HOW A FEW TRIBES IN JHARKHAND CELEBRATE THE DURGA PUJA

A pack of Santal tribals dance the Dasainkodaku during their Dasain festivity celebrated during the Durga Puja of the Hindus.

THE DURGA PUJA

Primarily Durga Puja is the celebration of the Goddess Durga's win over the evil demon named Mahishasur. The myth is that the Goddess was not born but created by the various Gods to slay the evil asur or demon who had terrorised both the earth and the heavens where the gods reside thereby symbolising the victory of good over evil.

The real Durga Puja is done during spring. The Autumn Durga Puja performed in the month of Ashwin also known as the Akal- bodhan Puja was believed to have been performed by Lord Rama in Rameshwaram with the intention to appease Goddess Durga so that he is able to defeat Ravana. The irony of this puja was that Ravana himself being a devotee of Goddess Durga agreed to be the priest in the same puja performed by Rama which was meant to have been conducted for his own defeat.

But there are other versions of the Durga Puja of which one being that both the Durga Pujas during Spring and Autumn were actually harvest festivals or even the celebrations of both the Spring and the Autumnal Equinoxes.

Another story of the celebration of the 10 day long Goddess Durga in actuality is a fertiulty ritual. The ten-day long worship of the 'kalash' or the ritualistic pot that is set up on the 1st lunar day is the celebration of the Great Goddesses's womb in which the baby stays for nine month and delvers on the tenth.

For the Bengalis, Goddess Durga is considered to be the daughter of every household and it is during the Sharodiya Durga Mahostava or during the Autumnal Durga Puja, she descends on earth with her four children to visit her mother's home (i.e in every Bengali's house) taking leave from her husband, Mahadev who has stayed back in his abode in the Himalayas. 
Her four day stay at her mother's home is celebrated with much fun and frolic by the Bengalis. And during Dashami she bids farewell to her mother and her relatives as she returns with her children to her husband's dwelling in the Himalayas making all sad and teary eyed in her mother's family.
It is believed that this mode of Durga worship was initiated in the 18th cent by Raja Krishnachandra Ray of Nodia.

The other version is the tribal one as Durga according to many scholars has been loaned from the non-Aryan tribes. The term Dussera is believed to have stemmed from two words of Dus or ten and Eras or Goddesses (Era is the austric Santali word for a Goddess); plainly speaking Dussera would mean celebration of Ten Eras or Ten Goddesses. 

The tribals however donot worship Goddess Durga but several of them hold Mahisashur as their deity and the Durga Puja to be the celebration of his martyrdom. The tribals even revere Ravana. and other non Aryan Puranic characters.

Let us then look into:

HOW A FEW TRIBES OF JHARKHAND CELEBRATE THE DURGA PUJA.

THE SANTALS

This is a unique photograph that shows the hybridisation of two faiths; of the Hindus and the Santals. Here Santals perform the Dasainkodaku dance during their Dasain ceremony inside the  Mandapa of the Durga of the Hindus.

The tribals being non Aryan and non Hindu have their own religious faiths and therefore their Gods and Goddesses. The Santal tribe across the state and the country celebrate Dasain during the Hudur Pujo (or the Hindu's Puja) of the Durga Puja. The term Hudur Pujo is controversial as many tribals consider it to denote the veneration of Mahishasur.

Dasain is a four day long celebration of the Santals that commences from the  mahasaptami or the 7th lunar day of the Autumn Durga Puja. The Santals worship Goddess Jaher inside their sacred grove called Jaher Than to procure power and strength.

The myth behind Dasain is that once there were two lovers among the Santals; Durga, a girl and the boy was Devi.

The lovers used to meet in the woods and once it so happened that the Aryans kidnapped the happy couple. The news of their abduction finally reached their villages. The tribe-folks went door to door in search of Durga and Devi by beating their traditional drums. But nowhere could the couple be found.

The search party is supposed to have reached the seashore but even there they could not be located. It was raining cats and dogs hence they could not cross the ocean to search Durga and Devi.

Since then till the present day the Santals believe that the lovers are still alive and they could indeed be found, hence the custom of Dasainkodaku in which they dance in their own tradition visiting every home in hope of finding both Durga and Devi.

THE AUSRS.

An Asur tribal lighting his hearth; preparation for smelting iron.

Asurs are a small Mundari tribe is the first iron smelting people of India. The Mehrulli iron pillar in Delhi is believed to be one of their most famous works. 
The Asurs were knowledgeable of iron products which they created over many thousands of years ago have not rusted till date. 
Although these folks are found all over North India but their various groups are primarily settled in Latehar, Gumla, Lohardagga, Khunti and Hazaribagh etc districts of Jharkhand and even in West Bengal in East India.

These people consider themselves to be the descendants of the legendary Mahishasur, the mythological demon who is slayed by the Aryan war Goddess Durga. Although as such they do not worship Mahishasur but many in their tribe hold him as one of their kings. 
During the Navratri festival these Asur tribals lock themselves in their homes blocking every window and every point from where light can enter into their homes. In the evenings they would come out to mourn the slaying of their king Mahishasur thinking as the Aryan Devtas had tricked their king and other prominent Asurs to kill them they may as well do the same again to them hence such precautions. 

Despite all these nuances among the tribes many having adopting the Hindu way of life celebrates the Durga Puja like other  inhabitants of the region.