Magi

==Indian tradition==
[[File:6th-century Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira, 1279 CE Hindu text palm leaf manuscript, Pratima lakshana, Sanskrit, Nepalaksara script, folio 1 talapatra from a Buddhist monastery, 1v, 2r 2v leaves.jpg|thumb|Brihat Samhita of [[Varahamihira]], 1279 CE palm leaf manuscript, Pratima lakshana, Sanskrit]]
In India, the [[Maga Brahmin|Sakaldwipiya Brahmins]] are considered to be the descendants of the ten Maga (Sanskrit मग) priests who were invited to conduct worship of [[Mitra (Hindu god)|Mitra]] ([[Surya]]) at Mitravana ([[Multan Sun Temple|Multan]]), as described in the [[Samba Purana]], [[Bhavishya Purana]] and the [[Mahabharata]]. Their original home was a mythological region called [[Śākadvīpa]]. According to [[Varahamihira]] (c. 505 – c. 587), the statue of the Sun god (Mitra), is represented as wearing the "northern" (central Asian) dress, specifically with horse riding boots. Some [[Brahmin]] communities of India trace their descent from the Magas. Some classical astronomers and mathematicians of India such are Varahamihira are considered to be the descendants of the Magas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Puttaswamy |first1=T. K. |title=Mathematical Achievements of Pre-modern Indian Mathematicians |date=2012 |publisher=Newnes |isbn=978-0-12-397913-1 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8oVRSu692qoC&q=varahamihira%20maga&pg=PA141 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Biswas |first1=Dilip Kumar |editor1-last=Law |editor1-first=Narendra Nath |title=The Maga Ancestry of Varahamihira |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |date=September 1949 |volume=25 |issue=3 |page=175 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99782/page/n203/mode/2up}}</ref>

Varahamihira specifies that installation and consecration of the Sun images should be done by the Magas. [[al-Biruni]] mentions that the priests of the Sun Temple at Multan were Magas. The Magas had colonies in a number of places in India, and were the priests at [[Konark]], [[Martanda]] and other sun temples.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chattopadhyaya |first1=Sudhakar |editor1-last=Law |editor1-first=Narendra Nath |title=The Achaemenids and India |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |date=June 1950 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=100–117 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99783/page/n116/mode/2up}}</ref>