• Macchā

A country, with its people, included in the traditional List of the sixteen Mahājanapadas (A.i.213; iv. 252, 256, 260).

The Macchā are generally mentioned with the Sūrasenā (E.g., D.ii.200; cp. Kāsikosalā, Vajjimallā).

In the Vidhura Pandita Jātaka (J. i.280) the Macchā are mentioned among those who witnessed the game of dice between the king of the Kurus and Punnaka.

The Macchā country lay to the south or south west of Indraprastha and to the south of Sūrasena. Its capital was Virātanagara or Vairāt, so called because it was the city of King Virāta. Rv.vii.6, 18; Law: Anct. Geog. Of India, p. 19.