Passage Rites - 'The Kindling of the lamp' or ‘Chiragh Rawshan’

The following account describes a ceremony known as chiragh rawshan (the kindling of the lamp). It is conducted by Badakhshani Ismaili communities in Afghanistan as part of their rites of death.

When a person in a family has passed away, the family members contact the Khalifa who arranges for the burial. During the three-day mourning that follows, relatives, neighbours and acquaintances visit the family to express their condolences and offer prayers for the departed soul.

In the evening of the third day, neighbours and relatives gather in the house of the bereaved family to take part in the chiragh rawshan ceremony.

The assistant to the khalifa takes a bowl with some wheat ted salt in it, over which prayers have been recited. He adds these ingredients to a large quantity of wheat which is being cooked with the meat of a sacrificed ram. This food is known as dalda, and it is distributed to the gathered people as tabarruk (blessing).

The assistant Khalifa brings another plate with a ball of cotton on it. He walks slowly towards the khalifa and recites prayers related to this specific act. The members join the assistant in chorus, reciting the salwat. Upon receiving the ball of cotton, the khalifa starts making the wick while reciting the prayers. He holds the front of the wick while the assistant holds the end. They spin and weave the cotton into a wick, continuing to recite the prayers as the wick increases in length.

The khalifa stops using more cotton when he finishes reciting the prayers, and folds the wick into a length of about thirty centimeters. He then cuts through the folded wick, separating its strands. The assistant twists all the strands together and places them in a lamp holder made of stone. He soaks one end of the prepared wick in the butter oil in lamp holder and leaves the other part hanging One strand of the wick is separated, which is the one the khalifa kindles first and with which the chiragh or lamp is lighted.

As the chiragh is kindled, the khalifa continues leading the participants in the prayers. They recite Quranic ayat and prayers in a poetic form. The assistant khalifa pours oil on the burning lamp to keep the flame to a required level.

When the prayers for this part of the ceremony come to an end, the assistant khalifa carries the burning lamp to the men seated on one side and then to the women's side. As he passes by the participants, they pass their hands over the flame of the lamp and express their respect. He finally places the lamp in a niche in one of the walls, and lets it burn till the wick and the butter oil are used up.

While the dalda is being prepared, the rest of the night is devoted to qasida khwani, the singing of devotional poems. The singing is accompanied by musical instruments that include the daf, rubab and tambur. The singing starts in a modest way by one of the qasida reciters and gains momentum as the night progresses. With each round of singing, the participants place money in front of the main singer. This money is distributed at the end among and the needy in the audience.

In some chiragh rawshan ceremonies, an elderly man may stand up and dance to the music of the qasida. The dance is a special part of the ceremony, and is performed only for a deceased person who has reached old age. The old man explains that there is something in the heart that cannot be expressed through the tongue. The only way to express it is through the movements of the dance. It is a mystical dance that reflects deep love for the Imam.

The dalda is ready before the break of dawn, and distributed as blessing. A big bowl of the dalda presented to the khalifa who distributes the food to singers and other participants. Some is also set aside for people who have been unable to participate in the ceremony. At this point, the ceremony comes to an end, and the khalifa prepares the berieved family to resume normal life.

The ceremony of chiragh rawshan forms a central part of the religious practices of the Badakhshan Ismailis. According to the oral history of Badakhshan, this practice was introduced by Hakim Nasir-i Khusraw and remains an important tradition today

One participant explains that the Badakhshanis light the chiragh because the Ayat-i-noor has deep meaning in the Ismaili faith. The chiragh is a symbol of divine light that has become manifest in Prophet Muhammad and imam Ali. He goes on to say that in the Ismaili faith the lamp is always present and ever lighted, referring to the light of Imamat.

According to Badakhshani tradition, the handling stick of the lamp is the eve of the chiragh, the wick is its soul, and the light is its love. The ten properties of the chiragh also stand for people of different ranks. The devotee is represented by the fire in the lamp, the pure by its energy, the truthful bv its light, the pious by the whiteness of the flame, the wise by its blueness, the martyr by its redness. the grief-stricken by its yellowness, the hypocrites by its blackness, the ignorant by the smoke, and the burned by the handling stick of the lamp.

WORD CHECK

• acquaintances - people whom one knows, but not too closely
• bereaved - those deprived of a family member or elative by death
• condolences - sympathy expressed to a family in which someone has died.
• chorus - singing together in a group
• daf- a tambourine; a round drum covered only at one end
• deceased - a person who has died
• grief-stricken overcome with deep sorrow or suffering
• hypocrites - people who pretend to be what they are not.
• Kindling — lighting a lamp
• martyr- a person made to suffer or put to death for a cause in which, he or she firmly believes
• mourning — deep sorrow expressed for the death, of a person
• oral - transmitted by mouth, verbal
• ram - a male sheep
• rubab, thambur- stringed instruments similar to the guitar
• salawat - prayer to God to send His blessings on the Prophet and his family
• wick - a strip of material feeding a flame with fuel in a lamp or candle

Reflecting on the texts

Give some examples to show how the symbol of fire is a part of the way of life of the Shugnanis.

List some of the ceremonies of the Shugnanis in which the symbol of fire plays an important part.

What are some of the meanings that the image of fire conveys for the Shugnanis?

Describe in your own words the ceremony of the kindling of the lamp?

What part do the recitation of Quranic ayats, prayers, and devotional songs play in the ceremony?

How does the food serve as a means of bringing the people together?

What meanings do the Badakhshanis give to the kindling of the lamp ceremony?