MAGAR

also spelled Mangar, people of Nepal and Sikkim state, India, living mainly on the western and southern flanks of the Dhaulagiri mountain massif. They number about 390,000. The Magar speak a language of the Tibeto-Burman family. The northern Magar are Lamaist Buddhists in religion, while those farther south have come under strong Hindu influence. Most of them draw their subsistence from agriculture. Others are pastoralists, craftsmen, or day labourers. Along with the Gurung, Rai, and other Nepalese ethnic groups, they have won fame as the Gurkha soldiers of the British and Indian armies.