page_title: Malavas
section_title: Conflict against the Western Satraps
hierarchical_section_title: Malavas / Southwards migration / Conflict against the Western Satraps
caption_attribution_description: English: Gangdhar inscription of Vishvavarman
context_page_description: The Malavas or Malwas were an ancient Indian tribe. Modern scholars identify them with the Malloi who were settled in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander's invasion in the 4th century BCE. Later, the Malavas migrated southwards to present-day Rajasthan, and ultimately to Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Their power gradually declined as a result of defeats against the Western Satraps, the Gupta emperor Samudragupta, and the Chalukya emperor Pulakeshin II.
  The Malwa region in central India is named after them. The Malava era, which later came to be known as Vikram Samvat, was probably first used by them.
context_section_description: Around 120 CE, the Malavas are mentioned as besieging the king of the Uttamabhadras to the south, but the Uttamabhadras were finally rescued by the Western Satraps, and the Malvas were crushed. The account appears in an inscription at the Nashik Caves, made by the Nahapana's viceroy Ushavadata:
  ...And by order of the lord I went to release the chief of the Uttamabhadras, who had been besieged for the rainy season by the Malayas, and those Malayas fled at the mere roar
  (of my approaching) as it were, and were all made prisoners of the Uttamabhadra warriors.
  — Inscription in Cave No.10 of the Nashik Caves.
caption: Gangadhar Stone Inscription of Viśvavarman, king of the Aulikaras, a branch of the Malavas, and contemporary of Kumaragupta, 423 CE.[8]
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