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{{short description|Republican confederacy in ancient India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name =
| conventional_long_name = Malla
| common_name = Malla
| era = [[Iron Age]]
| government_type = [[Republic]]
| year_start = {{c.|7th century BCE}}
| year_end = {{c.|4th century BCE}}
| s1 = Magadha
| image_map = Gana_Sanghas_(c._500_BCE).jpg
| image_map_alt =
| image_map_caption = Malla among the [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}]]s
| image_map2 = Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png
| image_map2_caption = Malla, Vajji (the dependencies of Licchavi within the Vajjika League), and other [[Mahajanapadas]] in the Post Vedic period
| leader1 =
| capital = [[Kushinagar|Kusinārā]]<br>[[Pāvā]]
| common_languages = [[Prakrit]]
| religion = [[Ancient Hinduism]]<br>[[Buddhism]]<br>[[Jainism]]
| currency =
| title_leader = {{transl|pi|Rājā}}
| today = [[India]]
}}
'''Malla''' ([[Prakrit]]: {{lang|pra|𑀫𑀮𑁆𑀮𑀈}} {{transl|pra|Mallaī}}; {{lang-pi|Malla}}; {{lang-sa|मल्ल}} {{transl|sa|Malla}}) was an ancient [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[tribe]] of north-eastern [[Indian subcontinent]] whose existence is attested during the [[Iron Age in India|Iron Age]]. The population of Malla, the '''Mallakas''', were divided into two branches, each organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]), presently referred to as the '''Malla Republics''', which were part of the larger [[Vajjika League]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

==Location==
The Mallakas lived in the region now covered by the [[Gorakhpur district]] in [[India]], although their precise borders are yet to be determined. The Mallakas' neighbours to the east across the [[Gandaki River|Sadānirā]] river were the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavikas]], their neighbours to the west were the [[Shakya|Sakyas]], [[Koliya]]s, [[Moriya (tribe)|Moriya]]s, and [[Kosala|Kauśalya]]s, the southern neighbours of the Mallakas were the [[Kālāma]]s and the [[Ganges|Gaṅgā]] river, and the northern Mallaka borders were the [[Himalayas|Himālaya]] mountains. The territory of the Mallakas was a tract of land between the Vaidehas and the Kauśalyas.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

The territories of the two Malla republics were divided by the river named {{transl|pi|Hiraññavatī}} in [[Pali|Pāli]], and {{transl|sa|Hiraṇyavatī}} in [[Sanskrit]], and the two Malla republics respectively had their capitals at [[Kusinārā]], identified with the modern village of Kāsiā in [[Kushinagar]], and at [[Pāvā]] (now known as [[Fazilnagar]]). Kusinārā was close to the Sakya capital of Kapilavatthu to its north-east, and Pāvā was close to the Licchavika capital of Vesālī.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}
{{multiple image |align = right |image1 = Conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kusinagara circa 500 BCE adapted from a relief at Sanchi.jpg |width1 = 200 |caption1 = Conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kusinārā, capital of one of the Malla republics, circa 500 BCE adapted from a relief at Sanchi. |image2 = City of Kushinagar in the 5th century BCE according to a 1st century BCE frieze in Sanchi Stupa 1 Southern Gate.jpg|width2 = 210 |caption2 = City of Kusinārā in the 5th century BCE according to a 1st-century BCE frieze in Sanchi Stupa 1 Southern Gate.}}

==Name==
The Mallakas are called {{transl|pi|Malla}} in [[Pali|Pāli]] texts, {{transl|pra|Mallaī}} in [[Jainism|Jain]] [[Prakrit|Prākrit]] texts, and {{transl|sa|Malla}} in [[Sanskrit]] texts.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

