The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c7.s4.12

c7.s4.12

Colonel Dalton gives no explanation of the name of Múnda; but as I find that the head men of the villages are called Múnda or Moto amongst the Hors of Singhbhûm and other divisions of the Mûnda race, I conclude that the Múndas or Motos must once have been the ruling division of the nation. The name of Múnda is found in the Vishnu Purâna* as the appellation of a dynasty of eleven princes who succeeded the Tusháras or Tokhari. In the Vayu Purâna, however, the name is omitted, and we have only Marunda, which is most probably the variant form of another name, Muruṇḍa, as found in two inscriptions of the second and third centuries.* Ptolemy has *Marundai* as the name of a people to the north of the *Ganges*; but to the south of the river he places the *Mandali*, who may be the *Múndas* of Chutia Nâgpur, as their language and country are called *Mundala*. This is only a suggestion; but from the position of the *Mandali* they would seem to be the same people as the *Monedes* of Pliny, who with the *Suari* occupied the inland country to the south of the Palibothri.† As this is the exact position of the country of the *Múndas* and *Suars*, I think it quite certain that they must be the same race as the *Monedes* and *Suari* of Pliny.