183:
them in the elites. Stietencron, on a comparative assessment of Samba Purana with other texts, disagrees: little foreign influence was visible in the descriptions of the
Puranic episode and if at all, the Magas had popularized a pre-existing cult of solar worship. Bronkhorst remarks that even if the Magas had claimed descent from Persian priestly traditions, the Brahminic classes of India (Jambudvīpa) won't have easily accommodated foreigners at the highest echelons of society. On a comparison with Buddhist texts and secular records, he proposes that Sakadvipa was not Persia (or some other territory, west of India) but a "mythico-geographical region" for classical Hindu authors, wherein prevailed the Brahmanical order of society for reasons unknown. Descendants of the Magi migrants of Persia staked a claim to this Brahminic space rather than their native place. By the
74:
At this juncture, Narada and
Gauramukha suggested that Magas were the only classes fit for the task but neither knew about their location except to be far away from Dwarka. The Sun-God was consulted, who confirmed what Narada said and noted that the Magas, fluent in Vedas and His ideal worshippers,
66:
to restore his youth who expressed his inability and deferred to the Sun-God. So, acting upon the advice of Narada, Samba left for the forests of
Mitravan on the banks of Chandrabhaga, where the Sun-God resided. There, he propitiated the Sun-God into appearing before himself and secured a cure but,
182:
R. C. Hazraāa preeminent scholar of
Puranic literatureābelieves the Magas and their particular brand of Sun-worship to have gained immense popularity under Scythian patronage; hence, the Brahmins were compelled to draft the Samba Purana, infuse aspects of their cult into prevalent, and accommodate
83:
married to the Maga migrants; this went against the earlier narrative of bringing eighteen Maga "families". Later, it is claimed that eight of the migrant Magas were actually born of
Mandagas and hence had to marry Dasas; their progenies were not Brahmins unlike those from the union with Bhojas.
82:
No further details about the Magas are provided in the Samba Purana but
Bhavishya Purana continues to chronicle their afterlifein India, often in self-contradictory ways. Samba apparently arranged for the women of Bhojas (id. uncertain; might be the eponymous Kings of early medieval India) to be
67:
in return, had to accept setting up a solar temple. While the temple was set up using an image received from the Sun-God himself, securing a priest for the temple proved difficult ā Brahmins could not be recruited since such worshippers took the offerings for themselves and had to ran afoul of
118:, dated to around the same time, repeats the observations of incest; Magas apparently held women as property of the commons ā like cooked rice and pestle, roads and river banks, and fruits and flowers ā whose sexuality was accessible to all. In TarkajvÄlÄ (6th century CE),
541:
Stietencron, Heinrich von (1966): Indische
Sonnenpriester. SÄmba und die ÅÄkadvÄ«pÄ«ya-BrÄhmaį¹a. Eine textkritische und religionsgeschichtliche Studie zum indischen Sonnenkult. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. (Schriftenreihe des SĆ¼dasien-Instituts der UniversitƤt Heidelberg,
179:. Saura literature is very scarce in the Hindu cannon and in all probabilities, Magas failed to ever exert considerable influence on any royal power. Consequently, why were the Magas allowed the Brahmin status in society remains a pertinent locus of enquiry.
149:'s (6th century CE) Bį¹hat Saį¹hitÄ mention the Magas; he himself might have been a Maga. In his PaƱcasiddhÄntikÄ, one "Year of Magas" mention 30 names of the "lords of degree of signs" ā they are since understood to be a Saivite rendering of the list of
114:, a Buddhist text from Kashmir c. 2nd century C.E. notes the Magas to be Mlechhas (lit. barbarians?) for not seeing anything objectionable in pursuing sexual relations within one's own family.
91:
On the basis of terminological similarities in relevant
Puranic verses with proto-Iranian roots and a common tradition of Sun worship, most scholars deem the legend to reflect the migration of
625:
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were to be found among the inhabitants of
Sakdwipa, an entire creation of His own mirroring Jammudwipa. Subsequently, eighteen Maga families would travel across an ocean on the back of
95:ā or some region under the influence of Persian cosmopolis ā in multiple waves to India across years. Sambapura has been traditionally identified with Multan ā and the temple with the
269:, an increasingly immoral behavior ā would continue to be featured in a vast spectrum of Buddhist literature for centuries; nowhere were they considered them to be Brahmins.
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Bronkhorst sees no reason to doubt that the
Buddhist texts were referring to the Magas. However, that the Magas are always held to be in the West of India proper,
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111:
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832:
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In the Brahminical corpus all Mlechhas (lit. foreigners) are routinely referred to in the most disagreeable terms and are either held to be below
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507:
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Stietencron notes three such words in the passage: avyaį¹
ga (ir. aiwyÄÅhana), patidÄna (ir. paiti.dÄna), and varÅman (ir. barÉsman).
