APPENDIX. 475 
excepted) perished by the sword. The circumstances of this tragical 
event, in themselves not unafFecting, are particularly calculated, 
with the aid of bigotry, to excite the fury of religious indignation, 
and they are worked up by the Sheea votaries of Mohammed with 
much ingenuity and great effect. 
The above event occurring on the tenth day of the month of Mo- 
hurrum, the first ten days of that month have, through the enthii* 
siasm of the followers of Alii, been devoted to lamentation, for the 
martyrdom of him and his descendants ; but it is inHindostan only 
that edifices have been erected for the express purpose, as indeed 
the etymology of their name shews, the word " Imaum" being 
Arabic, and the word "baurah"a house, in theHindostan language. 
At these places the people, for the most part clothed in green, or 
black, as mourning, assemble the first ten nights of the month of 
Mohurrum, to hear read from the pulpit the tragical history of the 
martyrdom of Hassan and Hosein, to which is added that of the 
other saints. The relation is heightened by circumstances of lan- 
guage, gesture, and delivery, that are calculated to excite emotion 
in the breasts of the hearers ; but it seems to inspire them with fury 
and indignation rather than sorrow, and prompts them to a spirit 
of revenge, which not unfrequently finds its object in the votaries 
of another persuasion, and particularly in the followers of the 
Soonnee doctrines. At the intervals of the relation, the more 
enthusiastic of the assembly beat their breasts with violence, calling 
at every blow alternately upon the names of Hassan and Hosein, 
while others content themselves with the mere motion and the re- 
petition of the names. 
The scene of these lamentations however is by no means confined 
