Asur Community

Current Context : Asur tribes in Netarhat of Gumla to get forest land rights benefits under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).

ABOUT ASUR TRIBE

• Asur Tribe are an Austroasiatic ethnic group living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand mostly in the Gumla, Lohardaga, Palamu, and Latehar districts.
• They are included in the list of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• Population of around 23,000.
• Language speak : Asur language, belongs to the Munda family of Austro-asiatic languages.
• Occupation : traditionally iron-smelters. They were once hunter-gatherers, having also involved in shifting agriculture. However, majority of them shifted into agriculture, with 91.19 percent enlisted as cultivators in the 2011 census.
• Religion followed : mixture of animism, animatism, naturalism, and ancestral worships.
• Festival : Sarhul, Phagua, Navakhans