Malla (tribe)
Malla | |||||||
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c. 7th century BCE–c. 4th century BCE | |||||||
Capital | Kusinārā Pāvā | ||||||
Common languages | Prakrit | ||||||
Religion | Historical Vedic religion Buddhism Jainism | ||||||
Government | Republic | ||||||
Gaṇa Mukhya | |||||||
Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||
• Established | c. 7th century BCE | ||||||
• Disestablished | c. 4th century BCE | ||||||
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Today part of | India |
Malla (
Location
The Mallakas lived in the region now covered by the
The territories of the two Malla republics were divided by the river named Hiraññavatī in
Name
The Mallakas are called Malla in Pāli texts, Mallaī in Jain Prākrit texts, and Malla in Sanskrit texts.[1]
History
Statehood
The Mallakas were an
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
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 Kakutthā in Pali and Kukustā in Sanskrit, and the second one being the 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.[1]
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
After the death of the 24th Jain Tīrthaṅkara, Mahāvīra, the Mallakas and the Licchavikas jointly instituted a festival of lights to commemorate his passing.[1]
Decline
The relations of the Licchavikas, who led the Vajjika League which the Mallakas were part of, with their southern neighbour, the kingdom of
In another case, the Licchavikas once invaded Māgadhī territory from across the 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.[5]
The hostilities between Licchavi and Magadha continued under the rule of 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 Aṅga, Vehalla, who was the son of Bimbisāra by another Licchavika wife of his, Cellanā, a daughter of 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.[5]
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 Greek kingdom of Sparta to the democratic form of government in Athens, and the hostilities between the ancient Macedonian king Philip II to the Athenian and Theban republics.[5]
As important members of the Vajjika League, the Malla republics were also threatened by Ajātasattu, and the Vajjika Gaṇa Mukhya Ceḍaga held war consultations with the rājās 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 dynasty ruled Magadha or shortly after.[5][4][1]
Social and political organisation
Republican institutions
The Assembly
Just like a Vaidehas, Licchavikas, and Nāyikas, the Mallakas were a kṣatriya tribe, and each of the republics of the Mallakas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha (an aristocratic oligarchic republic), which had a ruling Assembly consisting of the heads of the kṣatriya clans belonging to the Vāseṭṭha/Vaśiṣṭha gotra, and who were given the title of rājās. The position of 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 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.[1]
The Mallaka republics, like the other gaṇasaṅgha of the Vajjika League, held their Assembly and Council meetings in their own santhāgāras.[1]
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.[1]
Customs
The Manusmṛiti refers to the Mallakas as Vrāṭyakṣatriyas, that is kṣatriyas who had not been initiated, because they did not practice orthodox Vedic traditions.[1]
See also
History of South Asia | |
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(c. 300 BC – c. 300 AD) | |
Pandya Empire | (c. 300 BC – AD 1345) |
Chera Kingdom | (c. 300 BC – AD 1102) |
Chola Empire | (c. 300 BC – AD 1279) |
Pallava Empire | (c. 250 AD – AD 800) |
Maha-Megha-Vahana Empire | (c. 250 BC – c. AD 500) |
Parthian Empire | (247 BC – AD 224) |