REMEMBERING THROUGH RE-ENACTING: Revisiting the Emergence of the Iranian Ta'zia Tradition

Ta'zia khani, also known as shabih khani, is a Shi'ite form of devotional theater. The performances, ongoing in the present day, are fundamentally rituals of lament, and center around commemoration of the martyrdom of the Third Imam of Shi'i Islam and grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, Hosayn ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Taleb, born c.AH 6 (AD 627). The ta'zia repertoire includes a largely anonymous cycle of plays, the central corpus of which portray the siege and slaughter of Hosayn and seventy-two of his companions on the plain of Karbala in the Islamic month of Moharram in the year AH 61 (AD 680). The ta'zia cycle dramatises this tragedy in episodic style, with each of the central plays foregrounding the martyrdom of a prominent supporter, family member, that of the Imam himself, and indeed the injustices endured by the survivors.