For this tribe, Durga Puja is time for mourning

The entire Bengal, rather India, may be celebrating the Durga Puja festival, but for a small tribe of 50 families in the north of the state, it’s time for mourning.

Sounds unconceivable! But it’s true. The reason members of this tribe mourn in these four festive days  — saptami, ashtami, navami and Vijaya Dashami — is their surname, ‘Asura’.

These families believe they are direct descendants of Mahishasura (the demon king killed by Goddess Durga), who they worship.

They believe Mahishasura was killed in an unfair battle by the combined forces of Goddess Durga and her children.

“How can we celebrate the unfair killing of our Asurababa (father Asura)?” Labani and Manglu Asura, who eat only once a day during the Durga Puja festival, said.

An officially scheduled tribe, these 50 families say they belong to the Asura community. They insist Mahishasura’s blood flows in their veins.

Their festival begins immediately after Vijaya Dashami. The day on which Durga idols are immersed, their four-day mourning ends and two-day celebrations begin. On these two days, they worship Mahishasura, sort of a counter to Goddess Durga.

Their revelry includes eating meat and drinking hadia (local country-made liquor brewed in earthen pots called handis).

Male members of the community mainly work as contract labourers in the tea gardens of the region. Barring the wages, they are totally dependent on the jungle for food and living. The families are stringent about following tribal culture and practices. Those marrying outside the community are debarred.

Renowned anthropologist BR Chowdhury, however, does not find anything special in this worship of Mahishasura.

“There are certain communities, especially in south India, which worship Ravan. Lord Ram is a villain for them. Similarly, for this community, Mahishasura is a god and Durga a villain,” he said.