Political Organization and Kinship:

The Asur are patrilocal and patrilineal people. After marriage, the wife must come to live with the husband, residence patrilocal. Women among the Asur do not inherit, and they have the right to be maintained by the family of their birth or adoption by marriage. They identify themselves with the family's interests so long as they live with their parents and after marriage with the Killis or septs of their husbands. The Asur family exists as a segregated unit today. They live in families — sometimes one man lives with his wife and children, and sometimes a group of brothers or agnates share the same house and participate in common economic interests. But the basis of social organisation is the Killi or sept. Hence, it is natural that the family's interests find fulfilment in the Killi's more significant interests. The members of one generation in a Killi behave towards one another as brothers and sisters, while all men of the same generation as one's father are addressed as Bara and respected as such. Asur society is divided into sixteen clans, which take their names from some animal, plant, or material object. They have been described as totemistic, but they do not now remember the origin of these totems. Members of a totemistic sept cannot marry within the sept but must marry outside. Exogamy is a characteristic feature of the Asur social organisation. The most effective taboo, in respect of marriage, is the rule of Killi exogamy, and it is the principal feature of their marital organisation. Any liaison between a man and a woman of the same clan is severely punished, and the family is branded as an outcast. Like the Munda, there are no cases of splitting the clans into smaller fragments, given the Asur’s small numerical strength. The following are the clan names of the Bir Asur:

I Aind (Eel) 2 Dhan (Rice), 3 Lila (Deer) 4 Suar (Pig,) 5 Bharewa (Wild dog) 6 Kerketta (A kind of bird), 7 Munjani (Anjun tree), 8 Titio (A type of bird), 9 Beng (Frog,) 10 Khusar or Khusro (One kind of bird), 1 1 Non (Salt), 12 Toppo (Woodpecker)

Religion:

Asur religious beliefs and practices have also evolved and organised to face the unknown supernatural world. The Asur mind has classified these supernatural powers into two: those who cause evil and those who do good to man. The attitude of the Asur towards the mystical

powers that are supposed to cause evil or good is one of reverential fear. The Asur believe that the principle of evil can be made to withdraw its ill will by sacrifices in harmony with its nature. As we have seen in the Asur Kaham, they had gone to the length of finding a human being to be offered as a sacrifice when the iron ore ran short in the past. But at the same time, it cannot be said that they have no belief in the principle of good. Hence, they have also invented a system of rites to move the principle of good so that it may triumph over the principle of evil.

In some cases of magic, when the operation of a spirit is assumed, an attempt is made to win their favour through prayer and sacrifices. Such cases exhibit magic tinged and alloyed with religion. Magico-religious treatment of diseases depends upon a correct diagnosis. As the Asur have lived among the advanced groups like the Oraon and Munda, their beliefs and practices have also been conditioned by those of their neighbours. The Asur pantheon consists roughly of several deities and spirits. Of course, Pat Deota may be placed in a class apart.' Sarna and Devi Mai belong to the category of a Deota, while Darha, Nasan, Mua and others belong to the category of evil spirits. The spirits of the dead ancestors may be placed in a separate class by themselves. As we have seen in the Asur Kahani, the Munda owe the origin of these spirits to the struggle between them and the Asur. After the Asur men were killed in the blast furnace, Sing Bonga rose to heaven when the Asur women clung to him. He shook them off, and they fell into the Munda country, where they converted themselves into tutelary spirits. The cult of deities and spirits and the propitiatory or religious ceremonies connected with the Oraon, as mentioned in the Oraon legend of genesis, appear to have been instituted afterwards when the intense heat from the furnaces of the iron-smelting Asur began to scorch up everything green. According to this legend, it was not till Dharmes, in the garb of a magician, killed the males of the iron-smelting tribe of the Asur by a trick. Their widowed females implored him to provide them with means of subsistence, and he ordained that they should inhabit the earth as spirits and live on such sacrifices and offerings as the children of man might make to them. When the Oraon performs the Danda Katta ceremony,’ the sacrifice reciting the Oraon story of the genesis of bhuts and spirits concludes by saying, ‘Today, the evil mouths of the twelve Asur brothers have been pushed into the iron furnace with a pole twelve cubits or thirteen cubits in length and their evil mouths have turned into Uddu Baranda, Neha Baranda, Hankar Bai, Bos Bai, Chiguragari, Darha Goensalie, I have appeased them today. May no more fever, sickness, evil dreams, or fear of evil.’

