Hyderabad: Mourning and solemnity marked Youm-e-Ashoora, the 10th day of Muharram in the city on Wednesday. The highlight of the day was the annual Bibi-ka-Alam procession taken out from Bibi-ka-Alawa to Chaderghat in the Old City of Hyderabad. The ‘Alam’ (holy relic or flag to mark the battle of Karbala) was carried on a caparisoned elephant Premavathi. The elephant was brought from Karnataka.
Special prayer meetings and food camps were organized at many places in Hyderabad to mark the occasion all across the Old City, especially in areas like Ali Jah Kotla, Purani Haveli and other surrounding areas. Most of the shops in the city’s south zone also remained shut to mark the 10th day of Muharram.
The Bibi-Ka-Alam procession passed through Bibi ka Alawa road, Shaik Faiz Kaman, Yakutpura road, Alijah Kotla, Malwala Palace, Sardar Mahal, Charminar, Gulzar Houz. It will head to the Masjid- e-Ilahi at Chaderghat after crossing the Panjeshah, Mir Alam Mandi, Darulshifa, Kali Khabar before culminating.
At Charminar, K Sreenivasa Reddy, Commissioner of Police Hyderabad and other police officials offered ‘dhatti’ to the Bibi ka Alam procession on the 10th day of Muharram.
Syed Hamed Hussain Jaffery of Telangana Shia Youth Conference, said that that the practice of installing Bibi ka Alam dates back to the Qutb Shahi (1518-1687) period when Hayath Bakshi Begum, the wife of Muhammad Qutb Shah, installed an Alam in the memory of Bibi Fatima at Golconda. Later, during the Asaf Jahi era, the alam was moved over to Bibi ka Alawa at Dabeerpura specially built for the purpose.
The alam contains a piece of the wooden plank on which Bibi Fatima was given her final ablution before burial. The Muharram relic is believed to have reached Golconda all the way from Karbala in Iraq during the reign of Golconda king Abdullah Qutb Shah (1626-72, the sixth king) said Jaffery.
The Alam, known as standard in English, also contains six black pouches that are seen hung to it. Several historical accounts indicate that the pouches have precious jewel drops inside them containing jhumke (earrings) of priceless emerald and ruby drops given as ‘Nazr’ for Muharram (gift or offering) by the fourth Nizam Mir Farqunda Ali Khan, also known as Nasir-ud-Daulah. He ruled Hyderabad state between 1829 and 1857.
Another narrative is that the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan also gave large diamonds to the Alam as part of the annual Muharram tradition. So far the ‘heere jawaraat’ (jewelry) were not displayed in public. It is brought annually during Muharram when the Alam is installed and later kept back in the vault. However, the jewelry is not removed from the pouches.
The vault is in the shape of a sarcophagus known as ‘zarih’ where the jewels have been preserved in the sealed pouches. Hyderabad’s largest processions are its Muharram ones, given that the city was founded by the Shia Muslim Qutb Shahi kings who ruled from 1518 to 1687. Even after the Nizams of Hyderabad came into power as governors of south India under the Mughals, they continued to respect the core Shia traditions of the city.
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