But I have always been intrigued by many small but seemingly close religious, historical and cultural connections between those who were/are in Narayanhiti Palace and the Magars of the present-day Central Nepal. Then again, what do I really know? oohi ashu -- Ashu dai, I think there's some truth to this. If you go and watch the paintings of Jung Bahadur and Ranoddip Singh at the National Museum in Chauni, they resemble more "magar-oid" than "aryans." One histiorian Gyanmani Nepal has done some research on this, I don't know whether it is published or not, but once at the National Museum he was telling me that before becoming Rana, the group was called Kanwar and there is a Kanwar-magar group. It was only with their marriages with the Shah princess and other Chettri groups, their appearance started to change. For example, study the contrast between the paintings of Jung Bahadur and Dev Shumsher. And since the Shahs married the Rana girls, of course, they have more magar blood in them. Tribhuwan married a Punjabi princess, but I don't know if she gave birth to Mahendra. As always, feel free to correct me.