Tazias of Chiniot | GHULAM ABBAS

The Introduction to the book reads as follows;

Since childhood, I have been observing my uncle making the Tazia; a replica of the shrine of Imam Hussain (grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, PBUH), but I was unaware of the aesthetic values of this devotional art form.  I gained knowledge of this particular form of art during my discussions with several craftsmen and by apprenticing under one master-craftsman Akbar Ali Pirjha, who belongs to one of the families who make tazias. During my stay at Chiniot, I observed that the structure of the tazia resembles a Hindu temple. This observation compelled me to discuss the matter with tazia-artists who are actually involved in the construction of the devotional replica.  The tazia is one of the most distinctive features of the Muharram rituals related to the event of Karbala (61 A.H./680 A.D.) performed during the first ten days of Muharram, the first month of the Hijrah Calendar and the tazia is also a traditional art form that emerged in the marginal cultures of the Indian subcontinent. In order to gain more comprehensive knowledge of this religious art form, I became seriously involved in observing and studying commemorations of the Muharram and ultimately decided to make the “tazia” the topic of my research work. During my observations of the Muharram rituals, I came to know that the rituals are also related to the customs of marriage, leading me to discover that the Muharram rituals have strong cultural context.

This book is an endeavour to study this novel art form.  I have tried to make comparative study of the structure and form of tazia vis-a-vis Hindu temples of Orissa (India) and Western Punjab (Pakistan). The terminology used by the tazia-artists applied to the various aspects of the construction of the structure reveals that the terminology is borrowed from five different languages, which are Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian.  Punjabi is the mother tongue of the artists, but Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian are languages that have been spoken in the region and are still associated with the artists directly or indirectly.  The terminology and methodology used in the construction of both the tazia and the Hindu temple is also similar.  A study of the form of the tazia in different Muslim countries proved that this three-dimensional form of tazia in particularly associated with the Indian subcontinent.  Whereas comparative study of the Muharram rituals with rituals of Dasabra celebrations (Hindu festival) reveal the cultural similarities that are also inherent in Al-Hind or the new Indian culture.  I am not looking at the use of the decorative motifs on the tazia as that requires a further details and comprehensive study, which the scope of this research does not permit.  My focus is on the form and structure of the tazia.

The contents of the book are as follows;

·        List of Illustrations

·        List of Tables

·        Acknowledgements

·        Introduction

·        Historical and Cultural Background

·        General Description of the Form of the Tazia

·        The Tazia Rituals

·        Tazia-artists Chiniot, Jhang (Punjab) and Hyderabad (Sindh)

·        Conclusion

·        Nomenclature

·        Glossary

·        Bibliography

·        Index