It is challenging to say whether the Asurs have a supreme god, but there is a definite hierarchy of deities and Gods among them. The Asurs believe in Mahadama, the “Greatest Destroyer”

and "the Giver of Precious Gifts.” Mahadama's nature is entirely in keeping with that of Siva or Mahadeva, who is prone to kindness and mercy for all who worship him with a pure heart. There is an elaborate debate about whether this entity of Mahadama resembles Mahadeva or Siva. Though this Supreme Deity is acknowledged, recognised and reverenced, he is usually neglected because he does not rejoice in inflicting pain upon mankind, whilst the malignant spirits are adored. The arrangement of the sacrifices at the principal Asur religious festival, Sarhul, mainly symbolises that Bhagwan controls the other gods and spirits. On this occasion, fowls are sacrificed to each Asur deity and spirit, including the Supreme One. It is believed that Bhagwan sees all that men and the spirits do. The Asur has a notion that Bhagwan punishes offences against customary morality. As an expiation for such an offence, the sacrifice of a white cock to Bhagwan is considered indispensable. In the religious history of the races in India, the worship of trees has played an important part. In the tribal areas in the country, holy groves are maintained where even breaking a twig would be considered as a sin. The principal trees in the Sacred Grove of the Asur are Sal trees. When two or three deaths among the Asur inhabitants occurred all of a sudden at Sakhuapani, the cause of it was attributed to the falling down of one old Sal tree in the village Sacred Grove Some particular trees in the grove are also supposed to be tenanted by spirits This belief of the Asur indicates that he IS passing from animism to polytheism, as he has begun to think that a tree is no longer the body of the tree spirit, but simply Its abode which it can quit at pleasure When the tree spirit thus disengages from the trees in the grove, it begins to change its shape and assume the human form The Asur recognises this spirit as Sarna Buna She receives sacrifices attended with the most elaborate ritual at the annual Sarhul festival.

Pat Deota is a village deity who is the master of all the village ‘bhuts’ or spirits, which it controls and keeps under check. The Deota protects the village from sickness and other misfortunes. He sits on a hill on the plateau on the outskirts of every village. Darha is also one of the most dreaded spirits in the village. This spirit acts as the guard or gatekeeper of the villages. Ordinarily, Darha does not harm the villagers. Still, if he does not make proper sacrifices at the appointed time, his displeasure is felt upon the village people by afflicting men and cattle with terrible calamities.

The main festivals for worshipping deities or different gods are limited to eight occurrences: Shahrana Puja, Naowa Khani,Gohali/Gobardan, Khaliyan Puja, Holi Puja, Shikari Puja, and Bongari.

Another interesting phenomenon that deserves discussion is worshipping and showing reverence towards Hudur Durga—a process exclusively started by Ajitprasad Hembrom from Purulia. During this event, they usually build an idol of Mahishashur, and people from various tribal communities, including the Asurs, worship it with reverence. To them, the usual Durga Puja, as Hindu norms and rituals, is exclusively a celebration of an Aryan tradition and a simultaneous silencing of their tradition where they consider Mahishashur as a benevolent entity who was murdered wrongfully by several prevailing Hindu ‘devta.’ Even today, the Asur community of North Bengal observe the Durga Puja as a day of mourning and tries to spend most of their time inside their home, away from the humdrum.

Marriage:

The Asur have a term to denote the married life for which no essential marriage ceremony has occurred. It is called Idi-Me, which means to lead the girl from her parent's house to the boys for cohabitation. One can estimate that married life among the Asur starts with Idi-Me in as many as 80 per cent of the cases. The Asur take it for granted that all young people must marry as soon as their minds and bodies have matured, enabling them to bear the responsibilities and fulfil all the duties of a married life. Idi-Me is a unique kind of marriage that is prevalent only in Asur society. Idi Me cannot be called a Probationary marriage because, unlike the Kuki, the Asur young man does not go to live with his sweetheart for weeks together with a desire for wedlock. Marriage by capture is rare among the Asur because it is not difficult for the Asur boy or girl to get their selected partner with their parent's consent. A specific bride price is only a known payment among the Asur for marriage and is delayed for several years. Hence, it has no significance as is among the Ho of Singhbhum, who find it difficult to pay the exorbitant rate of bride price for the marriage of their sons, which often leads them to adopt the form of marriage by elopement, which may be pre-arranged. There is a practice of Ghar-Damad among the Asur. It takes place not because the young man cannot pay the bride price but because the girl’s parents, having no male issue, would like to make their daughter the heir of their property. Instances of elopement of a girl with a boy are also rare among the Asur. Rituals for the actual marriage ceremony among the Asur arc are practically the same as those of the Munda, Oraon, and Sadan (local non-tribal), with whom they have lived for several centuries. Marriage in the

same totemic clan is regarded as something which would bring dire calamity to the tribe and is not permitted.

