[According to the Hungarian descent myth and the custom of taking women from outside of men’s tribe and man moving around with his wife’s kindred or the Bulgars (Belar) and Alans (Dula) however do not refer to real event (Laszlo 1996:27). In the Kham Magar community, in west Nepal, also the three different groups: Pun, Gharti and Buda also move around with wife’s kindred (Oppitz: 1979 )]
In the early 1990's a four-member team of
Hungarian researchers - Boda Sarolta, Kunckel Béla, Ferenc Lovass and Neumee
Erika had visited Nepal. The researchers went to some Magar villages in west
Nepal. As I am told here by a Magar intellectual, Bhup Nayaran Gharti Magar
that, they had visited a Magar village some 5 hours' walk in Rukum from his house
at Sulichaur, near Mijhing in Rolpa district. Birman Gharti Magar was their
guide during the excursion. There is a Hungarian Women's Magazine with a page
running in Hungarian and a line of which in google-translated English as posted
as it is, reads – "the first strains came from the present-day Nepal"[4].
b) Alexander Csoma De Koros thought 'Magyars
and Mongols' had some ethnic relations. Gyula Laszlo does not seem attesting
this idea. Nowhere does he mention
Koros' works and journey towards Tibet and death en-route at Darjeeling, India
in 1842. Please see his book - The Magyars: Their Life and Civilization - 1996
)
By B K Rana
 |
|
'Shaman of the Blind Country'
(Schamanen im Blinden Land)
|
Posted
here tonight is a picture, seen on it possibly is a lead-role Kham Magar Shaman
performing some shamanic ritual on a pole or tree – which may also symbolize a
climb to the heaven.
In the beginning, according to the Kham Magar
Shaman’s story, a man appeared from the north born without ancestry. His name
was Rama Puran Chan. Note that, this name suggests the story is understandably influenced by
Hindu culture. Ram is a name that has
come here down from King Rama of Hindu epic Ramayan while other two 'Puran' and
'Chan' mean - 'full' and 'moon' respectively or ‘full moon’ together. About the
Kham Magar Shaman, Michael Oppitz had posted some three hours' two part Youtube
videos – ‘Shaman of the Blind Country – 1983’ which I had watched and listened
to many times but unfortunately today, you won’t be able to find them running
as they are not there but a preview video is available of course. Please click
here for the video.
The shaman climbed the tree to understand the
suffering of the mankind. And, in the ancient Hungarian tradition also, the sky
once became as flat as the earth but later was pushed up by growing trees[1]. So what is the significance of trees here?
“These ascents took or take place, whether in
the Vedic India, or in Siberia, or with the Kham Magar tribe of Nepal on the
higher branches of specially cut trees. The feature is also retained in the
idea of the Tree of Life, evergreen like the Nordic Yggdrasil or the later day
Christmas tree." (Witzel 2013: 135-136). “Tree climbing is related to Bon,
and Tengri too - because of the 3 level worldview where you can travel between[2].”
According to the Hungarian descent myth and the
custom of taking women from outside of men’s tribe and man moving around with
his wife’s kindred or the Bulgars (Belar) and Alans (Dula) however do not refer
to real event (Laszlo 1996:27). In the Kham Magar community, in west Nepal,
also the three different groups: Pun, Gharti and Buda also move around with
wife’s kindred (Oppitz: 1979 )
“The descent myth and pairs of related peoples
- Tartars and Mongols, Onogurs and Kutrigurs, Voguls and Ostyaks - the two
branches always stem from two brothers” (Laszlo 1996:27).
Linguistically, if we believed ‘Onogurs’ to be
the source of 'Hunor' or 'Onogurs' and 'Magyars', then Onogurs could also be the
source or related to 'Mongars', 'Mongors' or 'Mugars' which may have become
'Magars' in modern times. But as concerns articulatory phonetics of the words:
‘Magar’ and ‘Magyar’, there is a discernible difference. The word ‘Magar’ has
two syllables: ‘ma+gar’(मगर) whose ‘g or ‘ga’ in the second syllable is
simply as in the words: ‘good’, ‘gate’ and ‘great’ etc. whereas ‘Magyar’ is not
‘məgær’(मग्यार X) but 'Megyer’ - pronounced either ‘məzər’ or ‘mədʒər’ (मजर वा मज्जर) - which
probably has come from a prominent
Hungarian tribal name - ‘Megyer’[3]. There is another explanation that 'the word 'Magyar' which is a native name for
the Hungarian people' was Mogur in olden days (Barath 1983:28). The Magars of
Nepal speak Tibeto-Burman language, a 16% random sample vocabulary of which,
some linguists of the country seem to have found, similar to Hungarian, which
Nepalese academia believed to be of 'Finno-Ugric' family language - the Magyars
of Hungary speak. In fact, the Hungarian vocabulary has only 7.3% 'Finno-Urgic'
words against which 92.7% is of non-Finno-Ugric origin (Barath 1983:11). The
modern Hungarian scholars support this view
and one of them, Laszlo Maracz writes, "There is nothing like a
Uralic or Finno-Ugric language family."
