1888.] 
W. H. P. Driver —The Asms . 
7 
The 74th year must, therefore, be the year of his reign, and it follows 
that the era originated with him. If Abu-1-Fazl is correct, and my 
reading of the Sanscrit inscription admissible, then the date of the 
inscription is 1119 + 47 = 1193 A. D. 
My knowledge of Sanscrit is exceedingly small, but it looks to me 
as if the words of the inscription might bear the above interpretation. 
Possibly it was because it never occurred to any one that a reign 
could last seventy-four years, that it was taken for granted that the 
seventy-four years must mean years after the expiry of the reign. 
[ f • 1 , _ ' f . f , r 
Notes on some Kolarian tribes.—By W. H. P. Drive 
The Asurs. 
Habitat. —The Asurs, a small tribe, speaking a dialect of the Kolarian 
language, are to be found only in the extreme west of the Lohardaga 
district. They are iron-smelters by profession. 
Origin and history. —They appear to have considerable traditions 
in connection with their former history. The following is the story 
regarding their origin, and general history. In ancient times they 
were a great people and inhabited the Dhaulagir and Mainagir Hills 
on which there were two large lakes. They were clever artisans, 
travelled about in pallds, and used to eat red-hot iron. They did 
not cultivate the land, but had large herds of cattle. Then the 
Uraons, called Lodhas, appeared and took all their cattle, and they had 
to go into the jungles. (The saying with reference to the Uraons 
being stronger is baro bhai Asm , terd bhat Lodhd, i. e., ‘the Asurs are 
twelve brothers, but the Lodhas are thirteen brothers.’) This drove 
them to desperation and they took to cattle-lifting and preying on 
-the Uraons. (The mythology of the various Kolarian tribes always 
refers to the Asurs as robbers and fire-eaters.) These Uraons, unable 
to attack them in the jungles, called in the assistance of Bhag’wan, 
who built a great fort and invited all the Asurs to attend. Being 
afraid to refuse, they all came at the summons, and were told to enter 
the fort by Bhag’wan, who to allay their fears went in first. After 
they were all in, Bhag’wan shut the gate and disappeared from the 
top. He then filled the fort up with charcoal. When he got outside, 
* [All names, terms and words quoted in this paper are spelled by the author 
as he heard them from the people. The system of spelling, or transliteration, is the 
usual one ; but it should be noted that n indicates the nasalisation of the preceding 
vowel, and that 6 indicates the Eastern Gauclian, or Bengali, pronunciation of a ; 
thus gotor is the Hindi gotar , Skr. gotra ; bor corresponds to Hindi bar or bard ‘ great.’ 
Ed.] 