On Pan-Partei, when the bride and groom's family assemble with the village elders, a significant ceremony known as ‘Lota Pam’ occurs among the Munda and the Oraon. The ceremony provides a last opportunity for the girl to give her consent or not for the proposed marriage. Among the Munda, a member of the village council wearing a turban for the occasion takes a bowl of fresh water and pours some of the water into a small leaf cup, presents it to the bride and says, ‘Give it to them.’ Then, if the girl agrees to the marriage, she presents the water to her future father-in-law. After that, she presents a cup of water to the bridegroom's relatives, who she will always acknowledge as her actual relatives. Some of this water is also given to all those of her village who are present. By accepting water, they declare themselves witnesses that the girl has freely consented to the marriage and that, consequently, they oblige themselves to see to it that later, the girl’s parent does not break the contract on any insufficient grounds. After the Pan-partei ceremony, the father of the boy and the father of the girl, along with other relatives, discuss the marriage; if the circumstances are unfavourable, they agree not to perform the regular marriage ceremony but decide to bring the girl to the boy’s house by way of the Idi-Me for cohabitation. Bride price plays a vital role in marriage among tribes all over India. It may be paid in cash or in kind. In Chotanagpur, the bride price is meant to be a stabilising and valuable factor. In the Mundari language, the bride price is denoted by the word Gonong, which has a root that means barter. It means barter par excellence. The usual bride price among the Munda in the past was three bullocks. There are several minor and essential ceremonies to be performed at the time of regular marriage. The first one is the ceremonial removal of a bridegroom’s bachelorhood and the bride’s maidenhood. The ceremony seems to have lost its significance as the parties may have already lost their bachelorhood and maidenhood by living as husband and wife with the sanction of the lde-Me. In a regular marriage, the bridegroom goes to the bride's house with a marriage party. The Asurs share gross similarities with most major marriage rites with the Oraons and Munda. Still, the Asur differs from his neighbours in having one of the essential marriage rites, Banhjori. As said earlier, a woman should avoid her husband’s elder brother, but in the Banhjori rite, the bride is made to sit in the lap of the elder brother of the bridegroom. A question would arise as to why the elder brother IS singled out for the rite instead of his father, who seems to be the proper person for taking his son's wife in his lap. A woman would ordinarily avoid the presence of her husband’s elder brother. It seems the rite is provided to forbid all approaches of the husband’s elder brother towards her, and he should be careful to avoid touching her even in a state of drunkenness. The husband’s elder brother may likely have in view the same girl who is being married to his younger brother. As such, he may have some attraction for her. But once it is decided that she is to marry his younger brother, he must treat her as his daughter by making her sit in his lap in the presence of the village elders and others at the tune of the Banhjori rite. After the principal marriage ceremony is over, the relatives and friends who have been invited to the marriage assemble in the mandawa where an important ceremony called chumaun is held. Here, the Asur also differs from the Oraon and Munda. Among the Munda, the bridegroom and the bride are brought out and made to sit on the nuptial mat facing east. A brass plate with a lighted oil lamp, some pearl rice, and a leaf containing mustard seeds are brought and placed in front of the bride and the groom. Then the mother starts the chumaun with the bride. She takes up the plate, touches it with the feet of the bride, then her knee, then her forehead, then she makes with it a circular motion over her head, and having touched her right shoulder describes there also a similar circle. She does the same over her left shoulder, then takes a pinch of pearl rice from the plate, joins her hands, and makes the same movements, touching her feet, knee, forehead, and shoulders, describing a circle over her head and shoulders. She ends by throwing the nee over her head, where the maidens who helped in the erection of the mandwa catch it up on a cloth and put it back on the plate. Both these performances are done a second and a third time. Then she warms up the palms of her hands over the oil lamp, passes them caressingly over her cheeks, brings them back to her lips, and kisses the tips of her fingers. When she has done so three times, the ceremony is finished as far as it concerns the bride. But she must repeat the same with the bride-groom. When this is finished, she puts some money on the plate. She is followed by as many village women as wish to do so. Each of these winds up her human by putting money on the plate.

Livelihood:

