Deccan Plateau
The
Deccan Plateau is a vast
plateau in
India, encompassing most of Central and
Southern India.
It comprises the whole of peninsular India south of the
Vindhya range and has an elevation which ranges from 1,500 to 2,500 feet (450 to 750 m). It is bounded in the west by the
Western Ghats and in the east by the
Eastern Ghats. These two formations form one of the vertex of a triangle which encompasses the plateau with the Vindhya range forming the third side. This region is one of the most stable land masses of the world.
The name
Deccan is an anglicised form of the
Prakrit word
', itself derived from the Sanskrit word ', meaning 'South'.As suggested by some linguists it is because, as Aryans came to India, they, while looking towards the east, called it 'Daksina'. As phonologically it resembles "Dakha Sadjna", meaning right side or front as Aryans came from the north and moved forward up to Deccan.
Ancient
Dakshinapatha gave its name to modern
Deccan or
Dekkan.
In the
Mahabharata, Dakshinapatha is placed beyond Avanti and
Vindhyas and to south of the kingdom of
Vidarbhas and southern
Kosalas, the latter being located on the banks of the rivers
Wardha and
Mahanadi.
It lies south of the
Indo-Gangetic plain. It is bounded by the
Western Ghats in the west, the
Eastern Ghats to the east, the
Nilgiris in the south and the
Satpura and
Vindhya ranges in the north. The plateau elevation is about 500
m on average. It is composed of black volcanic
basalt soil. The chief crop is
cotton, however
sugarcane,
rice and other crops also common. Several Indian states cover parts of the Deccan:
Maharashtra covers most of the northern plateau, and
Chhattisgarh the northeast corner.
Andhra Pradesh covers the east-central portion of the Deccan, and
Karnataka the west-central and most of the southern portion of the plateau, with the southernmost portion in
Tamil Nadu. The largest city in the Deccan is
Bangalore, southern India. Other major cities include
Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, and
Nagpur,
Pune, and
Sholapur in Maharashtra.
The
Godavari River and its tributaries, including the
Indravati, drain most of the northern portion of the plateau, rising in the Western Ghats and draining east towards the
Bay of Bengal. The Tungabhadra,
Krishna River and its tributaries, including the
Bhima River, which also run from west to east, drain the central portion of the plateau. The southernmost portion of the plateau is drained by the
Kaveri River, which rises in the Western Ghats of Karnataka and bends south to break through the Nilgiri hills into Tamil Nadu, emptying into the
Bay of Bengal.
The vast
volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan were laid down in the massive
Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred at the end of the
Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. Some
paleontologists speculate that this eruption may have caused the extinction of the
dinosaurs. During a period lasting many hundreds of years there was a lot of volcanic activity in the region. The molten lava that erupted out of the volcanoes solidified into a hard rocky layer. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted many hundreds of years, and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table. Hence it is also known as
Table Top.
Typically the Deccan Plateau is made up of
basalt. This is an
extrusive igneous rock. Also in certain sections of the region, we can find
granite, which is an
intrusive igneous rock. The difference between these two rock types are: basalt rock forms on eruption of lava, that is, on the surface (either out of a volcano, or through massive fissures in the ground), while granite forms deep within the earth, miles below the volcano. Granite generally represents the main magma chamber that forms during the subduction of an oceanic plate. This magma chamber would have fed numerous volcanoes on the surface. Granite is a
felsic rock, meaning it is rich in
potassium feldspar and
quartz. This composition is continental in origin (meaning it is the primary composition of the
continental crust). Since it cooled underground, it has large visible crystals. Basalt, on the other hand, is
mafic in composition -- meaning it is rich in
pyroxene and, in some cases,
olivine, both of which are Mg-Fe rich minerals. Basalt is similar in composition to
mantle rocks, indicating that it came from the mantle and did not mix with continental rocks. Basalt forms in areas that are spreading, whereas granite forms in areas that are colliding. Since both rocks are found in the Deccan Plateau, it indicates two different environments of formation.
The Deccan is rich in minerals. Primary mineral ores found in this region are
mica and
iron ore in the
Chhota Nagpur region, and
diamonds,
gold and other
metals in the
Golconda region.
The Deccan is home to many
languages and people.
Bhil and
Gond people live in the hills along the northern and northeastern edges of the plateau, and speak various languages that belong to both the
Indo-European and
Dravidian families of languages.
Marathi, an
Indo-Aryan language, is the main language of the north-western portion of the Deccan plateau.
Urdu,
Telugu, and
Kannada, are the predominant languages of
Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka respectively, they occupy the plateau.
Tamil is the main language of the country to the south of the plateau, and
Malayalam that of the hills and coast to the south-west. Moreover, the city of
Hyderabad is an important centre of Urdu language in the Deccan; its surrounding areas also host a notable population of
Urdu speakers.
*
South India, which includes
Deccan.
*
Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 498 (scanned image at
SriPedia Initiative): Sanskrit
dakṣiṇa meaning `right', `southern'.
