08 Notes on Sirdjaddaulah and the town of Murshiduhud. [No. 2, 



ussalatin and others have written encomiums on the beauty of 

 this building. On all four sides were rooms. On the east were 

 vestibules lying within other vestibules facing towards the west, 

 with a pulpit, and a place set aside for an assembly room [wherein 

 the elegies on Husain are read]. There were similar vestibules facing 

 towards the east in the western part of the building, in which were 

 nearly a hundred flags and the sacred coffins made of silver, gold, glass 

 and wood. During the Muharram the Qoran was here chaunted 

 day and night, and at fixed times during the other months. North 

 and south of the building were vestibules of the same kind containing 

 out-offices for the illuminations &c, where hundreds of workmen kept 

 themselves in readiness [during the Muharram] to illuminate the 

 place. The verandahs of the second story contained screens of mica, 

 behind which the lamps hung. On the screens themselves were 

 pictures of men and animals and flowers which looked wonderful 

 when illuminated. All kinds of chandeliers, in large numbers, were 

 in the vestibules, as also diwargfrs, lalaks and mardangis.* The 

 whole building was* illuminated. In the northern and southern 

 vestibules were two representations of the Buraq [the horse on which 

 the prophet ascended to heaven], each with a human face and a 

 peacock's tail. The length of the tails reached to the roof of the 

 house. Well polished shields and china or silver plates were fitted 

 into the feathers of the tail, to represent the round spots in the 

 feathers of a peacock. Polished swords, Karaulis [a kind of short 

 swords] and daggers were placed round these shields wonderfully 

 arranged, and hundreds of wax candles gave the whole a striking 

 appearance." 



This old Imambarah was burnt to the ground in 1253 A. H. during 

 a grand display of fireworks, " in the twinkling of an eye." A new 

 one was built up, according to the plan of the former and at a cost 

 of six lakhs of rupees, by the Nawab Mancur 'Ali. Its date (1264 

 A. H.) was expressed by the letters of the words ^/ z^jj (the grove 

 of Karbala). Whilst the edifice was building, the workmen received 



* Our Hindustani Dictionaries do not give these words. Diwargir or 

 Diwalgir is a lamp resembling our carriage lamps, three sides being made of 

 glass, one of metal. Lalah (pr. tulip) is a lamp with one or more round shades. 

 Mardangi is the Hindustani word for our Argand lamps. 



