Maga- Shakdwipiya Brahmans

This book is an Anthropological study of a community known as MAGA- SHAKDWIPIYA BRAHMANA in India. I would like to present here a case study of the sacred specialist engaged in sun worship called MAGA or Shakadwipiya Brahmans in India. The major concentration of these Sacred Specialists (Maga-Brahmanas) of Sun worship in India is in Magadha (a place that holds Magas) kingdom so named after Maga-Brahmana domain i.e. Bihar. As the mythology suggests here they were allotted 72 principalities of villages (PUR). They gradually migrated to different nooks and corners of the country. These Shakadwipies even today are the most respected Brahmana in Bihar. They are identified through their PUR affiliations than GOTRA affiliation. They are endogamous caste groups but strictly practice GOTRA and PUR exogamy unlike others and give it prime importance in marriage. They were the priest of Sun shrines in many Indian Kingdoms until the British regime in India. Most of them remember their mythological immigration and are proud of it. They continue to work as sacred specialists in different Sun temples throughout the length and breathe of the country. This work is based on secondary sources of information followed by primary fieldwork in MAGA dominated Bihar and Jharkhand states of India in the year 2021. This book will be useful for Social scientists as well as general readers of the Indian caste system and civilization.