SANDSTONE ROCK occura in most cotuitriee, au aggregatiou of sand by a sort of aendfusiou, as in quartz rock and in coramon gritstone, adjoiniug trap dykes or great faults. In many of the white sandstones tho grains merely cohere together. Some sandstones aro in the lamime, plane, waved, or slightly concentric; these admtt of being readily split. The freestones are not distinct& laminated, the grains being so arranged as to present equal resistance in every direction. They work freely under the stone saw and the ordinary picks and chisels. They can also be turned into balustrades, pedestals, and vases. In the East Indies, sandstones occur of different qualities, from the coarsest soft grit to the hardest freestone, the most compact snakestone, and the toughest chert.
The sandstones of the Kymore range in the Vindhya have a high commercial value at Partabpur, Chum., and Mirzapore, being used as flagstones and for ornamental purposes. The proximity of the Ganges affords an easy river carriage. They are in general fine-grained, and of reddish-yellow or greyish-white colours.
In the upper Bhanrer series are two varieties of excellent building stone,—one dark-red, some times quite unspotted, sometimes streaked and dashed with yellowish-white spots ; the other is a yellowish-white, very fine-grained rock, perfectly homogeneous both in texture and colour.
Flexible sandstone is found in Ulwar, at Dadri, in Jheend, and at Jubbulpur. It is called Sang-i larzan, i.e. shaking stone, and is obtained from the Kalyana Hill in the pargana Dadri ; it is used for roofing and for ornamental pillars. Sand stones also occur at Sabi Balabgarh, in the hills to the south-west of Dehli also at Kulceana Rohtuk ; and the palace at D'ehli and great mosque are of red sandstone.
The monoliths known as lat'hs afford the earliest examples of the uses to which the sandstones of N. Hindustan were applied (see Lat), and the first stone temples seetn to have been erected about the 2d century B.C.
The millstones of Chynepore, Sasseram, and Tilowlhoo, perhaps also Akbarpur, are famous. The Sone causeway and the Koylwan railway bridge are built of the dense sandstone of Sas seram, and little quantities of it are found in the higher portions of the range towards Rohtas. The best stone, while easily workable, is almost as hard as granite, and may be had of any colour, viz. white, crystalline, blue, grey, and all shades to a dark red.
The ghats of Benares, its palaces, walls, minarets, and many temples, are built of sand stone, and St. John's Church, Calcutta, is built of Chunar stone. The Vindhyan sandstones near Gwalior have been used to construct forts, temples, etc. ; and on the cliffs are some figures
of Titanic dimensions.
The upper Bhanrer formation has quarries to the south of Bhartpur, Futtehpur Sikri, and Rupas. Portions of the Taj at Agra, Akbar's palace at Futtehpur Sikri, the Jaina Masjid at Dehli, and buildings generally in Agra, Dehli, and Mutra (Mathura), and the palace of the raja of Bhartpur, have drawn on these quarries for the materials. used. The Jain temples and railway bridges at Barakar are built of sandstones of the Gondwana series. The caves of Sirgnja and Chang Bakhar are in the Gondwana sandstone. They have inscriptions in the old Pali character.
The Tawa viaduct is built of sandstones of the Bagra group of the upper Gondwana Belies. In the Jubbulpur station is a very dense sandstone which has been largely used locally, and the via duct over the Nerbadda below Jubbulpur has been built with it. The sandstones and flag-beds of the Rajmahal series are occasionally employed for local building purposes. The jurassic rocks of Cutch, the cretaceous sandstones of the Bagh beds, those of the eocene series at Dagshai 'Casa oli, Subathu, and Dharmsala, afford good' build ing material, at the latter place of a grey colour. The quartzite of the Satuma Hill in Manbhum, has been used in Calcutta for paving and coping.
The compact sandstones at Conjeveram are easily dressed. The whole of the valley of the Kistna and great parts of the valleys of its affluents, the Gutpurba, Malpurba, Bhima, Tungabudra, and Tumbudra, and much of the valley of the Godavery and of the valleys of its northern affluents, have limestone, clayslate, and sandstone rocks, and the houses and more extensive buildings are all built of these. The limestone of Kurnool, west to the Bhima, is an excellent building material. Soft sandstones resembling bathstone and tripoli abound near Nellore, Bellary, Cuddapah, and Hurryhur. Sandstones suited for grinding pur poses are obtained in Cuddapah ; at Chellamacoor, a greyish-brown schistose granular sandstone ; near Cnddapah there is bluish-grey compact magnesian limestone, suited for fine sharpening stones ; from Woontimitta, fine-grained schistose sandstone, suited for a ragstone. In Guntur, at Palnaud, are pm pie and lilac-slaty sandstones fine in grain, honestones, black limestones, and lithographic marbles. From Gootemookoola and Dyda, hones from Koopokoonda, 8 miles west of Vinacondah, below the signal pond ; rough sand stone glistening with mica. From Matoor Hill, schistose ragstone.—Powell's Handbook, pp. 35 56 ; Mad. Ex. Jur. Report ; 1?eports and Cata logues of Govt. Cent. Museum, Madras; Tomlinson.