The Nerbadda is fed almost entirely from the south, as the watershed of the Vindhyan table land stands but little back from its southern face. On both sides of the valley the high ground Ls often occupied by basaltic trappean rocks. On the north such rocks spread into wide patches over the country towards Bhopal, Saugor, and Damoh, in which direction they gradually die out ; on the S. and S.W. the trap is found to cover considerable areas among the Gondwana FM's, and it becomes more and more the prevailing stulace rock in this direction, towards the great trap area, of the Dekhan. The prevalence of regularly bedded, fine-grained grits, with a characteristic red colour, is the most striking lithological feature of the Vindhyan group ; and, speaking of the formation generally, its most marked character istic certainly is the persistency of this Ethological aspect over great areas. This sameness of tex ture is strongly in contrast with the prevailing character of all the more recent sandstone for mations to the south. Ripple-marking may be considered as a phenomenon characteristic of the Vindhyan series ; almost totally absent in all the other groups of sandstone of Central India, it is almost everywhere throughout them found pre served in the most extraordinary perfection.
The Vindhya mountains form the southern limit of Hindustan, but, further south, separated by the deep valley of the Nerbadda, is a parallel chain called Injadri or Satpura, which mnst be crossed before we reach the next natural division in the valley of the Tapti. This small tract is low, but the rest of the Dekhan is almost entirely occupied by a table-land of triangular form about the level of that of Central India.
The Vindhyau languages, and particularly the Gond, have a closer agreement with the Carnatica and Tuluva, and even with the Kodagu and Todava, than with the adjacent Telugu. This is
seen in the forms of many common Dravidian roots and particles. Gondi has also some special affinities with ancient Tamil. It is probable that the Telugu and Mahrati have spread inland from the east and west into the upper basin of the Godavery, and thus cut off the ancient connection between the Gondi and the Carnatica and the Malealam, which, with the Konkani, Tulu, and Tamil, prevail on the low country throughout the rest of the belt to Cape Comorin. The main por tion of the South Dravidian land is occupied by three poptdoua nations, speaking as many dialects.
Professor Max Muller is of opinion that when the Aryan tribes immigrated into the north of India, they came as a warrior people,—vanquish mg, destroying, and subjecting the savage and despised inhabitants of those countries ; but that, in' the countries south of the Vindhya, their entry was in the way of colonization and instead of introducing their own Sanskrit language, they adopted those of the southern nations,—refined and improved them, till they even rivalled the Sanskrit in perfection, though there remain up to the present day, in some parts of the interior of the peninsula, savage tribes never reached by the superior civilisation of the Aryan. These earlier inhabitants of India were considered by the Brah mans as impure and unworthy to partake of their religious sacrifices, and found a refuge in the thick forests of the mountain districts, and in the countries south of the Vindhya range, while some of them were tolerated by the Brahmans, so as to remain in a state of slavery.—Intp. Gaz. ; Williams' Nala, p. 220 ; Ritchie, i. p. 6 ; Hind. Th.; Prof. Max Muller, Rep. Brit. Ass., 1847, p. 330 ; Elphinstone's India, p. 3 ; Dr. Oldham.