MAGAR COMMUNITY'S ORIGIN

GENETICALLY AND PHYSICALLY, MAGAR PEOPLE ARE MONGOLOID/EAST ASIAN. THEY ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE MIGRATED FROM TIBET LIKE THE GURUNGS AND OTHER PROMINENT ETHNIC GROUPS, HOWEVER, THERE IS AN INTERESTING MYTHICAL STORY DESCRIBING MAGAR’S ORIGINS AND VERSIONS OF THREE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE GROUPS ARE PRESENTED.

THE MAGAR OF THE BARA MAGARANTH (A GROUP OF TWELVE MAGAR KINGDOMS EAST OF THE GANDAKI RIVER) ARE SAID TO HAVE ORIGINATED IN THE LAND OF SEEM. TWO BROTHERS, SEE MAGAR AND CHINTOO MAGAR, FOUGHT, AND ONE REMAINED IN SEEM, WHILE THE OTHER LEFT, ENDING UP IN KANGWACHEN IN SOUTHERN SIKKIM. THE BHUTIA PEOPLE LIVED AT THE NORTHERN END OF THIS REGION. OVER TIME, THE MAGARS BECAME VERY POWERFUL AND MADE THE NORTHERN BHUTIA THEIR VASSALS. SINTOO SATI SHENG RULED IN A VERY DESPOTIC MANNER, AND THE BHUTIA CONSPIRED TO ASSASSINATE HIM. SHENG’S QUEEN TOOK REVENGE AND POISONED 1,000 BHUTIA PEOPLE AT A PLACE NOW CALLED TONG SONG FONG, MEANING “WHERE A THOUSAND WERE MURDERED”. THE BHUTIA LATER DROVE THE MAGAR OUT, FORCING THEM TO AGAIN MIGRATE FURTHER SOUTH. AS PART OF THIS MIGRATION, ONE GROUP MIGRATED TO SIMRONGADH, ONE GROUP MOVED TOWARDS THE OKHALDHUNGA REGION, AND ANOTHER GROUP SEEMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO THE EAST. NO DATES ARE GIVEN.
A SECOND MAGAR FEDERATION CALLED ATHER MAGARAT (18 MAGAR KINGDOMS) WAS SITUATED WEST OF THE GANDAKI RIVER, INHABITED BY KHAM MAGAR. THE ORIGIN LEGEND OF THIS GROUP IS THAT FOUR BROTHERS GOT LOST WHILE HUNTING. THEY CAMPED OVERNIGHT AND FROM THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHORES ROSE THE VARIOUS JATS OR TRIBES. THE FIRST TRIBE WAS THE BAHUN MAGAR (THE ELDEST BROTHER’S TRIBE), THEN CAME THE THAKURI MAGAR (THE SECOND ELDEST BROTHER), THEN THE KHAS MAGAR (THE THIRD BROTHER), AND LASTLY THE KAMI MAGAR (THE YOUNGEST BROTHER).

THE TARALI MAGAR ARE SAID TO HAVE ORIGINATED FROM A WOMAN WHO FLED THE REGION OF JUMLA DURING A WAR BETWEEN KALYAL KINGS. IT IS NOT KNOWN WHO HER SPOUSE, WAS BUT SHE ARRIVED AT TARAKOT ON THE VERGE OF GIVING BIRTH TO A SON. ONE DAY THE BOY SAW A STRANGE PHENOMENON IN THE JUNGLE LAKE WHERE HE WENT WITH HIS CATTLE. LHE LAKE IS SAID TO HAVE FILLED WITH MILK, AND SEVEN SHINING CREATURES, LIKE FAIRIES, WERE BATHING IN THE WATERS OF THE LAKE. HE WAS ENTHRALLED AND CAME TO OBSERVE THEM DAILY. ONE DAY HE TOLD HIS MOTHER ABOUT THIS STRANGE SIGHT, AND SHE ADVISED HIM TO TOUCH THE YOUNGEST OF THESE ANGELS; THIS WOULD CAUSE HER TO BECOME HUMAN SO HE COULD MARRY HER, AND HE BROUGHT THE BEAUTIFUL DAMSEL TO HIS MOTHER. WHEN THEY ASKED HER WHO SHE WAS SHE REPLIED IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE WHICH WAS INCOMPREHENSIBLE FOR THEM. THE DEVI WAS OFFERED SOME BREAD, AND SHE UTTERED THE WORDS, “TAI KHE NAN.” SLOWLY THEY BEGAN TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF THIS WOMAN, AND KAIKE WAS SPREAD AMONG THEMSELVES. THE LANGUAGE WAS CALLED “KAIKE“, MEANING “LANGUAGE OF THE GODS“.


N.B: Help taken from various books related Magar Community.