State and Government in Ancient India c13.59

c13.59

The Mālavas and the Kshudrakas were among those republics, which offered stoutest resistance to Alexander the Great. The region between the Chenab and the Ravi along with some territory further south was the homeland of the Mālavas at this time, and the Kshudrakas were their southern neighbours.³ In order to meet Alexander's invasion, they formed an alliance, but before their armies could effect a junction, Alexander struck against the Mālavas. The Mālavas, who could muster an army about 1,00,000 strong, offered bitter opposition, and Alexander almost lost his life while trying to capture one of their forts. Eventually both the Mālavas and the Kshudrakas were compelled to sue for peace. The two states, however, became wiser by this defeat and formed a confederation which lasted for a few decades. In the *Mahābhārata*, the Mālavas and the Kshudrakas are always mentioned together,⁴ and grammarians refer to a peculiar dual compound formed from the names of the two states. Later on the Kshudrakas seem to have completely merged in the Mālavas, who eventually migrated to Ajmer-Chitor-Tonk area in *c.* 100 B. C., and to the modern province of Mālwā about 400 years later. They were for a time subjugated by the Scythians in *c.* 150 A. D., but they reasserted their independence in *c.* 225 A. D. They claimed descent from the illustrious Ikshvāku stock of Śrī-Rāmachandra. They have left a very copious copper currency, whose legends do not mention any king but commemorate the victory of the Mālava republic.