The fertile soils of Indian subcontinent have no dearth of nature`s booties, enabling various tribal communities to take shelter here in great numbers. Agaria is one such tribe, thriving with ease and comforts in various regions of central India, namely Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. As per an important survey that had been undertaken in the year 1971, the present population of Agaria tribal communities was 17,548, widely spread out in different districts of Madhya Pradesh including Mandla, Raipur, and Bilaspur districts.

The history of the formation of this Agaria tribal community is quite interesting. In fact the name, Agaria has been derived from the most revered Hindu god of fire, namely Agni. Some historians also claimed that the name originated from the demon that was believed to be originated from the flames of fire. The name of that demon of tribal community is Agyasur.

Although they do not form a homogenous group, most of them primitively belong to Dravidian speaking group. Agaria tribes have been branched into various sub castes , Lohar castes too fall amongst them. Others include Sonureni, Dhurua, Tekam, Markam, Uika, Purtai, Marai etc. Main languages that they speak , for obvious reason, also have originated from the famous Dravidian language family group.

Agaria tribes are chiefly iron smelters by profession . In the scheduled regions of Central India, the whole of the Agaria populace reside in their own part of a village. Often they have built their own settlement in the outskirts of a town also . There are a handful of Agaria tribes who have also settled down in cities and adapted to different trading occupations like laborers, masons, grocery etc. Otherwise, almost all of them stick to their original occupation of iron smelting, which involves lot of hard work and labour. They get their ore, mostly dark red colored stones, from various corners of the Maikal range of Madhya pradesh region. They also make plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

As per conventions of Agaria culture, both males and females involve in the words and support each other. Both of them collect the ore and make the charcoal for the furnaces. In Bilashpur district , however, only the males carry on this task. At nightfall the women cleanse and also prepare the `kilns` for the next day. They also break the pieces of ore and roast them into fire. Special cylindrical vents are made from clay for oozing out air to a furnace. These are called the tuyeres, which are rolled by woven by rolling them with their own hands. While extracting metals by heating, the women use the bellows, and the men pound the hammer and thus mode the ore on `anvils`. The preparation of a new furnace is a significant family event. Whole of the members of an Agaria family are being involved. Also mantra (prayer) is recited near the furnace at the end of it.

As far as lifestyle of Agaria community is concerned, the society follows the patrilineal rule. The father usually arranges marriages. Usually marriage is allowed during the monsoon seasons when iron smelting is postponed and there is no work. Widow marriage is also accepted. Late husband`s younger brother, particularly if he is a bachelor is the most eligible one for second marriage. Divorce is permissible for either party on grounds of adultery, extravagance, or mistreatment.

Festivals of an Agaria society are truly colorful, bearing the tradition of their own religon. Their ancestral god is Dulha Deo, and during festivals especially during Phaguan and Dasahia , the Agaria community offers quite a number of animals like goat, fowl etc. They also worship the forest Gond deity, Bura Deo and also the demon Lohasur, is the revered deity, whom they believe dwells the `smelting kilns`. Enrichment of Agaria tribal community is widely possible due to its language, festival festivities and also in its exotic lifestyle.