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doubts that the Magas might not have followed such practices and they were merely ā but reasonably ā confused with the Persians.
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notes the Magas to be perverted people from Persia: their religious doctrines exhibited similarities with Vedas, in that
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The hostility was allegedly on account of their persecuting the Buddhists out of Middle East and Central Asia.
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However, the very construction of Sakadwipa might have developed out of fragmented transmissions from Persia.
419:"Putative Persian Perversities: Indian Buddhist Condemnations of Zoroastrian Close-Kin Marriage in Context"
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187:, their claims would be accepted and serviced in the retrospective construction of Puranic legends.
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to have migrated to India where they were known as Magas and in a hostile relation with Buddhists.
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153:. Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century CE) noted a particular town to be inhabited by Maga Brahmins.
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453:"The Earliest Indian Reference to Muslims in a Buddhist Philosophical Text of "Circa" 700"
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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595:, vol. II, Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute, p. 615
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126:ā illicit sex ā was supported. Never were they held to be Brahmins.
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Foreign Elements In Indian Culture, The Cultural Heritage of India
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and thus, the first Sun-temple was established in Sambapura.
51:(c. 7th-8th century CE); the legend made its way into the
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The earliest extant Hindu text to mention the Magas is
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Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
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682:
641:
554:"THE SÄMBA-PURÄį¹A, A SAURA WORK OF DIFFERENT HANDS"
99:ā but there exists little evidence in support and
235:In Sakdwipa, Magas were the Brahmins; Mashakas,
347:Bronkhorst, Johannes (2014ā2015). "The Magas".
157:, an 11th-century Persian polymath, noted some
654:BactriaāMargiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)
16:Brahmin sub-caste from the Indian subcontinent
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62:After being cursed into a leper, Samba urged
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390:Dual darÅana: Re-addressing the SÅ«rya icon
34:primarily concentrated in northern India.
512:Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online
349:BrahmavidyÄ: The Adyar Library Bulletin
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265:Persians ā always distinguished by the
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520:10.1163/2212-5019_beh_com_9000000151
451:VAN DER KUIJP, LEONARD W.J. (2006).
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833:Brahmin communities of West Bengal
506:Stausberg, Michael (29 May 2018),
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393:(Thesis). Columbia University.
635:Ancient India and Central Asia
1:
823:Brahmin communities of Odisha
508:"Hinduism and Zoroastrianism"
195:The Sakaldwipiya Brahmins of
818:Brahmin communities of Bihar
683:Historical peoples and clans
669:Genetics and archaeogenetics
457:Journal of Indian Philosophy
387:Cummins, Joan Marie (2001).
659:Indo-Aryan migration theory
57:twelfth century inscription
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642:Archaeology and prehistory
417:Silk, Jonathan A. (2008).
469:10.1007/s10781-006-0001-2
770:Mythology and literature
101:Heinrich von Stietencron
746:Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
591:Mitra, Debala (1962),
756:Indo-Parthian Kingdom
552:Hazra, R. C. (1955).
97:eponymous institution
674:History of the horse
24:Sakaldwipiya Brahmin
649:Proto-Indo-Iranians
751:Indo-Greek Kingdom
267:practice of incest
112:MahÄvibhÄį¹£a ÅÄstra
103:rejects the idea.
59:in Eastern India.
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20:Maga Brahmins
725:Hephthalites
710:Sakaldwipiya
664:Swat culture
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49:Samba Purana
46:
27:
23:
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18:
792:Uttaramadra
720:Alchon Huns
525:14 November
239:; Manasas,
55:and even a
43:Hindu texts
812:Categories
797:Uttarakuru
730:Nezak Huns
295:References
237:Kshatriyas
185:Common Era
69:Manusmriti
782:ÄryÄvarta
777:Shakdvipa
715:Kidarites
570:0378-1143
514:, Brill,
493:170577031
477:0022-1791
435:0041-977X
399:304688353
217:Ayurvedic
197:Rajasthan
155:Al-Biruni
120:BhÄviveka
705:Kambojas
578:44082891
485:23497360
395:ProQuest
241:Vaishyas
130:Analysis
87:Analysis
38:Mentions
32:Brahmins
245:Shudras
151:Yazatas
64:Krishna
739:States
700:Yuezhi
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209:Bengal
205:Odisha
176:avarna
171:Sudras
142:Others
77:Garuda
574:JSTOR
489:S2CID
481:JSTOR
223:Notes
201:Bihar
690:Saka
566:ISSN
527:2021
473:ISSN
431:ISSN
215:are
211:and
542:3.)
516:doi
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