HUSAINI DALAN

The front view of Husaini Dalan

The other view of Husini Dalan

A Shiite shrine in the old part of the city of Dhaka, attribute to the Mughal Period. It is a common practice among the Shia community to build edifices to commemorate the martyrdom of al-Hussain, at the battle of Karbala in Iraq on the tenth day of Mukarram 61 AH (10 October 680 AD). The building seems to have been originally erected by one Sayyid Murad during the governorship of Shah Shuja, who, although himself a Sunni, was eager to preserve and patronise Shiite institutions. Traditions relate that Sayyid Murad, having seen al-Hussain in a vision erecting a tazia khana (house of mourning), was inspired to raise the building, which he named Hsaini Dalan. The original building may have been a small structure, expanded to its present form in later times. The East India Company repaired it in 1807 and 1810, and a portion of the building was reconstructed after the earthquake of 1897. From the first to the tenth day of Muharram, the Hussaini Dalan becomes the chief attraction of the city. Mourners, including Sunni Muslims, assemble there, listen to sermons and join in passion plays cryin-‘Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain’. On the ashura (tenth day), a great procession parades through the main streets of the city to a place in the western part of the city symbolically called Karbala.