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Malva : The mountain territory just above the Takshashilā was occupied by the kingdoms of Uraśā & Abhisāra. To its south-east lay the twin kingdoms of the Purus or Pauravas, a people famous in the Vedic hymns. On the confines of the country of the Pauravas lay the territories of the Glaukanikoi & Kathaioi & the principality of Saubhūti was occupied by the Śibis & the Mālavas, with who were associated the Kshudrakas, while lower down the Chenab. After his underhand defeat of the formidable Puru, Alexander overran these petty principalities & tribal territories in the vicinity of the realm of the great Paurava…. The conqueror himself received a dangerous wound while storming one of the citadels of the powerful tribe of the Mālavas. At some uncertain date they moved on to Avanti & gave their name to the region which came to be called Mālavā or Mālwā with its capital at Ujjayini. Nowadays the name Mālwā is confined to the hilly tableland bounded on the south by the Vindhyan Range, but it has been extended to include the Narmadā Valley. The Mālavas had at first a republican government which was later turned into a monarchy. In the early centuries of the Christian era they passed under the rule of Śaka Satraps. In the fourth century they recognised the supremacy of Samudragupta whose son & successor, Chandragupta II annexed their territory to the Gupta Empire. It was visited by Fa-Hien in the beginning of the 5th century & its prosperity, salubrious climate & good administration profoundly impressed the Chinese pilgrim. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire, Mālwā passed under the domination of the Hunas who again were defeated by King Yashodharvarman in c.528 AD who then established his capital at Ujjayini, the famous & ancient city of the Mālavas. It was not only a sacred city of the Hindus especially due to the periodic Kumbha Melas which are especially sacred to Shaivites, but it was a centre of learning & is traditionally associated with the name of the great king Vikramāditya & his famous court poet Kālidāsa. The kingdom had turned into a settled well-governed state of Mālwā which in later times formed a part, first of the Gujarat of the Chālukya dominions & later on of the Gurjara-Pratyahāra Empire. On the fall of the latter it passed to the Paramāras from whom it was later on seized by the Tomaras. From 1305 to 1818 it passed from ‘Alā-ud-din Khalji to Dilāwar Khan Ghuri to Sultan of Gujarat to Akbar to Sindhia to the Octopus. [Based on R.C. Majumdar et al’s Advanced History of India, pp.62-65, 140; Bhattacharya: 606]