Vindhya Range (विन्‍ध्य)
Range
Vindhya Range
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh
River	Kali Sindh, Parbati, Betwa, Ken, Son, Tamsa or Tons
Highest point	Amarkantak
- elevation	1,048 m (3,438 ft)
- coordinates	22°40′N 81°45′E / 22.67°N 81.75°E / 22.67; 81.75
Topographic map of India showing the range

The Vindhya Range (Sanskrit: विन्‍ध्य) is a range of older rounded mountains and hills in the west-central Indian subcontinent, which geographically separates the Indian subcontinent into northern India (the Indo-Gangetic plain) and Southern India.

Introduction[link]

The western end of the range is in the state of Gujarat at the eastern side of the Gujarat peninsula, near the border with the modern states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Reaching the sub-continent proper, the range runs east and north nearly to the Ganges River at Mirzapur. The area to the north and west of the range are arid and inhospitable, located in the shadow of both the Vindhya and the higher Aravalli range to the south blocking the prevailing winds.

Origin of rivers[link]

The southern slopes of the range are drained by the Narmada River, which proceeds westward to the Arabian Sea in the wide valley between the Vindhya Range and the parallel Satpura Range farther to the south. The northern slopes of the range are drained by tributaries of the Ganges, including the Kali Sindh, Parbati, Betwa, & Ken (both are tributary of the yamuna, ), Son & Tamsa or Tons both are tributary of the Ganges, drains the southern slopes of the range at its eastern end.

Palaeontology[link]

The earliest known multicellular fossils of eukaryotes (filamentous algae) have been discovered from Vindhya basin dating back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago.^[1]

The Vindhyan tableland is a plateau that lies to the north of the central part of the range. The cities of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, and Indore lie on the tableland, which rises higher than the Indo-Gangetic plain to its north.

Legend[link]

Hindu legends say that the Vindhya mountains once showed a tendency to grow so high as to obstruct the usual trajectory of the sun. This was accompanied by increasing vanity on the part of that mountain range, which demanded that Surya should circum-ambulate the Vindhyas in the same way as he does Mount Meru. The need arose to subdue, by guile, the Vindhyas, and Agastya was chosen to do that.

Agastya Muni journeyed from north to south, and on the way encountered the now impassible Vindhya mountains. He asked the mountain range to facilitate his passage across to the south. In reverence for Agastya, the Vindhya mountains bent low enough to enable the sage and his family to cross over and enter southern India. The Vindhya range also promised not to increase in height until Agastya Muni and his family returned to the north. Agastya Muni settled permanently in the south, near Nasik by the river Godavari in the beginning & later far south in Tamilnadu, and the Vindhya range, true to its word, never grew further.

References[link]

• Srivastava, P. and Bali R. 2006. Proterozoic carbonaceous remains from the Chorhat sandstone: oldest fossils of the Vindhyan supergroup. Geobios V. 39, pp. 873-878.

1. ^ Bengtson, S.; Belivanova, V.; Rasmussen, B.; Whitehouse, M. (May 2009). "The controversial "Cambrian" fossils of the Vindhyan are real but more than a billion years older". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106 (19): 7729–7734. Bibcode 2009PNAS..106.7729B. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0812460106. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2683128. PMID 19416859. //www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2683128.  edit

Coordinates: 24°37′N 82°00′E / 24.617°N 82°E / 24.617; 82

Vasundhara Das
Shot during her performance at Yahoo! Bangalore.
Background information
Born	1977 Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Genres	Hindustani classical, Western
Occupations	Actress, singer.
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1999–present
Associated acts	Arya, World Music band, with Roberto Narain on drums.

Vasundhara Das (born 1977), is an Indian singer and actress. She has acted in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She is the co-founder of world music band Arya. As a playback singer, she is best remembered for singing "Shakalaka Baby" from the Tamil film Mudhalvan, which was also her debut song. She has performed many hit songs in Hindi and Tamil films thereafter.

Early life[link]

Vasundhara Das was born in a Tamil family from Bangalore.^[1][2] She studied at Cluny Convent High School, Bangalore, and Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, graduating in Economics and Mathematics.

She began training in Hindustani Classical music at the age of six. She used to run away from home to avoid taking music lessons. In her college days she was part of an all-girl band. She can play some Flamenco strums on her guitar.