==History==
===Statehood===
The Mallakas were an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] tribe in the eastern Gangetic plain in the [[Greater Magadha]] cultural region.<ref name="Levman">{{cite journal |last=Levman |first=Bryan G. |date=2014 |title=Cultural Remnants of the Indigenous Peoples in the Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276914202_Cultural_Remnants_of_the_Indigenous_Peoples_in_the_Buddhist_Scriptures |journal=Buddhist Studies Review |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=145–180 |doi=10.1558/bsrv.v30i2.145 |access-date=4 June 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416 |title=Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha, Studies in the culture of Early India, p. 6. Leiden, Boston, MA: Brill.|year=2007|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416|last1=Bronkhorst|first1=Johannes|isbn=9789047419655}}</ref> Similarly to the other populations of the [[Greater Magadha]] cultural area, Mallakas were initially not fully [[Brahmanism|Brahmanised]] despite being an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] people, but, like the Vaidehas, they later became Brahmanised and adopted the {{transl|pi|Vāseṭṭha}} (in Pali) or {{transl|sa|Vaśiṣṭha}} (in Sanskrit) [[gotra|{{transl|sa|gotra}}]]. At some point in time, the Mallakas became divided into two separate republics with their respective capitals at Kusinārā and Pāvā, possibly due to internal trouble, and henceforth the relations between the two Mallaka republics remained uncordial. Both Mallaka republics nevertheless became members of the Licchavi-led [[Vajjika League]], within which, unlike the Vaidehas, they maintained their own sovereign rights because they had not been conquered by the Licchavikas, and the Mallakas held friendly relations with the Licchavikas, the Vaidehas, and the [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s who were the other members of this league.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

However occasional tensions between the Mallakas and the Licchavikas did arise, such as in the case of the man named Bandhula, a Mallaka who, thanks to his education received in [[Taxila|Takṣaśilā]], had offered his services as a general to the Kauśalya king [[Pasenadi]] so as to maintain the good relations between the Mallakas and Kosala. Bandhula, along with his wife Mallikā, violated the {{transl|pi|Abhiseka-Pokkharaṇī}} sacred tank of the Licchavikas, which resulted in armed hostilities between the Kauśalyas and the Licchavikas. Bandhula was later treacherously murdered along with his sons by [[Pasenadi]], and, in retaliation, some Mallakas helped Pasenadi's son [[Virudhaka|Viḍūḍabha]] usurp the throne of Kosala to avenge the death of Bandhula, after which Pasenadi fled from Kosala and died in front of the gates of the [[Magadha|Māgadhī]] capital of [[Rajgir|Rājagaha]].{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

The Buddha arrived in Pāvā shortly after the Mallakas there had inaugurated their new [[santhāgāra]], which they had named Ubbhataka. From Pāvā, the Buddha and his followers went to Kusinārā, and on the way they crossed two rivers, the first one being named {{transl|pi|Kakutthā}} in Pali and {{transl|sa|Kukustā}} in Sanskrit, and the second one being the {{transl|pi|Hiraññavatī}} which separated the two Mallaka republics. The Buddha spent his final days in the Malla republic of Kusinārā, and when he sent [[Ānanda]] to inform the Mallakas of Kusinārā of his impending death, Ānanda found the Mallaka Council holding a meeting about public affairs in their santhāgāra.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}
[[File:Mallas defending the city of Kusinagara.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The Mallas defending the city of Kusinārā. Reflective of the frieze at Stupa 1, Southern Gateway, [[Sanchi]], 1st century BCE to 1st century CE.]]
[[File:King of the Mallas under siege.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Leader of the Mallas of Kusinārā, under siege by the seven kings during the ''War of the Relics''. Reflective of the frieze at [[Sanchi]].]]
{{multiple image
| align = right
| caption_align = center
| direction =vertical
| total_width=250
| image1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = The eastern Gangetic plain before Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg
| caption2 = Map of the eastern Gangetic plain before Ajātasattu's conquests<br />(Malla shown within the Vajjika League)
| image3 = The eastern Gangetic plain after Ajatasattu's, Vidudabha's and Udayana's conquests.jpg
| caption3 = Map of the eastern Gangetic plain after Ajātasattu's conquest of the Vajjika League and of Moriya
| footer=
}}

