ASUR / BIR ASUR

   ASUR  / BIR  ASUR   

A community of Bihar, they claim to be the descendants of the ancient people of that name who were associated with the art of working in metals and were the makers of metal relics discovered from the Asur sites in Chotanagpur  (Leuva,  1963).  Risley  (1891)  has described them as a small non- Aryan tribe who lived almost entirely by iron-smelting.  The records refer to them as the ancestors of t he contemporary aboriginal tribes of Orissa, central India and Chotanagpur (Leuva, 1963).  They live in the Gumla and Lohardaga districts of the Chotanagpur plateau of Bihar.  Their population in that state,  according to the 1981 census, is 7783, almost 97 per cent of which is returned from rural areas.  They speak in the Asuri language at home which belongs to the Austro-Asiatic family of languages but they are also coversant with Hindi and Sadri.  The Devanagri script is used.

                                                     They are short-statured,  dolichocephalic, with medium nasal and facial profiles.  In Manbhum district,  according to Dutta and Gupta (1967), the Asur show a preponderance of loops (63 per cent) over whorls  (36 per cent).  In a small sample from the Asurs, Sarkar (1949) found a very low incidence of blood group  B (2.4 per cent).  The Asur are non vegetarians who eat pork and their staple diet consists of wheat, rice, jowar and maize which are supplemented with various types of pulses like urad, tur and kulthi.  The cooking medium is mustard oil, dori and sarguja oil.  They also eat roots and tubers.   Tea is a common drink while rice beer (haria) and distilled liquor  (daru) are drunk only by the men.  Smoking is uncommon, though the men chew tobacco ( khaini).  They also consume milk products.

                                                             According to Risley, the Asur were also referred to as Agoria and Lohra and they used Majhi and Parja as titles.  Risley has identified subtribes like the Agaria, Birjia, Kolh- Asur, Lohra-Asur and Paharia-Asur among the Asurs; he has listed them with a number of septs such as Aind (eel), Baroa (Wild cat), Basriar  (bamboo), Beliar (bel fruit), Kachchhua  (tortoise),  Kai, Hawar (kaitha), Kerketa (bird),  Mukruar (spider),  Nag (snake),  Rote  (frog),  Sair (jackal),  Tirki (bird) and Topo (bird).  The Asur have three economic and territorial endogamous subgroups,  namely Soika,  Birjhias and Jair Asur.  At present,  this segmentation is  considerably weak. They have a set of exogamous totemic clans (gotar),  namely Aiyen,  Minj, Mendhak, etc.  Earlier they used Mahato as their surname, but it has now been replaced by the name of the community.

                                                        Child marriage has given way to adult marriage.  They choose their mates through negotiation,  mutual consent, by exchange  (golat),  elopement (daku)  and service  (ghar  jamai).  Usually they are monogamous, though cases of polygyny are also found.  Marriage with the elder brother’s widow  (devar –bouji biya) and the late wife’s  younger sister (Sali biya) is permissible.  A vermilion mark on the forehead is the symbol of marriage for women but it is not strictly observed.  They pay bride price  (dali paisa).  The post-marital residence is patrilocal.  Divorce is permitted an d remarriage  (sagai) is allowed.  Property is divided among the sons but the eldest son gets a larger share  (jethang).  He also succeeds to the right of performing  ancestor worship.  Birth pollution is observed for nine days and ends with a rite called chhotti.  The  first cereal-feeding ritual (mujhuthi) is held when the baby is five or six months old.  Marriage rituals are solemnized by the village priest  (pahan).  The dead are buried and pollution  (chhut) is observed  for ten days.  A community feast is hosted on the last day.

                                                   These iron smelters were also once engaged in hunting,  gathering and shifting cultivation.  According to the 1981 census,  41.98 per cent of them are returned as workers.  Of them, only  2.23 per cent are now engaged in the household industry, i.e.  their traditional occupation of iron smelting.  They have now switched over to cultivation.  Most of them  (91.19 per cent) are engaged in t he primary sector of the economy  (75.67 per cent cultivators  and 15.52 per cent agricultural labourers ).  The remaining 6.58 per cent are engaged in various other occupations.  These days  very few of  the Asur are engaged in ironsmithy.  Agriculture has become their principal means of subsistence.  They also work petty businessmen. They have their own community council (jati panch) where their socio-economic disputes are settled.

