Magar

Magar

The Magars have Mongoloid physical features with well proportioned facial

contours and yellowish colour. Today, Magar communities localities of

western Nepal, from the high ranging Himalayan valleys to the plains of the

Terai, and eastward well into the districts beyond Kathmandu. The original

home of the Magars was called Bara districts of lumbini, Rapti and Bheri

Zones. But today, they have spread allalong the hills of east Nepal and to a few

places in the eastern Terai.

The Basis of Magar economy in all areas agriculture, which is largely self-
sufficient. Besides, some of the northernmost Magars have become quite

prosperous by changing in long-range trading that takes them from near the

nrthern border to the Terai, and even beyond to Darjeeling and Calcutta. And

also Magars constitute the largest number of Gurkha soldiers outside Nepal.

The majority of Magars are Hindus and as such they have Brahman priests who

lead them in the same pattern of religious customs practised by the Brahman-
Chhetris with the exception that the magars do not wear the sacred thread, they

are in every other respect exactly the same as the Chhetris in their attitudes and

behaviour. The fact, however, that there are buddhist Magars living in the

districts of Myagdi living in the districts of Myagdi and Dolma suggest that it

is largely a question of association.