'Memoir for the Indian Political Service - Scheme by Lieut. Colonel L.A.G. Pinhey O.B.E.' [‎12r] (23/44)

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RAJPUTMA
1. A.jmer - Merwara
Assistant Commissioner to Ajmer-Merwara:
March 1933 - April 1936.
In that time I served under four Commissioners - Gibson, Betham,
Galbraith and Gidney. I was Additional Magistrate. Also for
some time Chairman of the Ajmer Municipal Committee after the
Committee had been suspended by the Government of India for
mal-administration.
The District of Ajmer had been carved out of several Rajput
States and consisted of three Sub-Divisions; Ajmer itself,
Beawar and Todgarh.
Ajmer itself contained two of the most venerated places for
Hindus and Muslims in the whole of India. In Ajmer was the
shrine of Khwaja Muhi-ud-Din Chisti, a Muslim Saint and his
tomb was in the Durgah-Sharif in the middle of the City.
Pilgrims came from all over India and beyond to pray at this
Durgah and it was a shrine for both Sunni and Shiah sects.
Just outside Ajmer was the Pushkar lake, a very holy spot
for Hindus with temples all round the lake and a big fair
once a year which attracted many thousands from all over
India. As a result, of course, there was always a certain
degree of communal feeling, but in general this seldom pro
duced the Communal troubles experienced in other parts of
India. The only festival which was liable to cause friction
was at the time of Muharam when the Shiah Muslims had their
mourning celebrations in memory of Hussan and Hussein, sons
of Khalifa Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.
During the time that I was Asst.Commissioner the Muharam
occurred at the same time as the Holi processions of the
Hindus and this led to considerable communal tension and
it was a major problem of organisation to keep the proces
sions apart. But in the end we were able to do so without
any major incident and the only minor incident involved a
brick thrown at the Superintendant of Police and a broken
soda-water bottle at the Asst. Commissioner’s head, but
fortunately only our solar topees were damaged! The Muslim
(Shiah) procession all carried "Ta'hzias”, representations
of the tomb of Hussein in Karbala, Iraq, and these Ta’hzias
had to be thrown into a lake or well at the end of the