She speaks Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and English.^[3]

Vasundhara Das married her long-time friend Robert Narain. Robert belongs to the music troupe, ‘Arya’ and is also a skilled musician.

Career[link]

Actor[link]

Vasundhara began acting with the Kamal Haasan film Hey Ram (1999) and started her playback singing career with A. R. Rahman's Tamil film Mudhalvan. She was considered for the role of heroine by Mani Ratnam in his movie Alaipayuthey opposite R. Madhavan. She played heroine alongside Mohanlal in the blockbuster Malayalam movie Raavanaprabhu, the female lead role opposite Ajith in the Tamil movie Citizen, and heroine opposite Dharshan Tugdeep in the Kannada movie Lankesh Pathrike. She also appeared in the Hindi T.V. serial Rab Ne Banadi Jodi and a popular Hindi movie Monsoon Wedding.

Singer[link]

She moved her base from Bangalore to Mumbai^[4] and founded a musical band named Arya with Roberto Narain. The band comprises musicians from various backgrounds in world music ranging from Hindustani and Carnatic classical music to Jazz, Latin, rock and pop. Roberto Narain plays the drums and Vasundhara provides Western and Indian vocals. Arya’s music can be broadly classified as World Music. Arya’s first performance was at the prestigious festival La Mar de Musicas in Spain in 2003. The band toured the United States in September 2004.

Her breakthrough as a playback singer came with "Shakalaka Baby", the song for which she is best known for.^[5][6] She sang it for the 1999 Tamil film Mudhalvan, under composer A. R. Rahman. She later recorded most of her hit songs with Rahman in Tamil as well as in Hindi. Her breakthrough in Bollywood came in the 2001 film Aks with songs like "Rabba Rabba" for which she was nominated for the 2002 Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.

She has sung one song "Pattu viral thottu vittadhaal" for Ilaiyaraaja in the Tamil movie Dhanush directed by A.M. Gurumani. She has sung an English song in the Hindi film Lagaan for the British character played by Rachel Shelley, again under A. R. Rahman. Her most famous Hindi song is "It's the time to Disco" in the film Kal Ho Na Ho sung for Preity Zinta . She is also well known for the song "Kattipudi Kattipudi Da" in the movie Kushi. She often sings for the actress Preity Zinta among others. She has also sung for the hit movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa.

Vasundhara Das singing live at a concert in Bangalore

She has recorded her own album of non-film songs. She has sung in French, English, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. She has also sung a song called "Tide" with Ashu and Dhruv for the show Channel V Jammin{'}]; the song is included in the Jammin' album. She performed in Yuva Dasara 2011 at Mysore, Karnataka. Her latest performance happened in Ekatvam organised by Mahindra Satyam at Hyderabad on 28th January 2012.

Discography[link]

• Ugly Aur Pagli [2008] Hindi
• Ullasamga Utsahamga [2008] Telugu
• Sillunu Oru Kaadhal [2007] Tamil
• Corporate [2006] Hindi
• Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna [2006] Hindi
• Happy [2006] Telugu
• Mayabazar [2006] Telugu
• Ek Dastak [2005] Hindi
• Aegan [2008] Tamil
• Kushi [2000] Tamil
• Kal Ho Naa Ho [2003] Hindi
• Boys [2003] Tamil
• Kanda Naal Mudhal [2005] Tamil
• Anniyan [2005] Tamil
• Sye [2004] Telugu
• Missama [2003] Telugu
• Mee Intikoste Yem Istaru Ma Intikoste Yem Testaru [2003] Telugu
• Manmadhan [2004] Tamil
• Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana [2005] Hindi
• Pathar Bezubaan [2004] Hindi
• Vajram [2004] Malayalam
• Filmstar [2003] Hindi
• Lankesh Patrike [2002] Kannada
• Adrustam [2002] Telugu
• Kadhal Virus [2002] Tamil
• Citizen [2001] Tamil
• Raavanaprabhu [2001] Malayalam
• Monsoon Wedding [2000] Hindi
• Hey Ram [1999] Tamil & Hindi

Music influences[link]

• Hindustani * Rock and Funk
• Spanish

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vasundhara Das at the Internet Movie Database
• * http://www.littleindia.com/news/153/ARTICLE/1290/2006-09-14.html
• http://www.hamaraphotos.com/photo_-34804.html

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