Tribes in Ancient India c53.110

c53.110

The country of the Mallas is spoken of in many passages of a Buddhist work as one of the sixteen ‘great countries’ (*Mahājanapadas*).¹ It is also mentioned in the *Sabhāparvan* of the *Mahābhārata*, where we are told that the second Pāṇḍava, Bhīmasena, during his expedition to E. India, conquered the chief of the Mallas, besides the country of Gopālakakṣa and the northern Kośala territories.² The *Bhīṣmaparvan* mentions the Mallas along with such E. Indian peoples as the Aṅgas, the Vaṅgas and the Kaliṅgas.³