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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 17, p. 102.

102 MAL Wfl From Chashtana onwards a regular succession of Satraps ruled Mąlwā, the most famous being Rudradāman, who added greatly to his domi- nions, and whose record at Junāgarh in Kāthiāwār (A. D. 150) mentions that he possessed Akara and Avanti, or Eastern and Western Mālwā, he himself ruling fromUjjain, while his other provinceswere held by viceroys. As the rule of the Satraps died away, the Guptas of Magadha rose to power. Samudra Gupta (326-75), in his Allahabād pillar inscription, mentions the Mālavās as a frontier tribe. His successor Chandra. Gupta II (375-413) extended his dominions westwards and, driving out the Kshatrapas, annexed Mālwā about A. D. 39o, as his records at Sārichl and U.dayagiri show. In the next century the Gupta empire broke up ; and, though some of the family still held petty principalities, the greater part of the tract fell to the White Hun adventurers, Toramāna and his son Mihirakula. The White Huns probably entered India towards the end of the fifth century, and, after occupying the Punjab, forced their way southwards. During Skanda Gupta's lifetime they were kept in check; but on his death Toramāna occupied the districts round Gwalior, where an inscription put up by his son Mihirakula has been found. Advancing farther southwards, Toramāna and his son soon obtained a footing in Malwā, which by 500 was entirely in their power, the petty Gupta chiefs Budha Gupta and Bhānu Gupta, of whom records dated 484 and 510 exist, becoming their feudatories. On Toramāna's death about 510, Mihirakula suc- ceeded; but his harsh rule caused a revolt, and about 528 he was defeated by a combination of native princes under Nara Sinha Gupta Bālāditya of Magadha, and Yasodharman, a chief who seems to have ruled at Mandasor, where the battle was fought. Yasodharman erected two pillars at Mandasor, recording his victory, and appears then to have become one of the principal chiefs in Mālwā. In the seventh century the famous king Harshavardhana of Kanauj (6o6-48) held suzerainty over Mālwā. It is uncertain when the Mālavās actually entered the tract. From the second to the seventh century, while the country was under the strong rule of the Kshatrapas, the Guptas, and Harshavardhana of Kanauj, they must have held a subordinate position; but on the fall of the brief empire of Kanauj they probably acquired greater inde- pendence, and rising in importance gave their name to the region. What exactly happened is uncertain; but it would appear that the Mālavās became gradually Hinduized, possibly from contact with the Brāhman rulers of Ujjain, and being a hardy race of warriors, and as such desirable allies, were promoted to Kshattriya rank, and finally absorbed into the great Rājput families which then began to be evolved out of the heterogeneous elements of which the population of India was composed.