With the death of the iron-smelting industry, agriculture has become the principal means of subsistence among the Asur. The earlier pattern of agriculture among the Asur was shifting cultivation. Mr L R Forbes, in his Report on the Raiyatwari Settlement of the Government Farms in Palamau district, has recorded a description of shifting cultivation known as the 'Kurao' or ‘Daha’ method, which was also practised by the primitive tribes in the Netarhat plateau. It is a kind of burn-and-stash cultivation technique practised by the Asur tribe, which is also a form of shifting cultivation. The practice of shifting cultivation served two purposes for them: firstly, they got some food crops required for subsistence, and secondly, it provided charcoal for iron-smelting from trees, which used to be cut down for such cultivation. The Asur used to grow crops like maise, millets, sun puja, til, etc. on the fields, thus prepared, and spread for three years by rotation. After three years, new fields were prepared by further clearing the forests and the old ones were allowed to remain fallow for some time to recoup their fertility. Records of rights prepared during the nineteenth century's closing years for the rent levy would reveal that each Asur family's holding ranged from 10 to 35 acres. Most of the lands under occupation are uplands locally known as tam. Cows are not kept for milk but for calves which are required for agricultural purposes after they grow up into bullocks. The Asur also keep buffaloes which are used for ploughing the fields. In these isolated and precarious environments in this plateau the Asur have built up an agricultural economy. Though now primarily agriculturists, they collect forest fruits, tubers and roots and hunt wild animals for food. They are frequently engaged as wage labourers either in forest coupes where they find employment in forest cutting or in earthwork. In the past, an emissary of the labour agents known as Arakali helped the Asur m recruiting them as coolies for tea gardens m Bengal, Assam, and Bhutan. In the census of 1901, as many as 553 Asurs were recorded as working in the tea gardens in the Jalpaiguri district alone. These Arakatis, who are often close relatives of village chaukidars, duped the Asur in many ways by carrying on malpractices in recruitment. To safeguard the liberty of the emigrant labourers, a law was enacted that required every emigrant recruited by the Arakati to be brought before a magistrate before leaving his province.

The Netarhat plateau falls within the Special Tribal Multipurpose Blocks of Bishunpur and Mahuadand; as such, the Asur got added attention in the intensive and multipurpose development of the area. As the economy of Asur is agriculture-based, the development of agriculture has become the main economic programme. The programme can be best understood from the existing condition of agriculture as practised by the Asur. So far as agricultural holding is concerned, it compares favourably with advanced tribes like the Oraon and Munda. Despite the full development of agriculture on this plateau, it will not provide full-time employment to the Asur, who will need some subsidiary means of livelihood. It may be through daily wage exploitation of forests, introducing a few cottage industries or reviving their age-old iron-smelting industry. Many Asur families still know this art and have preserved the necessary instruments.

Dress:

The dress of the Asur is very simple and scanty; the men ordinarily wear lion cloth called botoi and use a piece of fabric as a wrapper for the upper portion of the body known as Pichon. Nowadays, they are also found wearing a kurta or shirt and young boys wearing shorts. The woman wears a long piece of cloth called paria around her waist, allowing a portion to pass diagonally over the upper body. Rarely does she put on a blouse at home. Grown-up girls are, however, particular to wear blouses or choli when they must go to a weekly market or a fair (jatra). Shoes are seldom worn, and the head is usually bare. Elderly Asur men put on a piece of cloth on the head and wear it like a pagri. Both the young men and young women of the Asur tribe are very fond of personal decoration. A young man wears around the waist a sort of belt made of cocoon silk or plaited thread (kardham), and his hair, though not very long, is well-oiled. Strings of coral or china beads or silver four anna pieces adorn his neck on festival days, and sometimes flowers are used to decorate his hair. The Asur women keep their hair clean and glossy by frequently washing it out thoroughly with a fat kind of loam serving as a soap and then anointing it with oil. The Asur girls deck themselves with bracelets, anklets, earrings, and other silver, brass, or lac and coloured glass ornaments. The poorer Asur woman wears a peculiar trinket in the ear called Tar-Sakon, which consists of a roll of palm leaf dyed red and set off with tinsel.

Food and Diet:

The Asur's basic diet comprises cereals such as rice, maize, millet, vegetables, and meat, remaining consistent across regions. They enjoy pumpkins, brinjals, onions, and mushrooms and supplement their cultivated diet with wild leafy vegetables, roots, tubers, and fruits. Each meal incorporates leaves and flowers from Komar, Phutkal, Kalia, Zirhool, Kachnar plants, and mahua. Rice beer and mahua liquor serve as Asur’s most essential beverages, with rice beer being considered a vital source of nourishment. It is customary to offer something cherished to protectors, well-wishers, or close relatives. As the Asur highly values rice beer, it becomes a significant offering to supernatural entities and ancestors during various social and religious events. Understanding rice beer's significance is essential to grasping the social dynamics of Asur society.

Among fruits, occasional varieties like Mahna, Bail, Amla, Karaunda, Pjar, Jamun, Gullar, Porho, Tend, Kend, and Bhelwa enhance their limited food supply. Most Asur avoids milk, reflecting a shared belief with other tribal communities worldwide. They refrain from milking cows, viewing it as cruel to deny calves their mother's milk. However, they do milk buffaloes, making curd, a preferred dairy form. If a mother cannot nurse her infant, she will provide rice softened in rice beer. The Asur's dietary habits are almost omnivorous concerning meat and fish; they consume everything from rats to cows, although this claim is debated. Snakes and reptiles, except for the king cobra, are considered delicacies. Rice or maise porridge and rice bread are popular, with eating customs varying among social groups depending on available food. In times of plenty, elders, especially men and children, are prioritised over women during meals.