Hindus take out Moharram procession in Madhya Pradesh

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By Sanjay Sharma in Bhopal<p>Hindu families have been taking out the Tazia procession on Muharram for more than 120 years in some districts of Madhya Pradesh. <p>The ritual began in 1882 when the Raikwar family of the Vidisha town began preparing and taking out Tazias on the ninth day of Moharram. <p>Since then, the Raikwar's Tazia leads the procession of mourners on Muharram, and moves ahead of the long line of replicas of Hussain's tomb and flags along the streets. <p>Like several Muslim families across the globe, the Raikwar family members, too, set aside their daily chores to grieve for the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, Hussain, and his 70 companions who were brutally killed on the banks of the river Euphrates in Karbala (Iraq) in AD 680. <p>"Hussain is everybody's hero, the embodiment of virtues of piety, courage and self-sacrifice. He did not seek power. <p>"He represented the authentic voice of Islam and, for that reason, boldly challenged the un-Islamic practices of the Umayyad ruler, Yezid," a member of the Raikwar family said. <p>They also march, as they do year after year, through the lanes and by-lanes in fervent lamentation chanting, "Ya-Hussain, Ya-Husain", rhythmically beating their chests, self-flagellating, carrying replicas of Husain's tomb. <p>"Hussain laid down his life but did not compromise with a bloody-minded tyrant," says the head of the Mishra family of Sehore, another Madhya Pradesh town where a Hindu family takes out the Tazia procession. <p>"The practice is over 100 years old for our family. We have also secured a place for `Bade Baba Sahib' in our house where hundreds of Hindus and Muslims visit during Muharram to seek Husain's intercession to cure the diseased, avert calamities and even procure children," says Dinesh Chandra Mishra, present head of the family. <p>"Every age brings forth a new Yezid, but resistance to tyranny, as is illustrated by Husain's legendary example, is incumbent upon every man of faith", he says<br>