When Ānanda went again to the Mallakas of Kusinārā to inform them of the Buddha's passing, he found them this time holding a meeting to discuss the funeral ceremony of the Buddha in the santhāgāra. After the Buddha's cremation, his remains were honoured in the santhāgāra of Kusinārā for seven days, and it was in this santhāgāra that the Mallakas of Kusinārā received the envoys of [[Magadha]], [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavi]], [[Shakya]], [[Buli (tribe)|Buli]], [[Koliya]], the Mallakas of Pāvā, and [[Moriya (tribe)|Moriya]], who all went to Kusinārā to claim their shares of the Buddha's relics. The Licchavikas, the Mallakas, and the [[Shakya|Sakyas]] were able to claim shares of the relics, but the other members of the Vajjika League, the Vaidehas and the [[Nāya|Nāyika]]s, were not among the states claiming a share because they were dependencies of the Licchavikas without their own sovereignty, and therefore could not put forth their own claim while Licchavi could. The Mallakas of Pāvā were the first ones to arrive with an army to Kusinārā, and they put forth their claim to the relics in rude and hostile terms. In the end, each Malla republic obtained a share of the Buddha's relics and built their own [[stupa|{{transl|sa|stūpa}}]]s and gave their own feasts to commemorate this event.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}

After the death of the 24th [[Jainism|Jain]] [[Tirthankara|{{transl|sa|Tīrthaṅkara}}]], [[Mahavira|Mahāvīra]], the Mallakas and the Licchavikas jointly instituted a festival of lights to commemorate his passing.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

===Decline===
{{See also|Magadha-Vajji war}}
The relations of the Licchavikas, who led the Vajjika League which the Mallakas were part of, with their southern neighbour, the kingdom of [[Magadha]], were initially good, and the wife of the Māgadhī king [[Bimbisara|Bimbisāra]] was the Vesālia princess Vāsavī, who was the daughter of the Licchavika {{transl|sa|Nāyaka}} Sakala's son Siṃha. There were nevertheless occasional tensions between Licchavi and Magadha, such as the competition at the Mallaka capital of [[Kusinārā]] over acquiring the relics of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] after his death.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

In another case, the Licchavikas once invaded Māgadhī territory from across the [[Ganges|Gaṅgā]], and at some point the relations between Magadha and Licchavi permanently deteriorated as result of a grave offence committed by the Licchavikas towards the Māgadhī king Bimbisāra.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

The hostilities between Licchavi and Magadha continued under the rule of [[Ajatashatru|Ajātasattu]], who was Bimbisāra's son with another Licchavika princess, Vāsavī, after he had killed Bimbisāra and usurped the throne of Magadha. Eventually Licchavi supported a revolt against Ajātasattu by his younger step-brother and the governor of [[Anga|Aṅga]], Vehalla, who was the son of Bimbisāra by another Licchavika wife of his, Cellanā, a daughter of [[Chetaka|Ceḍaga]], who was the head of both the Licchavi republic and the Vajjika League; Bimbisāra had chosen Vehalla as his successor following Ajātasattu's falling out of his favour after the latter had been caught conspiring against him, and the Licchavikas had attempted to place Vehalla on the throne of Magadha after Ajātasattu's usurpation and had allowed Vehalla to use their capital Vesālī as base for his revolt. After the failure of this rebellion, Vehalla sought refuge at his grandfather's place in the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of Vesālī, following which Ajātasattu repeatedly attempted to negotiate with the Licchavikas-Vajjikas. After Ajātasattu's repeated negotiation attempts ended in failure, he declared war on the Vajjika League in 484 BCE.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

Tensions between Licchavi and Magadha were exacerbated by the handling of the joint Māgadhī-Licchavika border post of Koṭigāma on the Gaṅgā by the Licchavika-led Vajjika League who would regularly collect all valuables from Koṭigāma and leave none to the Māgadhīs. Therefore Ajātasattu decided to destroy the Vajjika League in retaliation, but also because, as an ambitious empire-builder whose mother Vāsavī was Licchavika princess of Vaidehī descent, he was interested in the territory of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom which by then was part of the Vajjika League. Ajātasattu's hostility towards the Vajjika League was also the result of the differing forms of political organisation between Magadha and the Vajjika League, with the former being monarchical and the latter being republican, not unlike the opposition of the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] kingdom of [[Sparta]] to the democratic form of government in [[Classical Athens|Athens]], and the [[Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II|hostilities]] between the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|ancient Macedonian]] king [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] to the Athenian and [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] republics.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}

