'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1006] (43/688)

1006
karbala
broken, rock.y banks resenting the of a dned .p sea ™owis to contain
are Musaiyib and bhifathah, eacn goveme ^ Dairat-
aTsanivah esuU W ,ed jn .he pan
of'the Qadha to .he eas. of the Euphrates and ,>a S in possesa.on of .he whole ^as^lJah
tract referred to above in the present article.
KAKBALA TOWN—
One of the chief to^-ns of'Iraq, renowned as the scene of the martyrdom, or
rather massacre of Husain and his companions,—an event to which it oA\e - .
alternative name' of Mashhad Husain and in virtue of which it has become one of the
i i mg . nf ^ViT'nh nilffrimase • it is situated about oo miles south-south-^est of
Baghdad City and about 25 miles west-north-west of Hillah Town Karbala is known
also by the name of Ghadhariyah and by the old-fashioned appellation of Naina^ a.
Site and buildings.— The town stands on the left bank of the Husainiyah canal, which
circles Ground its northern and western sides. On the north, east and south it is
surrounded by cultivated lands, date plantations and gardens of fruit trees , and its
general shape and disposition cannot be observed from any point of view accessible to
luropeans. On the west the Shamiyah or Syrian Desert approaches almost to the
walls About 2 miles to the south-ea6t of Karbala begins the Hor-al-Husainiyah, a
marsh formed by the Husainiyah canal and the Shatt-el-Hindiyah ; an embankment
running north and south for a distance of 6,000 metres is supposed to prevent the
ingress of the waters of the Hindiyah, but this work is at present m a rumous and
inefficient state. •
Karbala consists of an old town on the north, still walled on the east, north and west,
but open on the south—the side on which the new town adjoins it; the old town is
crowded and irregularly built, the new is well laid out, with a broad mam street
running north and south, and is by comparison clean. A mile or more to the south
of the new town the large mansion of a Panjabi Indian family is conspicuous, standing
in its own grounds and known as Afzal Khan's Fort.
The walls of the old town are of brick, between 20 and 30 feet high, with towers
projecting at intervals as bastions; there are two tiers of loopholes, and on the inside
is a banquette supported bv arches which affords standing room for the defenders of the
upper tier. The perimeter of tlft walls is about 2 miles ; they are pierced by 5 gates
and about 25 towers still remain ; but the whole work is now in bad repair, and the
arches on the inner side serve chiefly as dormitories for vagabonds and as latrines.
The bridges connected with the town are described in the article on the Husainiyah
C The site of the town is level, but the ground is somewhat higher towards the north
western comer.
Inhabitants.—So close estimate of the population is possible, but it appears to
amount to about 50,000 souls, not reckoning pilgrims and other visitors. At least
three-fourths of the fixed population are Persians, and almost the whole of the remainder
are Arabs. There are only about 100 Turks and 50 Jews, but Indians or persons of
Indian extraction number about 1,200 souls, and there are a number of Baluchis. With
the exception of a few hundred Sunnis, of the Jews already mentioned, and of about
a dozen Christians, the people of Karabala are all Shi 'ah Muhammadans. The Persians
who compose the bulk of the population are almost altogether Persian subjects, so also
are the Baluchis ; but the rest are of Turkish nationality, except the Indians, who
are nearly all British subjects, and about 30 Persian-speaking subjects of the Russian
Empire. In all there are about 9,000 dwelling-houses ; but they are not sufficient
and the extension of the town, although constant, does not keep pace with the growth