نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [ظ‎‎١‎٦‎٩] (١٨١٤/٣٤١)

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164
PERSIA
visit to the post of Mutawali Bashi as well. It was the first time
in history that the offices had been
and in proportion as the occurrence detracted froin the ecclesiastica
predominance of the clergy, so did it aggrandrse the temporal
ascendency of the sovereign. Below the Mutawah Basin m de
fending grades of authority and repute, extends a hierarchy ol
inferior^ mutawalis, some of whom are hereditary office-bearers,
while others receive their appointments from the Shah;
or doctors of the law, who expound the canonical jurisprudence, and
occupy positions of great distinction and influence, receiving m some
case fixed allowances from the Shah ; and of mullahs, who preach,
and conduct the services, and live by what they can extract from
the oilsrrims The more eminent mwjtoAecfe are regarded as \ery
holy characters. When they enter the mosque to pray, crowds
gather behind them to participate in their prayers, and hey spend
nmch of their spare time in indiscriminate shouting and weeping.
At the time of my visit Meshed was m one of its chronic spasms
of religious excitement. The anniversaries of the martyrdom bo i
of Hasan and of the holy Imam were being commemoi ate .
Taziehs, or religions plays, were being acted ; the holy places were
crowded to suffocation ; and beaten tomtoms and clamoured invo
cations made the night hideous. Judging from the noise that he
made there must have been some particularly holy peisonag 8
near my quarters in the British Consulate; and freely did
anathematise this insufferable saint, as I lay awake at night listen-
ingto his long-drawn lamentations and plaintive how s.
From gate to gate of the Bast on either side, the parallelogram
thus enclosed must be at least a square quarter of a mile. m
western gate is used as a nakkara-khane h or a
“a- tower; and from here, as in other Persian ^ats of mp
rilateral residence, is sounded at sunset a discordant tan <
of cymbals, drums, and horns. ,
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of Meshed i e,
I leave the subject of the shrine and the pilgrims, is t e P r ° .
p ... that is made for the material solace of the lat er
tion ' U ' their stay in the city. In recognition of the long jm
which they have made, of the hardships which they have sus a ^
and of the distances by which they are severed y om / gtica i
home, they are permitted, with the connivance of the ecc^ ^
a contr
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