A History of Agriculture in India v1.c11.9

v1.c11.9

The Siwalik or Indobrahm River. From the north-eastern corner of Assam, a mighty river flowed in the western direction along the foot of the Himalayas as far as the Pothohar or Rawalpindi plateau in Pakistan, where it joined the Indus which emptied itself into the Arabian Sea, then lying farther inside Sind. This river has been called the “Indobrahm” or the Siwalik River. It received on its right bank the rivers of the Gangetic system as well as the Punjab rivers of the Indus system. On its left bank, it might have received the ancient Son, Chambal, etc., from Peninsular India. The Indobrahm flourished from the Miocene to the Pliocene for about 20 million years. During this period, its basin, 6,000 metres deep, was filled with mud, sand, gravel, boulders, logs of wood and skeletons of dead animals that lived in the neighbourhood. An excessive thickness of sediments accumulated as the basin was gradually sinking in response to the rising Himalayas in accordance with the principle of isostasy.