Latest revision as of 11:58, 30 July 2021

[edit] Mangar, Magar'

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[edit] Origin and Internal structure

Thorni, one of the fighting tribes of Nepal, belonging, with the Gurung Khas and SUDU- war to the Mukhya "'group and highly esteemed for their military qualities. 'The Mangars believe their original habitat to have been the valley of Dhoreh on the banks of the Karnali-Bheri river in Western Nepal: thence they spread to Likhukhola, and thus gradually made their way into Eastern Nepal. The internal structure of they tribe, so far as I have been able to ascertain it, is shown in tabular form in Appendix 1. The subject, however, is an extremely obscure one, and I am not yet in a position to throw much light upon it. There are four sub-tribes-Atharah Panth, Burathoki, Gharti, and Sakhali. The Ghal'ti are probably descended from emancipated slaves (see article Gharti); the origin of the rest is uncertain. The exogamous septs are very numerous, and the list given in Appendix I contains many names of the tenitorial type common in India along with others whioh seem to be nicknames of the founders of septs, such as are found among the Tibetans and Limbus. Judged by their physical characteristics, the Mangars must be classed as Mongoloid, their naso-malar index being slightly lower than that of the Tibetans, while their complexion, eyelids, stature and the general cut of their featUTes stamp them as a cross in which the Mongolian element on the whole predominates. The septs are exogamous, the rule being that a man may not marry a woman of his own sept. There seem to be no rules excluding more than one sept in marriage. Prohibited degrees are reckoned by the standard formula for three generations in the descending line.

[edit] Marriage

Girls are married after they attain maturity, and sexual license before marriage is tolerated on the understanding that if a girl becomes pregnant, the father of her child shall at once be called upon to marry her. The marriage ceremony is of the Hindu type, sindu1'd(m, or the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead, being its binding portion. Brahmans usually officiate, but this is not essential. A man may marry two or three wives, the only limit in practice being his ability to maintain them. A widow mlly not marry again by the standard ritual (byah) appointed for the wedding of a spinster, but a man may take her to live with him, and she is counted as his wife. Her children by her second husband are considered legitimate; they rank as Mangars (instead of belonging to a special category like the offspring of Brahmnn widows in Nepal), and they share in their father's property on equal terms with the children of a wife married in the regular form. Moreover, if anyone runs away with a widow, he has to pay damages to the man she is living with just as if she were his regular wife. In Nepal husbands are entitled to wreak summary vengeance on the seducers of their wives. An adulterer taken in the act is killed offhand, and the faithless wife has her nose cut off. In such cases the question of divorce clearly does not arise. But in British territory, and I believe frequently in Nepal itself, disagreements of this sort are settled without resort to bloodshed. The wife goes off with her paramour, and the husband claims from the latter as damages the amount of the bride-price which he paid for the woman in the first instance. The panchayat enforces his claim, and justice is held to have been satisfied.

[edit] Religion

The religion of the Mangars may best be described as lax Hinduism tempered by survivals of an earlier animistic cult. Satya Narain is one of their favourite deities. Sansari and Aitabareh are also worshipped with offerings of goats, fowls and pigeons. Upadhya Brahmins assist at the cult of Satya Narain and of the recognized Hindu gods; bllt Sansari and Aitabareh 'are worshipped by the heads of households without the assistance of priests. Brahmans are not held to be degraded by serving as priests in Mangar families.

[edit] Disposal of the dead

The funeral ceremonies of the Mangars, which are the same as those of the Gurung and Sunuwars, are curious and interesting. Immediately after death the corpse is tied with three pieces of rope to a stout pole and carried to the grave. There it is stripped, dressed in new clothes, and laid on its back in the grave with the head pointing to the north. The forehead is smeared with sandal wood paste. One of the maternal relatives of the deceased, usually the maternal uncle, is then chosen to act as 'priest for the occasion, and to conduct the ritual appointed for the propitiation of the dead. First of all he puts in the mouth of the corpse some silver coins and some coral, which is greatly prized by the Himalayan races. Then he lights a wick soaked in clarified butter, touches the lips with fire, scatters some parched rice about the mouth, and lastly covers the face with a cloth called pujuari. Two bits of wood, about three feet long, are set up on either side of the ~rave. In the one are cut nine steps 01' notches forming a ladder for the spirit of the dead to ascend to heaven; on the other everyone present at the funeral cuts a notch to show that he has been there. As the maternal uncle steps out of the grave, he bids a solemn farewell to the dead and calls upon him to ascend to heaven by the ladder that stands ready for him. When the earth has been filled in, the stick notched by the funeral party is taken away to a distance and broken in two pieces, lest by its means the elead man should do the survivors a mischief. The pole used to carry the corpse is also broken up, and the spades and ropes are left in the grave. When the mourners return home, one of their party goes ahead and makes a barricade of thorn bushes across the road midway between the grave and the house of the deceased. On the top of the thorns he puts a big stone on which he takes his stand, holding a pot of burning incense in his left hand and some woollen thread in his right. One by one the mourners step on the stone and pass through the smoke of the incense to the other side of the thorny barrier. As they pass, each takes a piece of thread from the man who holds the incense and ties it round his neck, '1'he object of this curious ceremony is to prevent the spirit of the dead from coming home with the mourners and establishing itself in its old haunt.s. Conceived of as a miniature man, it is believed to be unable to make its way on foot through the' thorns, while the smell of the incense, to which all spirits are highly sensitive, prevents it from surmounting this obstacle on the shoulders of one of the mourners.

[edit] Occupation and social status

Agriculture, trade and soldiering are the chief occupations of the Man gars, but no means of earning a livelihood comes amiss to them provided that . it does not involve doing things which are recognized as the proper business of the lower castes. They abstain from beef, but eat pork and domestic fowls, and indulge freely in strong drink. Before marriage a Mangar will eat any sort of food with a Gurung or Khas, but after he has been married, he can only take chupatties from these castes, and may not take rice or dal. Mangars smoke in the same hookah with Gurungs, Khas and Brahmans.