Over 20,000 Muharram mourners take part in ‘Shahi mome ki zari’ procession in Lucknow

The procession picked up at around 7pm from Bada Imambada, where hundreds and thousands of Shia Muslims from Lucknow and neighbouring districts had gathered to take part in the royal procession and commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.

Donning all black, the barefooted followers of Imam Hussain took out the ‘Shahi mome ki zari ka juloos’ (royal procession) from Bada Imambada to Chhota Imambada in Old city on Sunday -- marking the first day of Muharram in the state capital.

Donning all black, the barefooted followers of Imam Hussain took out the ‘Shahi mome ki zari ka juloos’ (royal procession) from Bada Imambada to Chhota Imambada in Old city on Sunday -- marking the first day of Muharram in the Lucknow. (Dheeraj Dhawan/Hindustan Times)

The procession picked up at around 7pm from Bada Imambada, where hundreds and thousands of Shia Muslims from Lucknow and neighbouring districts had gathered to take part in the royal procession and commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain -- Prophet Muhammad’s grandson -- and his 72 companions in the Battle of Karbala (in present-day Iraq) in 680 AD.

The procession began soon after the ‘majalis’ (religious gathering), addressed by Shia cleric Maulana Zaheer Hasan, concluded.

The ‘azadaars’ (mourners), armed with black flags and led by five heavily decorated elephants and 17 camels, started marching on the tunes of a mourning band from Bada Imambada to Chhota Imambada.

Over 20,000 ‘azadaars’ took part in the procession.

“We ensured that the procession was carried out just as it was during the reign of the third king of Oudh -- Mohammad Ali Shah (from 1837 to 1842) -- who laid the foundation of the Hussainabad and Allied Trust (HAT), the body that manages the procession,” said an official of the HAT.

Meer Zafar Abdullah, a member of the royal family of Oudh who was a part of the procession, said, “Like every year, we are here to participate in the ‘juloos’ that commemorates Maula’s martyrdom.”

Abdullah spoke about the city of nawabs’ unique tradition of ‘azadaari’ and creating replicas of Imam Hussain’s mausoleums.

Explaining why the procession was called ‘shahi mome ki zari ka juloos’, he said, “Zari here means a replica of Imam Hussain’s mausoleum. Also, in the time of the nawabs -- when the procession first began in the state capital -- it used to be decorated with wax (‘mome’). Hence the name.”

The ‘juloos’ finally culminated late in the night, amid soulful mourning tunes of ‘shehnai’, ‘nakkar’ and ‘drums’.

Processions will also be taken out in Lucknow on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th days of Muharram.