8 
W. II. P. Driver —The Asurs. 
[No. 1, 
he found two Asurs (a brother and sister) who had not gone in 
with the rest, and he made these two fix up a bellows (such as the 
Asurs use for smelting iron) and immolate the whole tribe. These two 
were then carried away by the Uraons, and left in the jungles, where 
their descendants are now found, being condemned for ever to use the 
bellows. They say that the Uraons brought their two ancestors in pallds 
from the far East, but they have not the slightest idea how far, nor 
where Dhaulagir and Mainagir are situated. 
In different parts of the Lohardaga and Chaibasa districts are 
found well finished stone, clay, glass, and metal beads, and also small 
silver coins (of the kind called 1 old Hindu punch coins ’) which are at¬ 
tributed by the people to the Asurs, but it is difficult to say whether 
the present Asurs are descendants of the people who used these coins 
and beads or not. I am credibly informed that beads similar in 
every way to these are, at the present day, worn by the Bhutiyas about 
Darjiling, and this fact taken in conjunction with the legend about 
Dhaulagir appears to me very suggestive of the true origin of these 
people. The Bhagavat Purana (1, 3, 24) refers to the people of Kikata 
(Bihar), who were in those days mostly Kols, as Asurs; and these 
Asurs of Lohardaga (who are also Kols) state that they have borne 
this name from ancient times. We, therefore, seem to have connecting 
links for tracing the present day Asurs from the Himalayan mountains 
to the hills of Chutiya Nagpur. 
Titles , sub-tribes and septs. —The Asurs assume the title of Man- 
jhi. They are divided into the following sub-tribes : Ja’it Asurs and 
Lohara-Asurs, who smelt iron and make ploughs, &c.; Soenka or 
Agariya-Asurs and Gond-Asurs, who smelt iron, but do not make 
ploughs, &c. All these sub-tribes have innumerable gotors such 
as Rote, Sikta, Aind, Topo, Kerketa, Kachhuwa, Tirki, Nag, Chitri, 
Gundri, and Sujur, &c. 
Festivals and religious customs. —They observe the following festi¬ 
vals and religious customs: Mdgh-yarab in January; Phdgund in 
February; at this festival they offer a sacrifice of a fowl to An- 
dhariya Devata (the Earth God). The fowl is held by a pair of 
pincers, its head is placed on an anvil, and it is struck with a 
hammer, a prayer being offered with a request to be preserved 
from the sparks, that fly from red-hot iron. Hariyari in May, 
when a fowl is sacrificed to their parents ; Daliyd (the God of Plenty), 
a sacrifice in June; Sendrd, the hunting festival, in June; Karam 
in August; Soharai in October. A sacrifice is offered to ‘ Bor 
Pahari Bongd ’ (great hill God) of a brown goat, and to ‘ Pand’rd 
Devata ’ (the sun) of a mottled fowl. These two are yearly sacrifices, 
