Heritage · Chennai
The mosques, astanas and ashurkhanas the Jamaat serves across Chennai — Thousand Lights, Royapettah, Triplicane and Pallavaram. Each carries its own story, its own procession and its own congregation.
The directory
Thousand Lights · Anna Salai
Built in 1810 by the Nawabs of Arcot, the mosque and its assembly hall took their name from the thousand oil lamps that once lit the hall between Mount Road and Peter's Road. Two centuries on it is still the markaz of Shia Tamil Nadu, and every Ashura and Arbaeen procession in the city ends at its gates.
Thousand Lights · Peters Road
The ashurkhana standing inside the Thousand Lights complex, named for Hazrat Abul Fazl al-Abbas. Community records place it at roughly two centuries old, and it is where Chennai's Arbaeen procession arrives each year under the care of the Sarkar-e-Abbasi waqf.
Royapettah · Peters Road
The congregational mosque of the Royapettah cluster on Peters Road, with an imam baargah attached alongside it — the Chota Naksha, where the majlis of Muharram are held through the ten nights.
Triplicane · Akbar Sahib Street
On Akbar Sahib Street in Triplicane, standing in the middle of one of Chennai's oldest Shia neighbourhoods, a few streets from both the Siya Astana and Astana-e-Kasim.
Royapettah
Named for Imam Ali — Hyder — this is where Chennai's Arbaeen procession forms each year before walking to Thousand Lights. Its history is preserved on film by the community's own chroniclers, and the Shahadat-e-Imam Ali and the 25 Muharram majlis are held here.
Royapettah · Peters Road
The smaller counterpart to the Bada Naksha at Thousand Lights. An imam baargah attached to Masjid-e-Hussainia, where the community gathers for majlis across Muharram and the months that follow.
Royapettah · Hussain Ali Khan Street
Founded in 1924, the Anjuman has been the Royapettah Shia community's educational and charitable backbone for a century — schools, religious teaching and social welfare run from Hussain Ali Khan Street.
Triplicane · Akbar Street
Every Muharram the astana disappears beneath long drapes of black cloth — Siya, the Black Astana. Next door Quran study circles meet under the imam's guidance, and from this Akbar Street cluster Chennai's 7th Muharram procession steps out.
Triplicane · Akbar Street
Each 7th of Muharram the Triplicane juloos forms here in memory of Qasim ibn Hasan — a rite the neighbourhood has carried in living records for well over a decade. Majlis are also held here on the 15th of Muharram.
Pallavaram
Asthana-E-Moula Ali Dargah, Pallavaram — an Imambara with the Moula Ali Masjid alongside.
