Muharram traditions: Katri Bawa proud of its nauha khawans

Muharram 4 and 24 are marked by residents for reciting new nauhas.

LAHORE: Some 20 families from Amritsar settled in 1947 in a neighborhood beside Chuna Mandi in the Walled City. With them, they brought the art of nauha khawani to Katri Bawa. The locality now houses more than 500 households, mostly belonging to the Shia sect.

Khadim Hussain, an elderly resident of the area, said nauha khawani started at the Katri in 1948. Since then, he said, there hasn’t been a single year when new nauhas were not written and recited at Katri Bawa.

“Nauha Khawani is the identity of this place,” said Dilawar Hussain, a nauha khawa. He said the katri had produced many famous nauha khawans, among them Sain Akhtar Hussain, Miraj Din Akhter, Hamid Ali Bela and Syed Qamarul Hasan.

Entering the Walled City from the Kashmiri Gate, Katri Bawa can be reached by a narrow, covered passage that leads to an iron gate, installed at the entrance a few years ago for security reasons.

The residents of the katri start writing new nauhas well in advance of the Muharram. “We start reciting nauhas from the 4th of Muharram,” said Babar Ali Bela, a nauha khawan affiliated with the Anjuman-i-Al Abbas, a nauha sangat at the katri. He said that the 4th and 24th of Muharram are reserved for reciting new nauhas, “our elders started this tradition. No one has ever objected to it.”

Bela said writing a new nauha typically took about 10 days so those assigned the task therefore sat down to writing it a week ahead of Muharram.

Bela said his family had been involved in nauha khawani for three generations. “I have a record of all nauha khawans in the family,” he said, adding that he hoped his children would also follow in his footsteps.

He said that a nauha was recited by a chorus comprising between five and 15 people. The most important aspect, he said, was harmony among the voices. He said only after rigorous rehearsals, did a nauha qualify to be recited at majalis.

Abid Hussain, another nauha khawan, also said he was keeping alive a tradition running in his family. “

My father was a nauha khawan, so am I and my son will be one once he grows up,” Hussain said. He said his family started nauha khawani on the 1st of Muharram and kept it up till the chehlum of Imam Hussain (RA).

He said people from all over the city visited the katri during Muharram and invited the residents to recite nauhas at their majalis. He said nauha khawans never charged for the service. “We aren’t professional singers. We accept whatever people offer us by way of a nazrana(gift from an admirer),” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2010.