48 
ON THE OKIGINAL INHABITANTS 
strengtliens the doubt wlietlier Buddha was an Aryan at 
all. His name of Sakyamuni and his relationship with the 
Sakya race has been taken as a reason to associate his name 
with the Scythian tribes, who had for some time previously 
been invading north-western India. However this may be, 
Buddha's friendship with the Mallas supports his non- Aryan 
origin. The enmity which existed between the kings of 
Kosala and the Sakya princes is of itself significant^ lea^dng 
altogether out of consideration the question whether Baddha 
was a prince or not. Moreover the inimical position which 
Buddhism soon assumed towards Brahmanism, the great 
hold the former took on the non-Brahmanical population, 
which rushed to be received into its fold, makes the conjecture 
of Buddha's non- Aryan origin rather probable. 
Another branch of the Mallas came into colKsion -with. 
Alexander the Great, while he was progressing towards 
the South along the valley of the Indus. In the fight which 
ensued during his attack on their city he was, as is well 
known, severely wounded. This happened not far from the 
present Maltan, which word I assume to denote Mallasthana, 
the place of the Mallas, not Mulasthana, as has been assumed 
hitherto. In fact Sir Alexander Burnes states in his 
Travels into Bokhara (vol. Ill, p. 114) that " Mooltan is 
styled ' Malli than,' or ' Mali tharun ' the place of the 
Malli, to this day." 
Malayaketu, the son of the mountain king Parvataka, 
who figures in the drama Mudraraksasa, represents the 
northern branch of the Mallas, settled in Malayabhumi, 
near the Himalaya while the Pandya kings Malayadhvaja, 
Malayanarapati, Malayaprabha, Malayasimha and others are 
representatives of the south. 
Even to this day the name of the Mallas is preserved 
among the population all over India, for the Malas (Mais), 
