The Turi is a caste found in the state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

in India. The traditionally involved in the manufacture of household items of bamboo.

Etymology

The word ''Turi'' is derived from ''Tokri'' a basket made from bamboo.

Origin

The Turi were traditionally involved in making household items from bamboo such as Tokri (basket), Sup (winnowing sieve), fan etc. According to Herbert Hope Risley, they are offshoot of Munda tribe as they still speak a dialect of Munda language. According to

Robert Vane Russell Robert Vane Russell (8 August 1873 – 30 December 1915) was a British civil servant, known for his role as Superintendent of Ethnography for what was then the Central Provinces of British India, coordinating the production of publications deta ...

, In Lohardaga (Present Lohardaga, Ranchi, Gumla, Simdega, Khunti district), the caste is divided into four subgroup: Turi or Kishan, Turi, Dom and Domra. Turi kishan are cultivater and make the sup, a winnowing sieve, the tokri, a basket of bamboo and the sair and nadua for catching fish. The Ors are said to derive their name from the oriya basket used by the sower, and made of split bamboo. They also make umbrellas, and the chhota dali, a flat basket.

Doms The Dom (Sanskrit ''ḍoma'', dialectally also Domra, Domba, Domaka, Dombari and variants) are castes, or groups, scattered across India. Dom were a caste of drummer. According to Tantra scriptures, the Dom were engaged in the occupations of sing ...

make the Jiarka and scale-pans. Domras make the peti and fans. Dom and Domra speak Hindi. Turi, Ors and Birhor speak a dialect of Mundari among themselves. Turi are an offshoot from the

Mundas 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 concent ...

, with an admixture of Doms and other low Uriya ( Odia) castes. They have Surname such as Majhi, Bagh, Turi, Malik (Odisha), Sardar(West Bengal). They have tomemic clans such as Bagerhar, Bar (Banayan), Charchagiya, Hansda (wild goose), Induar (eel), Kachhua (turtle), Surain, Baghel, Madalwar, Sumat, Jari, Kerketta, Molia in

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, Chhattisgarh and Baghar, Hansda, Jaddi, Manjhi in

and Kashyap in

Present circumstances

Turi are divided into many subgroups. They are further divided into various exogamous clans. Family of Turi are mostly patrilocal and patrilineal. They are employed in Cultivation, basketry and labour. They speak Odia, Laria,

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

. Their festival are Kalipuja, Durgapuja,

Nuakhai Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India. Nuakhai is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. According to the calendar it is observed on ''panchami tithi'' (the fifth day) of the lunar for ...

, Raja, Dola, Rathjatra, Makar. In modern period, the traditional business of basketry is in danger as there are lots of household items of plastic available in market. But traditional basket made of bamboo are in demand during festivals. According to the 2011 census, the population of Turi was 198,344.

Official classification

In 1931, during British Period, they were listed as aboriginal tribe. In 1936, they were listed as Backward tribe. In Patna division, Tirhut, Bengal, Hazaribagh and Manbhum, they were included in Scheduled Caste. After independence, they were included in the list of Scheduled Castes in

and

References

{{reflist Social groups of West Bengal Social groups of Jharkhand Scheduled Castes of Odisha Scheduled Castes of Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes of Jharkhand