Holy Abu

SR No.: 023259
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jayantvijay
Publisher: Yashovijay Jain Granthmala
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 380
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 14 MB

Page 85

..... [ Holy Ābu Kisangadh in Rājputānā and the Aravallī ranges. They reappear once again in the Abu massif ( also regarded as a part of the Aravallis ) and extend westwards as far as Nagarpārkar to the North of the Raņa of Cutch. To this metamorphic series of rocks also belong the area round about Pālitāņā and Goghā (in Surāșțra ) and portions of Southern Rājputānā States of Pratābgarh, Dungarpur and Bānswārā. The formations of this group show no semblance of life, either plant or animal, and geologists believe that life had not yet dawned in any part of the globe. Though of admittedly immense economic value, the rocks of this age in Gujarāt have, however, failed to reveal as yet any such deposits of economic value, except such few cases as the manganese deposits of Shivarājpur mines in the Panchamahāls and the well-known Motipurā marbles.
When the Archæan sea gradually dried up towards the close of what Indian geologists know as the Vindhyan era, Gujarāt became a land-mass, certainly with a topography and a configuration totally different from those of our own. At this period the Dhārwār and other later sediments were involved in gigantic earth-movements of the mountainbuilding type. As a result of this intense play of organic forces the Aravallis came into existence. They rose into a lofty mountain system ( much more than what we see today) and extended as a continuous chain from the Deccan to beyond the Northern limits of India. 1
The Ābu Mount and the Ārāsoor nearby, occupy the North and North-east corners of Gujarāt respectively. Although geologically a part of the Aravalli range, Abu is detached from it by a narrow valley of about seven miles across, through which flows the river Banās. Composed of
1 Geological Evolution of Mahā-Gujarāt, by Dr. R. N. Sukheshwālā, pub, Gujarāt Research Society Bombay, 1948.