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Musahar or Mushahar are a
Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
community found in the eastern
Gangetic plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...
and the
Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...
. They are also known as ''Banbasi''.The other names of the Musahar are Bhuiyan and Rajawar Their name literally means 'rat-eater' due to their main former occupation of catching rats, and there are many who are still forced to do this work due to destitution and poverty.


Origins and history

In Bihar, the word Musahar is said to be derived from the
Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...
''mūs+ahar'' (literally ''rat eater''), on account of their traditional occupation as rat catchers. According to a local legend,
Lord Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
created man and gave him the horse to ride. The first Musahar decided to dig holes in the belly of the horse to fix his feet as he rode. This offended Lord Brahma, who cursed him and his descendants to be rat-catchers.
Herbert Hope Risley Sir Herbert Hope Risley (4 January 1851 – 30 September 1911) was a British ethnographer and colonial administrator, a member of the Indian Civil Service who conducted extensive studies on the tribes and castes of the Bengal Presidency. ...
, in his 1881 survey of castes and tribes of Bengal, speculated that the Musahars were an offshoot of the hunter-gatherer Bhuiya from the
Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...
who migrated to the Gangetic plains approximately 6-7 generations prior to his survey, around 300-350 years before present. It is now believed that this theory is generally correct. Modern genetic studies have found Musahars cluster very closely with
Munda people The Munda people are an Austroasiatic speaking ethnic group of India. They predominantly speak the Mundari language as their native language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic languages. The Munda are found mainly concentr ...
s like the
Santhals The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...
and the Hos, and demonstrate similar haplogroup frequencies for both maternal and paternal lineages. Some Musahars have claimed that they once had their own language but it was lost when they migrated. This process has been observed in another tribal population, the Baiga, who also once spoke a Munda language but shifted to an
Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
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 Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
.


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 Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
'' and ''
Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
'', They also believe in a number of tribal deities, including ''Dinabhadri'' and ''Buniya Baba''. 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. 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 Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and
Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
as agricultural labourers, with many Nepali Musahars working as migrant labourers for 6 months at a time. They speak Bhojpuri,
Magahi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. ...
and Maithili but many now have working knowledge of Hindi. 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
rag-picker A rag-and-bone man or ragpicker (UK English) or ragman, old-clothesman, junkman, or junk dealer (US English), also called a bone-grubber, bone-picker, chiffonnier, rag-gatherer, bag board, or totter, collects unwanted household items and sells t ...
s, earning as little as ₹25-30 ($0.35-0.40) a day. The Musahar
literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
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 Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
and with access to health centres scant, diseases such as
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
and '' kala-azar'' are prevalent. 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 The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...
for Uttar Pradesh showed the Musahar population as around 250,000. The same census also showed around 250,000 Mushahars in Bihar. However, Musahar activists have disputed this figure, claiming the Mushahar population in Bihar is over 4,000,000. Over 230,000 Musahars live in Nepal, most in conditions similar to their counterparts in India. Some Musahars in Uttar Pradesh wish to be listed as a Scheduled Tribe, citing their claimed tribal roots that they saw in tribals from other areas of the country as well as the perception that richer Dalit castes like Jatavs were the only ones with access to reservation benefits. Mushahars from the
Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...
were transported by the British to the
Sylhet region The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in Undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for E ...
where they were made to work in tea plantations. They can still be found in areas in
Habiganj Habiganj ( bn, হবিগঞ্জ) is a major town and district headquarters of Habiganj District in the division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Population: Total population of Habiganj is about 95,000 Railroad * Habiganj Bazar–Shaistaganj–B ...
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.


References

{{Ethnic groups in Bangladesh Dalit communities Social groups of Nepal Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Castes of Bihar Scheduled Castes of Uttarakhand Scheduled Castes of West Bengal Scheduled Castes of Jharkhand Scheduled Castes of Assam Scheduled Castes of Delhi Scheduled Castes of Odisha Scheduled Castes of Chhattisgarh