The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c14.119.2

v1.c14.119.2

It is not impossible that threatened by the growth of imperialism in North-eastern India and unwilling to be merged into the empires of the plains, they, like the Gurkhas of a later period, had retired to the safety of the northern hills and carved out independent principalities in the Himalayan range. While good fortune enabled the Licchavis to occupy the central and rich portion of the Valley, the Mallas appear to have settled further west beyond the Gandak.² There they became a thorn in the side of the Licchavis. This is evident from the Changu Narayan pillar inscription, which records an invasion of Mānadeva (386 = A. D. 496 ?) beyond the Gaṇḍakī against the city of the Mallas (Mallapuri).¹ The struggles between the Mallas and the Licchavis appear to have continued unabated in the subsequent period. An evidence of this is probably to be found in the Dharampur inscription of the time of Śivadeva and Aṁśuvarman (520=630 A. D.?), which refers to the remission of a tax named *Malla-kara*.² The Thankot inscription of the time of Mānadeva and Jiṣṇugupta (*Saṁvat* 500?=610+x ?) also refers to the collection of a tax of the same name in the Nepal valley.³ It is not unlikely that *Mallakara* was a tax like the *Turuṣka-daṇḍa* in the inscriptions of the Gāhaḍavāla Govindacandra (c. 1104-54 A.