The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c7.s5.6

c7.s5.6

Pliny mentions the Oretes as a people of India in whose country stood Mount Maleus ;* but in another passage he locates this mountain amongst the Monedes and Suari; and in a third passage he places Mount Mallus amongst the Malli. As the last people were to the north of the Calingæ, and as the Monedes and Suari were to the south of the Palibothri, we must look for the Oretes somewhere about the Mahânadi river and its tributaries. The Monedes and Suari must therefore be the Mûndas and Suars, as already noticed, and the Oretes must be the people of Orissa. *Malê* is one of the Dravidian terms for a mountain; and as the Uraons, or people of west Orissa, still speak a Dravidian dialect, it is probable that *Mallus* was not the actual name of the mountain. May not this have been the famous *Sri-Parvat* of Telingâna, which gave its name to the *Sri-Parvatiya* Andhras?