Even as the slaying of Mahishasur is narrated as victory of good over evil in a mythological battle between Goddess Durga and the demon king, for the handful of descendents known as Asurs and living in the secluded mountains in a few districts of Jharkhand, the tribe today faces an evil bigger than what the demon king is being depicted since the mythological nine-day battle would have taken place.
Amid the pandemonium over Mahishasur being called as “martyr” by some students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the descendents deny ever observing martyrdom of the demon king as they face the challenge of making ends meet, inability to move around and socialise with other communities for want of money to revere their king.
“We do not celebrate martyrdom as we face bigger challenges in our life. We sell fire woods and buy food grains from the proceeds of the sale. One of the biggest constraints for us is that we don’t have money to travel distance and so instead of celebrating martyrdom in community we worship him in our heart,” said Kumud Asur of Kandapar village in Dumri block of Gumla District.
The dwindling community now reduced to 10,000 in Jharkhand clings on to the lost glory as they assert once existed and rue that they lost the place in the land which was once ruled by their king, Mahishasur. Notwithstanding the depiction of their king in Hindu mythology and the social stigma they face for being descendents, they wish that the apartheid ends and beg a more kind approach to their community, especially by those who apparently drove them to deep into mountains after conquering their land.
“Other powerful castes defeated us, pushed us further into the mountains and the fear of further subjugation compelled us to live in ghetto in forests. However, that must change and for that we need food, clothes, water and employment. Declaring or wishing a martyr day for him (Mahishasur) won’t provide us clothe,” added Sabutari Asurai of the same village.
The community living in oblivion came out to attend a programme at Vikas Bharti’s premises in Ranchi on Wednesday and that was the occasion for a majority of the Asurs to forget their unending hardship and manoeuvring undulating topography every day to fetch drinking water. Although they bask in the glory of days when the demon king ruled the forest land with compassion they claim was the character of the king; that feeling fritters away as they evaluate their position vis-a-vis other tribal community in terms of benefit that nurtures them.
“We rarely socialise and most of them have not come to Ranchi ever. Providing basic amenities is more important than observing martyrdom. What is the point in celebrating one day and then forgetting rest of the yearIJ We don’t even know if anywhere his martyrdom is being celebrated,” maintained Sunita Asurai.