cut their heads like professionals they are about 8 years old...
Google Search will never get this information even on a Shia site...

Self flagellation with blades is known as Zanjir Zani, the blades range in various size, people pay a bomb to make customized zanjirs, my Iranian friend Hadi who is a Sumo wrestler looking guy uses 24 inches blades..Raju Mirza he slashes ferociously needs stitches every time
Ali Shah is the only person in India whose back is a jigsaw puzzle there is no place but he scourges and cuts his forehead in a way that is not human at all.

Ghulam from Babula Tank is another dangerous Kamazani expert.
Among the Maulamas who cut their foreheads is Maulana Agha Roohi , his nephew Maulana Irshaad Abbas .. you got to be 3 feet away from them.. they are mean they do it with a passion that comes from within exponents of Tabarah.

Than there is a Maharashtrian Hindu guy Ganesh a friend of Baqar who scourges his back on Ashura.The Sunni beggar whose picture I have posted cuts himself with razor blades tied to a string..

Than there are girls in Hyderabad who as a Mannat cut their foreheads at Bargah of Hazrat Abbas.
I gave one of my zanjirs to Munna bhai in Lucknow.

My other pair is the deadliest I dont give it to anyone I carry it in my camera bag.. I have scourged every city that I have visited with these blades..
I have always wanted to barbecue the blades, than hit them on my back but the guys in Lucknow stopped me from doing it saying it would become a trend..
Who knows perhaps one day..


UPDATE
I dont scourge anymore since my Delhi Chehlum I only do kam zani these days...