Meer Hassan Ali, B.: Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: descriptive of their manners, customs, habits, and religious opinions ; made during a twelve years residence in their immediate Society (Band 1) (London, 1832)

54 A MOSQUE AND

habit, by a long residence amongst people, who
make a merit of showy parades at all their
festivals. Foreign Mussulmauns are equally
surprised as Europeans, when they visit Hin-
doostaun, and first see the Tazia conveyed about
in procession, which would be counted sacri-
legious in Persia or Arabia; but here, the cere-
mony is not complete, without a mixture of
pageantry with the deeply expressed and public
exposure of their grief.

The remarkable plainness of the mosque,
contrasted with the superb decorations of an
Emaum-baarah, excited my surprise. I am
told by the most venerable of Syaads, " The
Mosque is devoted only to the service of God,
where it is commanded no worldly attractions
or ornaments shall appear, to draw off the mind,
or divert the attention, from that one great
object for which the house of prayer is intend-
ed." An Emaum-baarah is erected for the
purpose of doing honour to the memory of the
Emaums, and of late years the emulative spirit
of individuals has been the great inducement
to the display of ornamental decorations.