Editing Ta'ziya (section)

==Historical Development==
[[File:A Ta'ziyeh company of Late Qajar era.jpg|thumb|438x438px|[http://www.iranchamber.com/cinema/articles/taziyeh_drag_kings_queens.php A Ta'ziyeh company of Late Qajar era.jpg]]]
Following the battle itself, popular elegies of the martyrs were composed. However, the earliest reliable account of the performance of public mourning rituals was recorded in 963 C.E. during the reign of Mu'izz al-Dawla, the [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/buyids Buyid] ruler of southern Iran and Iraq. When the [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/safavids Safavid] dynasty came to power in Iran a new type of ritual called [[Rawza-Khani|rawza-khani]] emerged, consisting mainly of a ritual sermon recounting and mourning the tragedy of Karbala. This ritual was based on texts like Hussain Va'ez Kashfi's 1502 composition entitled [[Rawzat al-shuhada]] (The garden of martyrs). Kashfi's text was a synthesis of a long line of historical accounts of Karbala by religious scholars.
By the time the [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qajar-dynasty Qajar] dynasty took power in Iran in 1796, the rawza-khani ritual had evolved into the much more elaborate ritual called shabih-khani or taʼziya. The ta’ziya, an elaborate theatrical performance of the Karbala story based on the same narratives used in the rawza-khani, involved a large cast of professional and amateur actors, a director, a staging area, costumes, and props. 

The heyday of ta'ziya was the Qajar era (1796–1925). The most elaborate example of Qajar patronage of taʻziya was the [[Takiya Dawlat]], which was built in Tehran in 1873 by the order of the Iranian monarch [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Naser-al-Din-Shah Naser al-Din Shah]. This takiya was built on a very grand scale. Nevertheless, it was in most ways a typical takiya. It consisted of a large circular amphitheater with several entrances surrounding a large open area; a tent was used as a roof. Its primary purpose was to provide a staging area for the most elaborate ta’ziya performances. Lady Sheil, a European traveler, resident in Tehran in 1856, gives a brief account of the taʻziya performance in the Takiya Dawlat in 1856, concluding, “It is a sight in no small degree curious to witness an assemblage of several thousand persons plunged in deep sorrow, giving vent to their sorrow” (p. 127). 

{{Mourning of Muharram-vertical}}