A country, with its people, included in the traditional List of the sixteen Mahájanapadas (A.i.213; iv. 252, 256, 260).
The Macchá are generally mentioned with the Súrasená (E.g., D.ii.200; cp. Kásikosalá, Vajjimallá). In the Vidhura Pandita Játaka (J. i.280) the Macchá are mentioned among those who witnessed the game of dice between the king of the Kurus and Punnaka.
The Macchá country lay to the south or south west of Indraprastha and to the south of Súrasena. Its capital was Virátanagara or Vairát, so called because it was the city of King Viráta. Rv.vii.6, 18; Law: Anct. Geog. Of India, p. 19.