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Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c12.s2: Name and Etymology

Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c12.s2

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Name and Etymology

c12.s2.1

They are referred to as Mallas in the Pāli texts¹ and Mallaī in the Jaina Prākrit books.² The Sanskrit Jaina commentator Jinaprabhamuni also mentions them as Mallas,³ whereas Kauṭilya refers to them as Mallakas.⁴ The word *Malla* also figures in the Sanskrit, Pāli and Prākrit lexicons in the sense of a "professional wrestler," apart from being the name of this tribe. On this point B. C. Law comments that "it is probable that the word 'Malla' denoting a professional wrestler was derived from the tribal name of this people".⁵ This is a fair judgement.

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¹ *Loc. cit.*; *Majjhima*, i, p. 231; *Aṅguttara*, i, p. 213; iv, p. 252, etc.

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² *Nirayāvalikā*, ed. Warren, pp. 27ff; *Kalpa Sūtra*, sec. 128, etc.

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³ *Comm. on Kalpa Sūtra*, sec. 128ff.

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⁴ *Arthaśāstra*, xi, pp. 376ff.

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⁵ *TAI*, p. 259.

c12.s2.7

The usage of the name Malla to mean "wrestler" or "boxer" may have been a secondary one. Perhaps in the Malla tribe the menfolk were highly skilled in the art of wrestling and were widely recognized as such. Thus, this tribal name also began to be applied to professional wrestlers, many of whom were actually members of the Malla tribe in early times.⁶ The *Vālodaka Jātaka* refers to 500 page-boys of Sāvatthi who wrestled like the very Mallians.⁷

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⁶ *Jāt.*, ii, p. 231; iv, pp. 148ff.

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⁷ *Ibid.*, ii, pp. 96ff; *cp.* *Cīvaravastu*, pp. 3, 35-7.

c12.s2.10

For a tribal name to be adopted as a professional one is by no means unique as it has its parallels in the Māgadhas and the Videhas, whom Manu treats as professional groups.⁸ That these were two ancient tribes is unquestionable. Similar is the case of the Ahīrs of today, the Ābhīras of earlier times. When the word Malla occurs in the pre-Buddhist literature it may apply to the Mallas as a tribe and as professional wrestlers at the same time.⁹

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⁸ Manu, x, 22; xii, 45.

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⁹ *Cf.* Monier Williams, *Skt.-Eng. Dic.*, *s.v.* *Malla*. The root from which the word is derived is not certain, but may have been *mal* or *mall*, to hold, to possess. *Cf.* Pāṇini, *Dhātupāṭha*, xiv, 22-3; xxxv, 84.

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