                                              The Asur propitiate the Sing Bonga, Marang Bonga and certain other deities and observe festivals such as  Sarhul, Sohrai, Holi Karma and Kharwaj.  Some of them have embraced Christianity though they still retain some  pre-conversion practices.  Their priest  (pahan) is either from their  own community  or from the Kharwar,  Birjia or some other community.   The 1981 census records 48.05 per cent of the Asur as followers of Hinduism,  16.05 per cent as Christains,  4.78 per cent as Buddhists, only one person as a Muslim and  0.13 per cent as not having stated their religion.  There  has been a significant revival of tribal religion which is attested to by  30.98 per cent of the community being returned under  ‘other religions’ .  An analysis of the 1961-1981 census returns show  that the persons who follow Hinduism are on the decline, i. e. from 71.18 per cent in 1961 to 68 per cent  in 1971, and further down to  48.05 per cent in 1981.  The number of persons who followed their own tribal religion decreased from  18.39 per cent in 1961 to 17.67 per cent in 1971, but showed  a steep increase in  1981 when  30.98 per cent   were returned  under  ‘other religions’.  There were 10.43 per cent Christians among them in  1961; they increased to 14.33 per cent in 1971; and to 1605 per cent in 1981.  They have own oral traditions.  Both men and women participate in dances accompanied by percussion instruments.

                                           The Asur acceptfood from the Rajput, Oraon, Kharwar, Thakur, Ghasi and some others.  Putative kinship ties like karam dair and sahiya are maintained with the Kharwar, Munda and other neighbours.  They share all public place with their neighbours,   except the burial place.

                                          According to the  1981 census, the literacy rate among them is 10.66 per cent which is lower than the general literacy rate of the scheduled tribes of the state  (16.99 per cent).  The literacy rate among the females  is as low as 3.59 per cent compared to that among the males which is  17.66 per cent .  They prefer to use traditional herbal medicines except in critical cases.  Family planning programmes are not too popular.  They fetch drinking schemes and the old age pension scheme and many among them have availed of these facilities.  They use kerosene oil and wood as fuel.  The cultivators among them use both organic and inorganic manures.  The Asur avail of the CWS and the  PDS.

                                        The Asur are also distributed in West Bengal. They were taken to West Bengal by the British to work as labourers in tea  plantations.  According to the 1981 census, their population in the state is 4286.  They have retained their mother tongue, but have also learnt to speak in Bengali.  Their social organization has undergone some significant changes; for instance, bride price is being replaced by dowry and they now prefer to cremate the dead.  A significant change has taken place in their economic life. The Asur of West Bengal are either tea plantation labourers or landowning cultivators.  This is also evident from the 1981 census returns which shows that out of their total population, 43.23 per cent workers  (53.55 per cent male and 32.36 per cent females).  A majority of them, i.e.  56.72 per cent are returned under plantation, forestry, etc. while 15.65 per cent cultivators and 13.6 per cent are agricultural labourers.  Those engaged in the household  industry are 5.88 per cent and the remaining 8.15 per cent are engaged in other services.  The 1981 census records 81.81 per cent of the Asur as followers of Hinduism, 15.6 per cent as Buddhists,  and 2.5 per cent as in recent years.  In West Bengal, 14.21 per cent of them are literate  (16.59 per cent males and 11.70 per cent females).  They have derived very little benefit from the different development schemes but they are covered by the PDS.

                                         In Madhya  Pradesh, the Asur are concentrated in the Jashpur area of Raigarh district.  Their separate population figure is not available as they are grouped with the Gond.  There they use Ram as their surname.  Child marriage and marrying more than one wife are common among them.  They bury as well as cremate the dead.  Most of the Asur villages are situated on hilltops amidst the forests.  They derive their livelihood from shifting as well as sedentary cultivation, collection of forest products, ironsmithy and by working as labourers.  Only a few of the children  go to  school.  There has been no marked impact of the different welfare  schemes on their lives.