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Mallas : Mallas were one of the sixteen great nations that, shortly before the rise of Buddhism, occupied the territories from Kabul valley to the banks of the Godavari. The gana-rājya of Malla comprised present day Gorakhpur district in U.P. Its government was run by a popular assembly & elders who carried on the business of the State. In the same period, besides the best-known republic of Vrijis of Vaishāli (formed by the union of several clans including the Lichchhavis & the Jñātrikas), there existed several smaller gana-rājyas such as the Śākyas of Kapilāvastu, the Bhargas of Sumsumāra Hill, the Mauryas of Pipphalivan, etc. These republics defended themselves fiercely against the attacks of their neighbour, the expansionist Magadhan kingdom under Bimbisāra & his ambitious son Ajātashatru. About 1370 AD, Jaya-Sthitimalla, grandson-in-law of the Malla king Jayarudra (1320-26) & son-in-law of a prince of the line of Harisimha (king of Bhatgaon in Nepal), seized the throne of the Mallas & by 1382 established his authority over practically the whole of Nepal. His three sons kept the kingdom undivided. About 1426, his grandson Yakshamalla came to the throne & proved the greatest of the Malla rulers of Nepal. Yakshamalla’s mistake of partitioning the kingdom among his sons & daughters led to the rival principalities of Kathmandu & Bhatgaon, who quarrels ultimately led to the conquest of Nepal by the Gurkhās in 1768. [Majumdar et al, Advanced History…, pp. 54, 55, 57, 383]