India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.23

c13.23

*THE KSHUDRAKA-MĀLVAS*—On account of Pāṇini's reference to the Kshudrakas and the Mālavas in the formation *Kshaudraka-Mālavī Senā* in the *gaṇa-sūtra* of *sūtra* IV.2.45, Weber argued that this reference brings down the time of Pāṇini (and also his predecessor Āpiśali) to after Alexander's invasion which was resisted by those two Indian tribes, whom the Greeks noted as *Oxydrakai* and *Malloi*. He argued that the Kshudrakas and the Mālavas had been usually at war with each other and a foreign invasion welded them to fight a common foe through a united army called *Kshaudraka-Mālavī-Senā*. These united forces, opposing Alexander are said by Curtius to have comprised 90,000 foot-soldiers, all fit for active service, together with 10,000 cavalry, and 900 war chariots (*Alexander's Invasion*, p. 234).