151 
1900.] F. Hahn — A Primer of the Asur duhma. 
and that those remnants of copper mines, found in some localities of 
Chota Hagpur owe their origin to this advanced section of the 
Asurs. The Mundaris entered Chota Hagpur after them, coming 
from the West, leaving the Korkus in the Ellichpur District and other 
Kolarian tribes in other parts of the Central Provinces. Doubtless a 
fierce struggle between the new comers and the original settlers 
ensued, in which the Asurs, perhaps in a bloody battle were almost 
annihilated, the surviving remnant being driven to the hills, where we 
find them even now; however the spirits of the slain haunted the 
victors who being horrified by the tremendous slaughter they had 
committed among their enemies, for ever feared that these spirits 
would take revenge and hence the deifying and worship and propitia- 
tion of them by means of sacrifices on the part of the conquerors. The 
Asurs have most probably adopted the language of the latter, the 
Mundaris, retaining only part of their original “ dukma ” and making 
such alterations in the pronunciation of the language of their con- 
querors, as suited them best. By and bye they added also Dravidian 
words to their vocabulary and still later on some Hindi words and thus 
was made up the present Asur Du ma, of which on the following pages 
a grammatical outline is given. 
INDEX. 
Chapter I : On transliteration. 
Page. 
1. 
Vowels ... ... 
... 153 
2. 
Hiatus and consonants 
ib. 
Chapter II : Nouns. 
3. 
Gender and number 
ih. 
4. 
Case and signs 
... 154 
5. 
„ examples... 
ih. 
6- 
Declination 
... 155 
Chapter III : Adjectives. 
7. 
General remarks on adjectives 
156 
8. 
Comparison of „ 
... ib. 
Chapter IV ; Pronouns. 
9. 
Personal pronoun 
ib. 
10. 
Declination of the first person 
... 157 
11. 
,, ,, second ... ..o 
ib. 
12. 
Demonstrative pronouns 
... 158 
13. 
Declination of demonstrative pronouns ... 
... ih. 
14. 
Examples of the use of pronouns 
ib. 
