Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c12.s2.1

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.