The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s9: 4. The Mālava Republic
The Vākāṭaka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c8.s9
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4. The Mālava Republic
c8.s9.1
The Mālavas, who were occupying the Ravi-Sutlej doab in the days of Alexander the Great, later moved southwards, probably due to foreign pressure. In course of time they occupied Ajmer-Tonk-Mewar area, where they flourished as an independent republic till about the end of the 1st century A.D. With the rise of the Kuṣāṇas and their feudatories, the Western Kshatrapas, the power of the Mālavas was eclipsed for about a century. They were defeated and their territory was annexed to the dominions of the Western Kshatrapas.
c8.s9.2
The Mālavas, however, did not permit the Kshatrapas to rule over them peacefully. They were rising in rebellion or making furtive attacks on the allies of their conquerors. Nahapāna had to send his son-in-law Uṣavadāta to relieve his allies, the Uttamabhadras, who were being molested by the Mālavas. The Mālavas, however, could not hold their own against the Śakas and had to submit to the Śaka rule till the end of the 2nd century A.D.
c8.s9.3
At this time there arose a prolonged war of succession in the Śaka kingdom between Jīva-dāman and his uncle Rudra-siṃha I, which considerably weakened the Kshatrapa power (see Chap. III). This gave a golden opportunity to the Mālavas to reassert their independence. A Mālava leader named Śri(?)soma raised the standard of revolt and celebrated in c. 225 A.D. the Ekashashṭi sacrifice to proclaim the independence of his republic.¹ Curiously enough the record which describes this victory does not mention the name of the enemies defeated, but it is clear that they could have been none others than the Western Kshatrapas. Henceforward neither the Western Kshatrapas nor the Kushāṇas were able to impose their hegemony over the Mālavas.
c8.s9.4
¹ This statement is based on the evidence of Nāndsā Yūpa inscriptions, which are being edited by the present writer in the *Epigraphia Indica*. They may be published in 1946.
c8.s9.5
From c. 225 A.D. the Mālavas continued to flourish as an independent republic down to the time of Samudra-gupta. Their rise was also due to national fervour, for we find Śri(?)-soma proudly referring to his descent from the Ikshvākus, probably in contrast to the pedigree of the foreign Śakas. Like the Yaudheya republic, the Mālava one also was administered by elected chiefs, who sometimes became hereditary. Śri(?)-soma, who liberated the Mālavas, is described as supporting the *ancestral* yoke of public administration. It is, however, noteworthy that neither he nor his father nor grandfather is given any royal or military title like Mahārāja or Senāpati. It is clear that the republican traditions were strong among the Mālavas; even the glorious hero who rescued their country from the foreign yoke did not dare to arrogate to himself any royal title, not even in the record which was primarily intended to proclaim his signal achievement.
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The Mālavas issued a copious currency (Pl. I, 7) during the 3rd and the 4th centuries A.D. proving their continued existence as an independent state.²
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² It is held by some scholars that the names like Magaja, Mapojaya, Magajaya, etc., which occur on these coins, are the names of Mālava kings, proving their foreign extraction. The Mālavas were, however, claiming a descent from the Ikshvākus at this time. These mysterious legends cannot be satisfactorily explained at present.
c8.s9.8
It is usually held that the careers of the Yaudheya, the Madra, the Arjunāyana and the Mālava republics mentioned in Samudra-gupta's Allahabad inscription came to an end owing to the imperialistic ambition and expansion of the Guptas. There is, however, no definite evidence to support this view.
c8.s9.9
Samudra-gupta only claims that these republics accepted his overlordship and paid him tribute. This is quite compatible with internal autonomy, and it is quite possible that the republics may have continued their existence during the reigns of Chandra-gupta II and Kumāra-gupta I. It is important to note in this connection that we have no evidence whatsoever to show that the homelands of these republics were ever annexed to the Gupta empire. The fact that no monuments of the Gupta rule have been found in Rajputana or beyond Mathura shows that the Guptas could hardly exercise any effective control over these republics. They may well have continued their semi-independent existence down to the middle of the 5th century A.D., when they appear to have been engulfed in the Hūṇa avalanche.