'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎164] (199/714)

164
PERSIA
visit, to the post of Mutawali Bashi as well. It was the first time
in history that the offices had been united in the same individual,
and in proportion as the occurrence detracted from the ecclesiastical
predominance of the clergy, so did it aggrandise the temporal
ascendency of the sovereign. Below the Mutawali Bashi in de
scending grades of authority and repute, extends a hierarchy of
inferior mutaivaUs, some of whom are hereditary office-bearers,
while others receive their appointments from the Shah; of mujtaheds,
or doctors of the law, who expound the canonical jurisprudence, and
occupy positions of great distinction and influence, receiving in some
cases fixed allowances from the Shah ; and of mullahs, who preach,
and conduct the services, and live by what they can extract from
the pilgrims. The more eminent mvjtaheds are regarded as very
holy characters. When they enter the mosque to pray, crowds
gather behind them to participate in their prayers, and they spend
much of their spare time in indiscriminate shouting and weeping.
At the time of my visit Meshed was in one of its chronic spasms
of religious excitement. The anniversaries of the martyrdom both
of Hasan and of the holy Imam were being commemorated.
Taziehs, or religious 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 personage living
near my quarters in the British Consulate; and freely did I
anathematise this insufferable saint, as I lay awake at night listen
ing to his long-drawn lamentations and plaintive howls.
From gate to gate of the Bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. on either side, the parallelogram
thus enclosed must be at least a square quarter of a mile. The
western gate is used as a nakkara-khaneh, or band-
Extent Of ^ 1 p i , _ , f> 1
the quad- tower; and from here, as m other Persian seats of royal
niateial residence, is sounded at sunset a discordant fanfaronade
of cymbals, drums, and horns.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of Meshed life, before
I leave the subject of the shrine and the pilgrims, is the provision
Prostitu- that is made for the material solace of the latter during
tl0n their stay in the city. In recognition of the long journeys
which they have made, of the hardships which they have sustained,
and of the distances by which they are severed from family and
home, they are permitted, with the connivance of the ecclesiastical
law and its officers, to contract temporary marriages during their