ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with two interesting Indian communities, that of the Maga Brahmanas, who divided in two sub-communities (the Magas and Bhojakas), and the one of the Kambojas, both showing deep ethno-cultural relations with an Iranian background, an evidence due not only to generic intercultural phenomena but also related to a direct historical link. The history of the Maga Brahmanas is known, thanks to written literary traditions (Sāmba-Purāṇa and Bhaviṣya-Purāṇa). They were known as worshippers of the sun, but their cult of Sūrya, called Mihira, shows a particular connection with the Mazdean tradition (Av. Miθra, MP. Mehr). Some traditions, customs, and technical terms, such as maga- or Mihira, seem to be Iranian loanwords in Sanskrit or the nomenclature given by the Magas to the thirty days of the month, which strictly follows the Zoroastrian one, although within a Shaivaite orientation. The people of the Kambojas (or Kāmbojas), usually considered ‘barbarian,’ lived in a north-western region of India and showed distinctive customs. In particular, they present some linguistic characteristics, well emphasised in the Sanskrit Nirukta 2,1 (fourth century BCE), which various scholars interpreted as elements belonging to the Iranian linguistic area. The Buddhist Jatāka VI, 208, 27–30, points to the habit of killing a series of animals, usually corresponding to noxious demonic beasts, to be terminated according to the Mazdean belief. Some other elements can be considered supportive of an Iranian background, such as the possible etymological connection between the name of the Kambojas and that of the Persian king Kambyses (Kanbujiya-).
