Malla janapada

Malla was an ancient Indo-Aryan people of north-eastern South Asia, attested in the Iron Age and remembered as one of the sixteen mahajanapadas of early India. The Mallas lived in the region of modern Kushinagar district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the Licchavis to the east and the Sakyas and Koliyas to the west. Unlike the neighbouring kingdoms, the Mallas organised themselves into a gaṇasaṅgha, an aristocratic republic in which important decisions were taken by an assembly of clan heads. Their territory was divided into two branches, and the Mallas were part of the larger Vajjika League that opposed the expansion of Magadha. Kushinagar, one of their towns, became famous as the place where the Buddha died. The Buddha is said to have visited the Mallas, and their assembly is described in early Buddhist texts. The Malla republics were eventually absorbed by Magadha in the fourth century BCE.