Barath has a
40 Magyar wordlist (see his book pages 25-26) among them is 'nap' which
means the 'sun' or 'day' also. In Magar
Kura or Dhut (language)'nam' (nəm) means 'sky or space' and 'namkhan' (nəmkhɑn
or nɑŋkhən) is for the sun. In both Magar languages : eastern (Magar Kura) or western (Kham) a 'river or water' is 'di'
or 'ri' and in Shauka language it is 'ti' and which essentially are all the
same but in Magyar language it is 'folyo' (oldest form being 'itil') and a
drink > 'ital' as well. The old Magyar 'itil' has 'ti' as in the Shauka 'ti'
for a river or water. The Magyar word 'kar' and its meaning 'hand' is somewhat
similar to the one I found in Kham Magar or Magar Kham (language) also and in
Sanskrit ‘kar’ is hand too.
David Watters defines 'kar' in his - A
Dictionary of Kham: Taka dialect ( a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal -
2004:361) as 'arm'.
Csaba Hargita has contributed to this
discussion with a 7 page Magyar wordlist of which a word for father in both
Kham Magar and Magyar is 'apa'.
But a native author, Karna Bahadur Budha Magar's - A Trilingual
Dictionary of The Magar Language (Athar Magarat) 2011, has more elaborate
definitions for those two words discussed above and the essence is absolutely
the same. According to him - ‘apa’ also means ‘someone’s father’s sister’
or - ‘husband’s father’ – also (Budha Magar
2011: 12). For the word ‘kar’ he has - bird’s wings - or ‘wings like
instruments’ that help fly up in the sky. A bird's wings also may seem like
human hands while stretched wide open.
It is also for ‘pressurizing someone to do something’(Budha Magar 2011:
35).
The Kham Magars
of mid-west Nepal speak different language than the Magars eastwards in
the country or beyond: such as Darjeeling in India and Bhutan as well. Still
this is quite a contested claim so far made by Nepalese linguists.
Culturally at Easter, some Hungarian youths sprinkling water to the group of young women also seems parallel to the young
boys and girls splashing water on last day of mourning of a dead in Kham Magar
group of people in Nepal - some kind of resurrection symbol. Do the Kham Magar
youths have any knowledge of Easter and Christ's resurrection at all ? It does not seem that they have it.
Interest
in Magar People
 |
| Gore Bahadur Khapangi Magar meets with two members of the Hungarian research team in Kathmandu. |
This a small note posting and; I have not been
able up till now, to read their research findings. Have the research reports
been published yet or did the team of researchers ever thought of sharing what
they found or knew with Nepalese academia or the concerned Magar people of
Nepal ?
a) Alexander Csoma De Koros, (The Hungarian Bodhisattva) first attempted to visit Central Asia via the Himalayan route but
the British-Indian Government didn't allow him to enter Tibet. He was allowed
to travel as far as Darjeeling where he died en-route in 1842.
 |
| Alexander Csoma De Koros' tomb in Darjeeling, India. |
c) We don't know for sure whether, Alexander
Csoma De Koros had any knowledge that there were or are Magar people also in Nepal. It was a closed country at that
time but he probably had heard about the Magar people of Nepal, the reason
primarily being, his employment with the East India Company to study and
produce an English-Tibetan Dictionary, which he eventually did also. There were
lots of British army people in the East India Company doing researches and
publishing reports also on the Magars of Nepal. Offering a very high respect
for Csoma De Koros, Tibor E. Barath addresses him as an "internationally
reputed specialist in Sanscrit" citing the former's assertion that "
The Sanscrit language shows no stronger relationship to any other language than
it does to Hungarian" (Barath 1983:34). As concerns Sanskrit here, it has
very heavily influenced Nepali and both Magar and Nepali languages are influenced
by each other.
Why such
a concern ?
Some Hungarian enthusiasts and researchers look
very much concerned about the Magars of Nepal today and which is very
understandable too. Since one decade or so, few of them are in constant touch
with this author also. But the academia in the both countries does seem
indifferent towards it.
a) From the 'Huns' comes 'Hungary' and the two
cities' names 'Buda' and 'Pest' became a compound name 'Budapest' and capital
city of the country in 1873.
b) The name word 'Buda' seems to have come from
'King Bleda', King Attlia the Hun's brother ( http://www.biography.com/people/attila-the-hun-9191831 ).
c) There are three different septs among Kham
Magars or 'Western Magars': Gharti, 'Buda' (or sometimes 'Budha') and 'Pun'. Some Nepalese
historians believe Huns, while being attacked - got dispersed and arrived in the
Himalayan region and established their kingdoms. A ‘Hun
Nripati’ (Hun King) ruled Kaski, in the mid-west Nepal hills before the country's unification. And those 'Huns'
later called themselves - the Magars. (Janaklal Sharma - Hamro Samaj: Ek Adhyan
- 2039:269 . Transliteration > 'A Study on Our Society' - 1982: 269). But how the author would write it, I have no idea as a matter of fact, as we do not
have any reliable historical, epigraphical or solid archaeological evidence
available for this claim to stand independently. Further to it interestingly however, a Hungarian researcher
communicated with me that she had found Amazighs of North Western Africa claiming
‘Pun Nation’ as their ancestors[5].In the context to this claim please click here
for author's another light note.
d) There is a group of people in far west Nepal
called Vyas Valley and Uttaranchal India, also. They are 'Saukas' but outsiders
call them 'Byasis' - the people that live in Vyas valley at Tibet-Nepal
border.( After the Rig Vedic - Vyas). These people also have 'Budathoki' or
'Buda' clan and believe they are the descendants of Sakas. While on a mission
to those areas in late 1999, I found some kind of similarity in between Magar
language and their language also.
