The Magars, also spelled Mangar and Mongar, are the Tibeto-Burman ethnic group native to Nepal and Northeast India, representing 6.9% of Nepal's total population according to the 2021 Nepal census. They are one of the main Gurkha tribes.

The first home of the Magars was to the west of the Gandaki River and, roughly speaking, consisted of that portion of Nepal which lies between and around about Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, and Palpa. This part of the country was divided into twelve districts known as Bahra Magarat (Confederation of Twelve Magar villages), which included the following regions of that period: Argha, Khanchi, Bhirkot, Dhor, Garhung, Ghiring, Gulmi, Isma, Musikot, Rising, Satung, and Pyung. During the medieval period, the whole area from Palpa to Rukum Rolpa was called the Magarat, a place settled and inhabited by Magars. Another confederation of eighteen Magar kingdoms, known as Athara Magarat, also existed and was originally inhabited by Kham Magars.

At the time of the 2021 Nepal census, 2,013,498 people (6.9% of the population of Nepal) identified as Magar. The frequency of Magar people by province was as follows:

The frequency of Magar people was higher than national average in the following districts:

Magars are scattered throughout the cities of India in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Assam and many others. The Gurkha recruitment in the Indian Gorkha Regiment, British Gurkha Regiment and the Gurkha Contingent of Singapore Police gave a huge opportunity to the hard working Magars of the hills to work and live abroad in countries like the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, India and Myanmar. A significant number of Magar population can also be found in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United States of America and South Korea.

There are several mythical stories describing the origins of the Magars.

The Magar of the Bahra Magarat east of the Kali Gandaki River are said to have originated in the land of Seem. Two brothers, Seem Magar and Chintoo Magar, fought, and one remained in Seem, while the other left, ending up in Kangwachen, southern Sikkim. The Bhutia people lived at the northern end of this region. Over time, the Magars became very powerful and made the northern Bhutia their vassals. Sintoo Sati Sheng ruled in a very despotic manner, and the Bhutia conspired to assassinate him. Sheng's queen took revenge and poisoned 1,000 Bhutia people at a place now called Tong Song Fong, meaning "where a thousand were murdered". The Bhutia later drove the Magars out, forcing them to again migrate further south. As part of this migration, one group migrated to Simrongadh, one group moved towards the Okhaldhunga region, and another group seems to have returned to the east. No dates are given.

The origins of the Kaike Magars end up with the mystical tales told and retold by local people. According to one of these stories, the Kaike Magars were the sons of a woman who had fled from an unspecified village of Kalyal kingdom. She subsequently gave birth to her child, a son. The boy, when he grew up, captured an angel while she was bathing with her friends. As time went by, the son and his angel bride had three sons. These sons were the ancestors of the Buddha, Roka, and Gharti clans. The origin of the fourth major clan is different. One of the three sons was a shepherd who kept losing the same female goat every day, so one day he followed her when she wandered away from the rest of the herd. He discovered that she was giving her milk to a baby boy living in the hollow part of a bamboo tree. He brought the baby home. This boy grew up and became the ancestor of the Jhankri clan. The language was called "Kaike," meaning "language of the Gods."