'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎344v] (691/862)

53 ^ PORTS AND INLAND TOWNS
great sanctuary which contains the tombs of the seventh and ninth Shia
Imams, Musa al Kadhim and his son. A road leads from the Adhamiya
bridge to the entrance of the shrine in the centre of the town, which other
wise consists of a maze of narrow alleys, private dwellings, and coffee houses,
including some fine tall houses in the Persian style, and a jumble of rather
squalid bazaars. I he shrine consists of a great mosque with two gilded
domes and four lofty minarets, and an open outer courtyard with colonnades
on three sides (photos. 142,207). The seven gates are adorned with pink and
turquoise tiles. Non-Moslems may not enter, but a general view is ob
tained from the east gate, and the sanctuary proper may be seen from the
north gate. The actual tombs are in a silver cage within an upper room
beneath the domes of the mosque. The whole complex is in the Persian
style and is mainly the work of Persian craftsmen and Persian benefactors,
particularly those Shahs who held southern Iraq at times between the
sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.
The town lives by the pilgrims of whom 20,000 or 30,000 may visit it in
Moharram on their way to Karbala and Najaf. A great part of the corpse
traffic also passes through. Normal trades include brick and pottery kilns
and a small weaving establishment.
Water and electricity are available from the Baghdad system. There is
a small hospital (20 beds).
Communications. See Baghdad, p. 505.
Karbala. 32 37 N., 44 0 02' E.; alt. c. 95 feet. Pop. 24,000 (resident).
Liwa cap. Rainfall station (Rlys.).
Karbala, on the edge of the Western Desert 55 miles south-south-east of
Baghdad, is surrounded by gardens, orchards, and date-groves watered by
distributaries of the Husainiya canal, one branch of which, the Nahr Hinai-
diya, encircles the town on west and south, while the main channel passes
north. The cultivated belt is thinnest on the desert (western) side (photo.
208), to the east a series of marshes stretching southwards intervenes be
tween the desert and the Hindiya branch of the Euphrates. The town is
approached by road from the south-east through date-gardens. Karbala is
the principal holy city of the Shias in Iraq. Of the resident population, over
half are Persian by origin or descent, and the remainder Arabs with 2,000 or
3,000 Indians and a few Jews; by religion almost all are Shia. Large
numbers of pilgrims visit the town and may swell its population during
Moharram to 70,000. Persian is commonly spoken.
History
The history of Karbala is remarkably similar throughout to that of its
sister town Najaf. Karbala grew up around the tomb of Husain, the second
son of Ali, and other monuments connected with his martyrdom (p. 240)