GEOGRAPHY oF INDIA. 391 
Ow one side of mount Maandrus, according to our author, ‘are the 
Ni anga-loge@, which, he says, signifies naked people, and this is to. this day 
the true meaning of Nanga-loga in Hindi: their country is repeatedly 
éalled Nagna-desa, or country of thé, naked in the Puraras, and they Call 
themselves Nanctas or the naked, but this word they generally pronounce 
Lancta.* * They are called also Cuci, and in the Cshétra-samasa itis said; 
that the original name is Cemu, and Cemuca, unc are pronounced in the 
dialect of that country Ceu, Ceuca oF Ceuci; and Portuguese writers men+ 
tion the country of Cu, to the eastward of Bengal. 
Tus Vindhyan mountains are in general covered with forests called in 
Sanscrit, Aranya or At avi, and this last implies an,impervious wood, or near- 
ly so. The Vindhydtavis, are often mentioned in the Purdénas, and poetical | 
works, They are. divided into forest-cantons, mentioned in the lists of coun- 
tries in the Purdias; and in geographical works among these forest-cantons, 
ten are of more renown, than the others: these are to the east of the river 
Sova, and are called in the aboye lists Dasdrna; and in geographical 
tracts Das aran‘ya, or the ten forests, and in every one of them is a strong- 
hold or fort Rina, and Dasarna signifies the ten forts. Another name for 
these forts is Uttamarna, which implies their pre-eminence, and superiority 
of power above the others. “Vhese ten strongholds: are probably the 
Dasapur, or decapolis of the last section but one.of the Padma-purana, 
and of Cosas also, ‘There resided ten chiefs, who availing themselves of 
the supineness of their neighbours below, became hill robbers, and obtain« 
ed at various periods much might and honor. They were like the savage 
: 2 
® Lastatick Researches, Yol, 7th, p. 183. 
