Abject to object: Colonialism preserved through the imagery of Muharram.

Abstract

Part of a special issue on Islamic art. An anonymous British colonial image of a procession (or julus) that forms part of the northern Indian Muharram observances represents a vital part of a larger part of Muharram representations by and for the British in both text and image. Images of Muharram demonstrate the repulsion and attraction that the British wrestled with in a struggle to depict and know Muharram, so they also direct attention to the threat felt by the colonizer from this religious community observance, which represented a major challenge to the very stability of colonialism. In the image of the julus, the threat is defused, with vital parts of the textual descriptions of Muharram removed in favor of controlled, decorous movement through an undefined space. In spite of differences between the textual and visual accounts of the Muharram procession, these two coexistent depictions together form colonial discourse and represent a negotiation of the threat of the procession for the British position in early-19th-century India.