[The Magars are the largest ethnic group or indigenous people of Nepal by 7.14 % of the total population standing third only after Kshatriyas 15.80 % and Brahmans 12.74% (National Population Census Report 2001). Since they are marginalized along with other IPs and Dalits in the country, the Magars also find discriminated against, through the passage of history for political reasons. They also believe some of them are later ‘baptized Hindus’. This is the reason why they are ‘working hard’ to be identified as others than the Hindus in the national population census. An exception persists among them on the other hand as few government-blessed Magars resist it.]
By B. K. Rana
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| "Buddha was born here". Reads the Lumbini Ashokan Pillar discovered in 1896 |
For many reasons population census is important. It is believed to offer a clear picture of economic, social, political and cultural pictures of a country. Also it is important in that number counts in democracy. Population Census headcounts people residing in certain country. Basing on the population census, human resource is managed and utilized for the maximum benefit of a country.
a a) The Himalayan country of Nepal will have its 11th National Population Census in 100 years this year. The government on Tuesday November 30, 2010 formally called on citizens to participate in the National Population Census 2011, scheduled to start from mid-May 2011.
b) On February, 9, 2011, the Indian President Mrs. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, became the first to be enumerated at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi by Ms Rita, a Census Enumerator. With the president’s enumeration the Population Enumeration exercise for Census 2011 has taken off in the India.
c) The Republic of India has its population censuses since 1872 and Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of the country. The Indian Government has also decided to prepare a National population Register (NPR) along with Census 2011. The Population numeration will be conducted simultaneously all over the country from the 9th to 28th of February 2011.
c d) On Tuesday December 21, 2010 "U.S. Census Bureau announced that the 2010 Census showed the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010, was 308,745,538. The resident population represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 U.S. resident population of 281,421,906. "A big thanks to the American public for its overwhelming response to the 2010 Census," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. "The result was a successful count that came in on time and well under budget, with a final 2010 Census savings of $1.87 billion."
Nepal:
“The 2001 census identified 80.6% of the population as Hindu and 10.7% as Buddhist (although many people labeled Hindu or Buddhist often practice a syncretic blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, or animist traditions). 4.2% of the population is Muslim and 3.6% of the population follows the indigenous Kirant Mundhum religion. Christianity is practiced by less than 0.5% of the population. [1]” Wikipedia
India:
“A vast majority of Indians associate themselves with a religion. According to the 2001 census, Hinduism accounts for 80.5% of the population of India. Islam (13.5%), Christianity (2.3%) and Sikhism (1.9%) are the other major religions followed by the people of India. This diversity of religious belief systems existing in India today is a result of, besides existence and birth of native religions, assimilation and social integration of religions brought to the region by traders, travelers, immigrants, and even invaders and conquerors.,”
The Buddha Effect in Population Census:
Last year, an author - Fareed Zakaria - drew considerable attention from the Nepalese people also. His book, The Post-American World, was ‘burned down’ in Nepal because it has carried wrong information on the Buddha birth place and Buddhism also. ‘The information is deliberately misleading; so the author has either to correct it or stop selling the book’ –Nepali people expressed their compatriot fervor all over. A law maker even tabled a motion against the book in the Nepali parliament as it has one sentence reading : “Buddha was Indian, and Buddhism was founded in India, but there are virtually no Buddhists in the country today”. The Bamiyan Buddha was blasted off into pieces and the Talibans were also condemned worldwide, I doubt there are any Buddhists in Bamiyan also. In fact the book is one of the bestselling books by the author. His earlier book The Future of Freedom is already The New York Times bestselling book. ‘Both burning down and tabling a motion against the book offered free publicity’ - wrote a Canadian Hindu Guru in an email message to me. The book can be found in the shelves of every library in United States of America and bookshops are selling unhindered. The US President Barack Obama was also seen holding the book during his presidential campaign in 2008.
The practicality for the part of the author is that neither he would correct ‘the misleading information’ nor ‘stop selling’ the book because it was published in 2008, whereas, Nepalese people were raising the issue as lately as the second half or nearly in the end of 2009. Writing so in the book, the author offers an example of ‘absorptive power’ of Hinduism. He appears to me slightly despising both Buddhism and Hinduism also. The Buddha is ordained the IXth incarnation of Vishnu, the operator in the Hindu trinity. Vishnu happens to be a 'preserver or operator' in Hindu Trinity. [(Please check the acronym for GOD : Generation (Brahma - raj), Operation (Vishnu - satt) and Destruction (Mahadev - tama).]
