Question

Geologists have found fossils of sea animals on the Himalayas. Some of these are actually worshipped in many homes as ’Salagramas’. How do you think are these ossil here on the Himalayas?

Answer 1

• The Himalayas are formed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian land masses which were originally separate. 
• This collision uplifts mountains. 
• From around 200 million years ago the area between the two separate land masses was covered by the Tethys sea, which was filling with sediments and had sea creatures which left fossils in the sedimentary rocks formed there. 
• So the fossils found in the Himalayas are those formed in the ancient sea bed of the Tethys sea, now exposed and pushed up to form mountains. 
• Salagramas are usually black coloured spherical fossils found in the sacred river Gandaki. 
• The name salagrama refers to the name of the village on the bank of the Gandaki, where the holy stones are picked up. 
• Hindus consider these salagramas as an iconic representation of Vishnu and worship these salagramas.