LADAKH STUDIES 12, Autumn 1999 - International Association for ...

Critics of zanjiri-matam seem to be attempting to reduce Shiism to a set of antiseptically logical
propositions acceptable to all Muslims. I would speculate that such critics have been influenced by
political strategies fostered by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini since the founding of the Islamic
Republic, a policy known as taqrib (literally, “to bring near”), involving strategies oriented to the
furthering of Sunni-Shia ideological rapprochement and tactical cooperation in the realm of
international affairs. 8
But back to my conversation in the Ladakhi town of Kargil with Sheikh Anwar, the Kargili Shia
studying in the Iranian seminary at Qom. In our discussion Sheikh Anwar was careful not to
question the sincerity of those flagellants who perform matam in hopes of earning intercessory
merit. Nonetheless he made it clear that being an educated member of the Shia community entailed
socially responsible behavior on the part of the individual: therefore one should not engage in
actions (such as zanjiri-matam) for one’s private benefit (earning intercession from the Karbala
Martyrs, etc.) if these actions risk harming the reputation of the Shia faith in the eyes of the outside
world.
2. The Day of the Lion: Shia village rituals in Leh District
The political dimensions of Ladakh’s Muharram can be tested by comparing Leh’s Ashura
procession with another Ladakhi Shia religious observance, called Yawm-e Asad, a Persian-Arabic
term that means “the day of the Lion”, also referred to as Dusra Muharram, the “second” or
“additional” Muharram. I witnessed this ritual for the first time during fieldwork in Ladakh this past
summer, in July and August of 1999.
The date for the Day of the Lion is determined by the zodiacal calendar. It always takes place,
I was told by Ladakhi Shia informants, under the Borj-e Asad, the constellation of Leo. Shia
informants explained Yawm-e Asad to me as follows.
The Islamic calendar is lunar, and so holydays such as Muharram shift their date every year in
relation to the solar calendar. Whenever Muharram occurs in winter (and in most years Ladakh’s
Muharram falls during the sardiyan, the “cold days” that extend from October through early June),
Ladakhis hold a second, additional, series of rituals to commemorate the death of Husain.
My informants all acknowledged that the Day of the Lion is largely confined to Ladakh (with
one notable exception, to be discussed below). A “second Muharram”, so far as they knew, is never
celebrated in other parts of the Shia world such as Iran, southern Iraq, or Lebanon. My informants
were quick to justify this unusual Ladakhi practice.
The first thing I needed to know, they told me, was that the Imam Husain had died in the
exruciating heat of mid-summer, under the zodiacal sign of Leo. Thus in the sixty-first year of the
hijrah, when Husain died, the lunar month of Muharram coincided with the solar month of Leo.
Thus the most appropriate commemorations of Husain’s death occur in those seasons when the
weather is at its hottest.
Second, my informants said, I must bear in mind that Ladakh’s weather is very cold for most of
the year. This means that Muharram in Ladakh usually occurs during the sardiyan; and it is
8 7 For a discussion of Khomeinist policies concerning Shia-Sunni rapprochement, see Emmanuel
Sivan, “Sunni Radicalism in the Middle East and the Iranian Revolution,” International Journal of
Middle East Studies 21 (1989), 1-30.
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