“Jean-Baptiste Tavernier” is one of the travelers who was in Isfahan at the beginning of Shah Suleiman’s rule. He described the Moharram atmosphere in the Naqshe Jahan Square as follow: “Twelve Processions from the twelve neighborhoods of Isfahan came to the Naqshe Jahan Square with Alams, Kotal, Kajaveh, and the relics required for mourning. Each procession had a Kajaveh, which eight to ten people moved it.
The wood of the Kajaveh was decorated with paintings of various flowers. In each Kajaveh, a coffin is placed, covered with golden brocade. At the vanguard of each procession, a Yadak was dragged. The Yadaks were saddled and swords, daggers, and bows were hanging from them. At a hundred paces from the Shah’s gallery, the Yadak handlers set them loose and running, with the procession, along with the Kajaveh running after them. These horses are, in a way, a symbol of the horses that the martyrs of Karbala rode into battle.”
Name Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Profession Merchant and Traveler
The reigning Shah at his time of arrival Shah Safi, Shah Abbas II, Shah Suleiman
Books Taverniere’s Travelogue
