The Muharram procession

This is one of a group of nine paintings. They depict a durbar (public reception) at the Murshidabad court, and various Hindu and Muslim festivals and religious scenes. A Murshidabad artist copied it, probably from an original oil painting by George Farington. He had worked in Murshidabad from May 1785 until his death there in 1788. Farington's original is lost. This painting shows the Muharram procession, in which Muslims carry 'tazias' or 'ta'ziyas' (bamboo and paper replicas of the tombs of Hasan and Husain) to the river for immersion. The festival commemorates the deaths of these two grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. Shiah Muslims regard them as the rightful heirs to his caliphate.