A historically important site that once was a major city and served as a capital in the 1st millennium, it has been referred to as Mallar, Mallari and Sarabhapur in inscriptions and Indian literature.
It is about 30 kilometers southeast from Bilaspur in a rural terrain, connected with a feeder road from India's National Highway 49.
The oldest known sculpture of Vishnu with four-arm figure holding shankha, chakra and gada dated to c. 200 BCE was found in Malhar, Chhattisgarh.
He established his new capital, Kushasthalipura on the river Kushavrate near the Vindhya mountain range, which divides north and south India.
As part of his military campaigns, Sahadeva targeted the kingdoms in the regions south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.