Tribes in Ancient India c77.180

c77.180

Malakas The *Vāyupurāṇa* reads Magadhas and the *Matsya* reads Mūkas. Both are evidently misreadings, for the Magadhas are mentioned as an eastern people in the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (Chap. 57, verse 44). Pargiter² suggests that the reading should be Malajas. The Malajas are mentioned in the *Mahābhārata*³ and in the *Rāmāyaṇa*.⁴ The course of the journey taken by Viśvāmitra and Rāma, as described in the *Rāmāyaṇa*, seems to show that they were neighbours of the Kārūṣas and occupied the district of Shahabad, west of the Sone.⁵