Conclusion
Not all Hungarians as well as western scholars
believe there are any relationships between the Magyars of Hungary and Magars
of the Himalayan region. More researches required, preferably a joint team, both from Magyar
and Magar people and seminars, cultural exchanges or sharing of ideas would be
good thing to do. The Nepal Hungary Friendship Association may play some role
for the benefit of both Nepal and Hungary[6].
References
__________
Barath, Tibor E. 1983: The Early Hungarians in The Light of Recent Historical Research : Montreal H3B 3K3 Canada.
Budha Magar, Karna Bahadur 2011: A Trilingual Dictionary of The Magar Language (Athar Magarat) 2011 - Publisher Jitman Pun
Magar, Kakri 4, Rukum, Nepal.
Laszlo, Gyula 1996: The Magyars: Their Life and Civilization - Corvina Books Ltd. Budapest Hungary.
Oppitz, Michael 1983 : The Wild Boar and the Plough : The Origin Stories of the Northern Magar – Kailash, Ratna Pustak
Bhandar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Rana, B. K. 2011: Kashmir, Kalhan’s Rajtarangini and The 'Magar King Aramudi' in Obscure History - The Himalayan
Voice
Witzel, Michael 2013 : The Origins of the World's Mythologies - Oxford University Press.
Watters, David 2004: A Dictionary Of Kham: Taka dialect (a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal), Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.
For a PDF of this article please click here >
For a PDF of this article please click here >
[1] Csaba Hargita wrote it
to me in one of his emails 4 years ago. He sent to me a 7 page Magyar
vocabulary also.
[2] Zoltán Hoppár Facebook messenger
communication. May 1, 2017
[3] Some two years or so ago,
I had asked a Magyar student here at Harvard how he would pronounce the name
word ‘Magyar’ and then he had pronounced it ‘məzər’
or ‘mədʒər’ (मजर वा मज्जर) but not ‘maɡyär’(माग्यर). In the same manner, on July 12, 2013 I had
discussed it with Csaba Hargita also over Skype. His answer was also the same. Coming from a prominent tribal name word ‘Megyer’, it probably became Magyar > ˈmaɡyär/ (माग्यर) later.
[4] Hungarian Women's
Magazine: Where a fair number of relatives still live - Nepal Magars - “10
thousand years older kővésetek and writing about them, are intact and waiting
for decoding. The first MAGAR strains came from the area of present-day Nepal!”
[5] Monique Hongroise,
(Facebook messenger communication>
Saturday April 29, 2017): “I wrote you about the Amazighs so much,
because they told me that their ancestors were the PUN nation and I read about
Puns in the articles about Magars as well, and this surprised me.”
[6] This post is an
edited version of authors two Facebook posts of October 3, 2014 and November 2, 2014.
Comment(s)
Budapest , Hungary.
Comment(s)
----------
Forwarded message ----------
From:
Csaba Hargita
Date:
Sun,
May 28, 2017 at 8:31 AM
As
promised earlier here are my additional comments to words "apa" and "kar".
The translation would take a while more, but I will send it also shortly. Nevertheless
the original documentary is available here.
For
"apa"
-
the explanation
you added the comment "But a native author, Karna Bahadur Budha Magar's - A Trilingual
Dictionary of The Magar Language (Athar Magarat) 2011, has more elaborate
definitions for those two words discussed above and the essence is absolutely
the same. According to him - ‘apa’ also means ‘someone’s father’s sister’
or - ‘husband’s father’ – also (Budha
Magar 2011: 12)"
This
is not really a difference. Magyar word, for ‘spouse’s father’ is "após"
or on older form "ipa" (nb. spouse's mother is "anyós", in
older form "napa")
"Kar" - in Magyar means "arm" but "hand" is "kéz". However "kar" also means
"faculty", "a handle" or "lever" . It also means "quire",
"wing" of a building, and "faculty" of a college or
university. It is also root for words like "claw" or "pounce"
- "karom" (kar-om), while "nail" is "köröm"
Finally,
in the article you start with a picture where a shaman is climbing on a special
pole. This tradition also existed among Magyar "táltos" (more scholar
than shaman, or something similar). Climbing on a tree (i.e. Tree of Life) was
one of the táltos initiation into his position. Also one of his duties was to
climb on the Tree of Life or Tree of World to mediate between humans and God for
healing, etc.
Regarding
Easter or Spring sprinkling. It is only nowadays sprinkling with fine perfumes
or EDT -s. It was normal tradition until last
century, that women and young girls were splashed by a bucket of water surrounded
by men. It is still done in the villages, however due to the western standards
these habits and traditions less and less kept.
Csaba
Hargita,