The “big breaking news” is: The hedge of stated ‘discord’ between the “descendants of Gods and Ashuras” is obliterating fast. Unlike their ancestors the Ashuras are joining Durga Puja celebrations in a big way.
Cut to Jalpaiguri in North Bengal where the members of Ashura tribe --- many of whom consider themselves the descendents of demon kings --- have cast off the age old “stigma” of being the descendents of Mahishasura to take part in the festivities.
“We are proud of our Ashura culture … when we come to celebrate Durga Pujas it is an assimilation of culture and not representation of hostilities,” says Jamini an amateur artist from the community.
“Till even a few years ago the members of our tribe would not go out and mingle with the people in Durga Pujas as our ancestors did nothing of that sort … we remained confined in our homes in these 10 days of Durga Pujas … but modern education seems to have broken that barrier,” said Rajiv Ashur of Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri.
“We as children would not go to pandals though we were attracted by the pomp as people mostly the descendants of the Aryans would think that we were bad being the descendants of Mahishashur … but our mythology says that he was a good king … however that sense of stigma is diminishing and the people are taking part in the festivities as social beings … even they come to our festivals,” he says.
His grandfather Charu Ashur though however refuses to visit the pandal as he thinks that Mahishasur --- the demon God who was slain by the Mother Goddess to rid the Universe of evil --- “was a very benevolent king who did great good to his subjects but for the intervention of the Gods who tried to impose their will on the Ashuras taking away their lands and everything leading to a battle in which he was eventually martyred.”
Charu however does not come in the way of h is grandchildren mingling with the children of Durga as “past is past ... now time has come when all should live together happily sharing mutual respect for each other.”
However Usha Ashur who has done her Masters in sociology is vehement in preserving her culture.
“There is no problem mingling but why should be done by demeaning of our ancestors. According to her the myth that “the war between Gods and Demons is an eternal battle between good and evil” and that “the alleged epitome of evil that is Mahishasur is finally forgiven by the Goddess, should also be discarded” as “this leads to “continual marginalisation and exclusion of Mahishasur’s descendants from the cultural mainstream.”
But once again she has no problem joining in the festivities but with a caution “this must not mean white-washing of the Ashura culture.” Her own brother who is a member in a Durga Puja community in Jalpaiguri says, “how can you resist the children who get a good opportunity to get new clothes, sweets, and a long drawn off from the schools … their friends are from what you call the traditional Aryan communities … so it is better to get the cultures to mingle.”
But he does not reject his sisters’ views that the Ashura community and its culture must not be allowed to be overwhelmed by the Aryan majoritarian culture.
According to the 1991 census, the population of Ashurs --- one of the 40 scheduled tribes of Bengal --- was about 4864. Of these, the total number is 3108 in Jalpaiguri. There were some Ashurs in Darjeeling and Cooch Behar districts too.
Bikash Ashur a private teacher and also member of a Puja club says “the time has come when Ashur or Shur should be identified by the inner quality and not the looks or descent … after all the Hindu mythology itself says that the Gods and Ashuras were siblings with one being the descendant of Aditi and the other of Diti.”