As important members of the Vajjika League, the Malla republics were also threatened by Ajātasattu, and the Vajjika {{transliteration|sa|Gaṇa Mukhya}} [[Chetaka|Ceḍaga]] held war consultations with the {{transl|pi|rājā}}s of the Licchavikas and Mallikas before the fight started. The Mallakas therefore fought on the side of the other confederate tribes of the league against Magadha. The military forces of the Vajjika League were initially too strong for Ajātasattu to be successful against them, and it required him having recourse to diplomacy and intrigues over the span of a decade to finally defeat the Vajjika League by 468 BCE and annex its territories, including Licchavi, Videha and Nāya, to the kingdom of Magadha. The Mallakas also became part of Ajātasattu's Māgadhī empire, although they were allowed a limited degree of autonomy in terms of their internal administration, and they stopped existing as a republican tribe when the [[Maurya Empire|Maurya dynasty]] ruled Magadha or shortly after.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=85-135}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=136-158}}{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

[[File:War over the Buddha's Relics, South Gate, Stupa no. 1, Sanchi.jpg|thumb|800px|center|War over the Buddha's Relics held by the city of Kusinārā, South Gate, Stupa no.1, Sanchi.<ref>{{cite book|title=Asiatic Mythology |first=J. |last=Hackin |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAZrFhvqnTkC&pg=PA83 |page=83ff|isbn=9788120609204 }}</ref>]]

==Social and political organisation==
===Republican institutions===
====The Assembly====
Just like a Vaidehas, Licchavikas, and Nāyikas, the Mallakas were a [[kshatriya|{{transl|sa|kṣatriya}}]] tribe, and each of the republics of the Mallakas were organised into a [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}}]] (an [[aristocracy|aristocratic]] [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[republic]]), which had a ruling Assembly consisting of the heads of the {{transl|sa|kṣatriya}} clans belonging to the {{transl|pi|Vāseṭṭha}}/{{transl|sa|Vaśiṣṭha}} {{transl|sa|gotra}}, and who were given the title of {{transl|sa|rājā}}s. The position of {{transl|sa|rājā}} was hereditary, and after the death of one of them, his eldest son would succeed him by being introduced to the Assembly following a ceremony held, for the Mallakas of Kusinārā, at the {{transl|sa|Makuṭa-bandhana}}, which was a shrine holding an important political meaning for the republic (the Mallakas of Pāvā had a similar shrine of their own). Similarly to that of the Licchavikas, the Mallaka General Assembly had a large number of members, with the meetings being only rarely attended by all of them.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

The Mallaka republics, like the other {{transl|sa|gaṇasaṅgha}} of the Vajjika League, held their Assembly and [[#The Councils|Council]] meetings in their own [[santhāgāra]]s.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

====The Councils====
Like the Licchavikas, the Mallakas' Assemblies met rarely while the Assemblies' inner councils, the Mallaka Councils, consisting of four members for the Mallakas of Kusinārā and of five members for the Mallakas of Pāvā, met more often and performed the public administration within each republic. These Councils were the sovereign bodies of the Mallaka republics.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

===Customs===
The [[Manusmriti|{{transl|sa|Manusmṛiti}}]] refers to the Mallakas as {{transl|sa|Vrāṭyakṣatriya}}s, that is {{transl|sa|kṣatriya}}s who had not been initiated, because they did not practice orthodox Vedic traditions.{{sfn|Sharma|1968|p=169-181}}

{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

==See also==
* [[Kingdoms of Ancient India]]
* [[Mallabhum]]
* [[Gaṇasaṅgha|{{transl|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}]]
* [[Koliya]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last1=Sankrityayan|first1=Rahul|title="Buddhacharya"- Life and Teachings of the Buddha|year=2010|publisher=Gautam Book Centre|language=Hindi|isbn=9789380292175|url=http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/buddhacharya-life-and-teachings-of-buddha-NAI537/}}
* ''Gorakhpur Janpad aur Uski Kshatriya Jatiyon Ka Itihaas'' By Dr. Rajbali Pandey, pp. 291–292
* ''Kshatriya Rajvansh'' by Dr. Raghunath Chand Kaushik
* ''Bhagwan Buddh ke Samkalin Anuyayi tatha Buddha Kendra'' By Tripatkacharya, Mahopadhyaya Bikshu Buddhamitra, pp. 274–283.

{{Mahajanapada}}

[[Category:Gaṇa saṅghas]]
[[Category:Mahajanapadas]]
[[Category:Former republics]]

Malla (tribe) - Revision history

ShantaeBpy: Refined content and updated sections

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article