Question

What are the features of the lesser Himalayas?

Answer 1

Hint: The Himalayas translated in Sanskrit as ‘The abode of snow’ is one of the loftiest mountain systems in the world that forms the northern limit of India. The Indian Himalaya extends from the eastern boundary of Pakistan to the border of Myanmar for about 2500 km with a varying width of about 500 km to the west and 320 km to the east.

Complete answer:
 The Himachal range of the Lesser Himalaya is a major east-west mountain range in India having an elevation of 12,000 to 14,500 feet. Some of the features of Lesser Himalayas are as follows:
1. The Lesser Himalaya was formed rising up south from the Greater Himalayas. The mountain range lies between the Great Himalayas in the northeast and the Siwalik range towards the southeast.
2. The mountain ranges of the lesser Himalayas consist generally of unfossiliferous sediments or metamorphosed crystalline. The main rock consists of slate, limestone, and quartzites.
3. The Himachal range is an important hydrographic barrier and is crossed by relatively few rivers. Many drainage systems have evolved and have created tributaries flowing from the south of the Himalayas through the middle cutting through major gorges and then to the east.
4. Many ethnic groups are found living along the Himachal range and northward into the middle hills having affinities to Indo-Burmese, Nepalese and Indo-European Hindus called Paharis who mainly belong to the upper Brahman, the Kshatriya, or the Chhetri castes.

Note: The Himalayas consists of four lithotectonic mountain ranges namely:-
1) The Trans Himalaya or the Tethys Himalaya
2) The Greater Himalayas
3) The Lesser Himalayas and
4) The Shiwalik or the Outer Himalayas.