NEW DELHI, India, Sept.5, Reuter: Chanting Shi’lte Moslems flailing themselves with chains until the blood ran and ‘others pounding their chests marched through Old Delhi on Saturday to mark their holiest day of Mobarram.
One youth turned his chest to a bloody pulp pounding himself with razor blades wrapped in pieces of cloth. Each blow sent a spray of blood over nearby onlookers.
Last year’s main procession was called off after police arrested 150 people to prevent sectarian clashes between Moslems and Hindus but ‘observance this year began without trouble.
Afghan refugees led the Moharram procession, in which devout Shi’ites mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein.
Chanting their grief, about eight devotees at a time took tums to flagellate their backs and shoulders ‘with wooden and metal flails weighing more than a kilogram (two pounds).
‘Afghani Sher Hossain, showing old scars on his own shoulders, said there used to be double-sided knife blades fixed on the end of the flails.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 11, 1987
