Musahar

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Musahar
Musahar woman collecting firewood near Sauraha, Chitwan District, Nepal
ReligionsHinduism
LanguagesBhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, Musasa
CountryIndia, Nepal, Bangladesh
Original stateUttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand
RegionEastern Gangetic Plain and the Terai
Family namesManjhi
Notable membersDashrath Manjhi, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bhagwati Devi

Musahar or Mushahar[1] (Nepali: मुसहर जाति) are a Dalit community found in the eastern Gangetic plain and the Terai. They are also known as Rishidev, Sada, Manjhi, Banbasi.[2] The other names of the Musahar are Bhuiyan and Rajawar.[3] there are many who are still forced to do this work due to destitution and poverty.

Origins and history

Photo of a Musahar taken as part of a caste survey by Herbert Hope Risley in Bihar, 1890s

In Bihar, the word Musahar is said to be derived from the

Indo-European language in the distant past. However, unlike the Musahar, the Baiga remained isolated from Brahminical society at large and so were seen as a tribe rather than a caste
.

Present circumstances

The Musahar consists of three endogamous clans: Bhagat, Sakatiya and Turkahia. They are now mostly landless agricultural labourers and sometimes still have to resort to rat catching to survive during lean times. They are one of the most marginalised castes in India, even among Dalits. The Musahar are Hindu, and celebrate most local Hindu festivals like Holi and Diwali, They also believe in a number of tribal deities, including Dinabhadri and Buniya Baba.[2] Musahars also have their own rituals like the kul pooja, in which participants bathe in boiling milk to worship ancestors. They also offer liquor during poojas and weddings.[9]

The Musahar are found throughout eastern Uttar Pradesh, southern Nepal and Bihar, and are employed in Bihar's stone quarries. Many have also emigrated to the states of

Punjab and Haryana as agricultural labourers, with many Nepali Musahars working as migrant labourers for 6 months at a time.[9] They speak Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili but many now have working knowledge of Hindi.[10]

Distribution

Almost all Musahars live in rural areas, with a mere 3% living in the city. In the rural areas, Musahar are primarily bonded agricultural labourers, but often go without work for as much as eight months in a year. Children work alongside their parents in the fields or as

literacy rate is 3% overall, and falls to an abysmal 1% among women. By some estimates, as many as 85% of some villages of Musahars suffer from malnutrition and with access to health centres scant, diseases such as malaria and kala-azar are prevalent.[9]

The Government of Bihar operates the Mahadalit Mission, which partially funds some programs to expand education and other social welfare programs for the Musahar.

The

2011 Census of India for Uttar Pradesh showed the Musahar population as around 250,000. The same census also showed around 250,000 Mushahars in Bihar.[11] However, Musahar activists have disputed this figure, claiming the Mushahar population in Bihar is over 4,000,000.[12] Over 230,000 Musahars live in Nepal, most in conditions similar to their counterparts in India.[9]

Some Musahars in Uttar Pradesh wish to be listed as a

Scheduled Castes were the only ones with access to reservation benefits.[5]

Mushahars from the

Sylhet region where they were made to work in tea plantations. They can still be found in areas in Habiganj such as Teliapara and Rema where they continue the same livelihood. They are an ethnic minority with a mere population of 3,000. They are divided into 6 clans; Trihutia, Maghaiya, Ghatwar, Darwar, Khairawar and Rikhian.[1]

Musahar in Nepal

The

Madheshi Dalit.[13]
At the time of the Nepali census of 2011, 234,490 people (0.9% of the population of Nepal) were Musahar. The frequency of Musahar by province was as follows:

The frequency of Musahar was higher than national average (0.9%) in the following districts:[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Jengcham, Subhash. "Mushahar". Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. ^ a b A Hasan & J C Das (ed.). People of India Uttar Pradesh. Vol. XLII Part Three. Manohar Publications. pp. 1006–1012.
  3. ISBN 978-81-7022-072-5
    . Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  4. ISBN 978-81-7022-492-1
    . Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  5. ^ a b Sharda, Shailvee (2 March 2017). "UP elections 2017: Plagued by 'divine curse', Musahars see no redemption in new politicians". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  6. JSTOR 4408689
    .
  7. ISSN 0972-3757
    .
  8. OCLC 927407719
    .
  9. ^
    OCLC 1030370989.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  10. ^ S Gopal & Hetukar Jha (ed.). People of India Bihar. Vol. XVI Part Two. Seagull Books. pp. 702–707.
  11. ^ "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Elections 2019: Polls Come and Go, No Progress for Mushahars of Bihar". NewsClick. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  13. ^ Population Monograph of Nepal, Volume II [1]
  14. ^ 2011 Nepal Census, District Level Detail Report
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