The Buddhist Indigenous Peoples:
Most of the Indigenous peoples also known as IPs of Nepal desire for being enumerated in the population census as the Buddhists as concerns their religious identity. They form the biggest chunk of 37.38% of the total population of the country. Then they are followed by Brahman plus Kshatriyas and others, the so-called 'thulo jaat' or 'upper class people' collectively, 36.56%, who churn almost 90% national resources and open avenues for disagreements including the recent Maoists’ wrath and other social groups' discontent. The Dalits or the 'Shudra or paani nachalne' or the water untouchables are 21.79 % , Muslims and other make up 4.27% of Nepalese population. The IPs and Dalits plus other disadvantaged groups constituted 63.44% of Nepali population in 2001. (Please refer to an earlier post here also)
The Magars are the largest ethnic group or indigenous people of Nepal by 7.14 % of the total population standing third only after Kshatriyas 15.80 % and Brahmans 12.74% (National Population Census Report 2001). Since they are marginalized along with other IPs and Dalits in the country, the Magars also find discriminated against, through the passage of history for political reasons. They also believe some of them are later ‘baptized Hindus’. This is the reason why they are ‘working hard’ to be identified as others than the Hindus in the national population census. An exception persists among them on the other hand as few government-blessed Magars resist it.
Discriminated Magars Find The Buddha Their Relative:
The Magars also sometime labour to relate themselves with the Buddha, however, no epigraphic and other archaeological evidence have been found so far to prove it. They take linguistic and cultural aspects to discuss it. One of the Buddha’s ancestors, Wakka had some supernatural power to ‘flash a beam of light’ while speaking to others - it is so written in Buddhist literature. In Magar Kura or Magar language – ‘Wakka’ plainly means to vomit or regurgitate or cast out. Vomiting in Nepali is also ‘wakka’ which the national language of Nepal might have borrowed from Magar Kura but ‘flashing light while speaking’ may not be scientifically proven to be true. Did the Buddha’s ancestors speak Magar Kura also ? The most admired of the Buddha’s disciples was Ananda. The Buddha used to call him ‘Sekh’ meaning - the listener in Magar Kura. In Magar Kura a banana is called ‘mocha’ and there are some instances this word being used in the Buddhist literature. In Magar Kura 'Nalan-da' means 'Lotus flower' but I am not sure whether it has anything to do with the famous historical 'Nalanada', the ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India which is also called "one of the first great universities in recorded history". In the Buddhist literature 'Grahi-Vinay’ a thread is referred as sutta (Cf. Sanskrit - Sutra). M. S. Thapa Magar finds maximum use of 'Magar vocabulary' in the Buddha literature and discourse also.
The Buddha had married his maternal uncle’s daughter – Yashodhara. This cross-cousin marriage tradition is still alive in the Magar community of Nepal today, however, such cultural practice can be found in Orissa also. The Buddha’s wife Yashodhara offers here another striking feature of naming of the Magar girls of Nepal. The inflection - Dhara, Tara and Sara etc. are still common in Nepalese Magar community.
There is a mentioning of the Buddha’s shaving head off and throwing the hair away when he renounced the throne of Kapilvastu in Lalitvistar, chapter Abhiniskraman - the great renunciation or 'leaving home' in Page 51. The Buddha’s hair shaving has an impact in Magar tradition and culture until today. The Magars also offer worship to Goddess Chandi on the Buddha Purnima i.e. the Buddha birthday, offering black piece of cloth for the Buddha’s sacred hair. During Samyak Puja (worship) in the Buddhist Newar Community in Kathmandu, four Magar priests from Manakaman Temple, Gorkha must present themselves in person. They stay at "Bharayau Baha" during the ceremony. It does well attest that the early Magars had followed Buddhism and practised Buddhist culture in their day to day life.
Whether the Buddha’s ancestors spoke Magar Kura or not may be a different topic for discussion but it is true that there is a huge impact of the Buddha and Buddhism in the language and culture of the Magars of Nepal also. And also whether the Magars of Nepal identify themselves as Buddhists or Shamanists or Hindus or Christians or any others is purely a political question; the answer of which comes from individual liberty and judgement what they should follow and desire to be identified as in the national population censuses.
* Please refer to author's another article published in 'Kantipur Daily' on March 02, 2001 ( Falgun 19, 2057) from Kathmandu. SELECTED MATERIALS IN VERNACULAR NEPALI PP 14
* Please refer to author's another article published in 'Kantipur Daily' on March 02, 2001 ( Falgun 19, 2057) from Kathmandu. SELECTED MATERIALS IN VERNACULAR NEPALI PP 14
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