Malava republic

Origins

The Malavas first appear as the Malloi of Greek historians, a republican people of the lower Punjab who resisted Alexander in 326 to 325 BCE; Alexander was badly wounded storming one of their towns. In the following centuries they moved south-east into Rajasthan, where they were established near Nagar in the Tonk district by the 2nd century BCE.

Rule and society

The Malavas were a gana, governed by an assembly of clan leaders rather than a king. Thousands of small copper coins found at Nagar carry the legend Malavanam jaya, victory of the Malavas. An era beginning in 57 BCE, later known as the Vikrama Samvat, was long called the era of the Malava gana, and it is still used in India.

Decline and legacy

The Malavas fought the Western Satraps and in the 4th century acknowledged the overlordship of Samudragupta, whose Allahabad pillar inscription lists them among subject peoples. They then disappear as an independent power, but the region of Malwa preserves their name.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.