Every time the month of Muharram arrives, one house in Baida village of the Aamas block in Bihar's Gaya district comes alive. Mohammad Moinuddin Ansari and his family build tazias here using bamboo, an iron frame, colourful cloth and lights, and demand for their work comes in from several surrounding villages. What makes this household stand out is that the craft has not stopped at one generation. It has now passed down to the fourth.
What a tazia is and why it is made
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar and is considered one of the holiest months in Islam. It marks not only the start of a new year but also patience, sacrifice, justice and reflection, mourning and prayer in memory of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. On the tenth day of Muharram, a tazia procession is taken out in memory of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his companions on the battlefield of Karbala. The tazia itself is a symbolic model of Imam Hussain's tomb, made from bamboo, wood, coloured paper and cloth.
A legacy four generations deep
Gaya district has many skilled tazia makers, but the family of Mohammad Moinuddin Ansari of Baida village holds a special place among them. The work began with Moinuddin's grandfather, Sukhadi Miyan, after which his father Rasool Ansari carried the craft forward, and now Moinuddin's children have mastered it too. Every year during Muharram, orders arrive from around half a dozen nearby villages.
From 40 rupees to thousands
About 40 years ago, Moinuddin used to make a tazia for just 40 rupees, but today he earns around 5,000 to 7,000 rupees for making one. Preparing a complete tazia, meanwhile, costs close to 20,000 rupees. The work involves an iron frame, bamboo, coloured cloth and lights. For the past 40 years, Moinuddin has been making tazias for the villages around him without a break.
Where the orders came from this year
This year too, Moinuddin received orders from four or five places, including Hamzapur, Sherghati Miyan Bada, Waris Nagar, Lagan Takiya and Nai Bazaar Sherghati. He says it takes six to seven days to build a single tazia. By profession he is in fact a tailor and stitches clothes. He learnt the craft of tazia making from his grandfather and father, and today he is a well-known artisan across the area, the man people approach to have their tazias built.
Beautiful finishing and colourful lights
Moinuddin Ansari is famous for his tazias across the entire Sherghati subdivision and throughout the district. The craftsmanship and finishing of his hands are considered very fine, which is why all the big akharas in Sherghati from where tazias are taken out get theirs made by Moinuddin. To bring out the shine and glow of the tazia, he also fits it with an electric connection so that it lights up with colourful bulbs.
Cutting back on the numbers
Moinuddin says that earlier the family would together make more than 50 tazias, big and small, in 15 to 20 days. But his health is no longer good, so he has reduced the number he makes. Now he builds tazias only for the big akharas of the Sherghati area, whereas earlier he would travel even outside the district for this work.
