India, Dec. 28 -- Some 45-60 kilometres from my family's home in Vadodara, Gujarat, lies Pavagadh Hill. It is a majestic sight, rising above the surrounding plains to a height of 700 metres. It is part of the Deccan Traps, defined by the American Museum of Natural History as "a huge, rugged plateau that formed when molten lava solidified and turned to rock. The Deccan Traps date back to around 66 million years ago, when magma from deep inside Earth erupted to the surface."

But Pavagadh Hill is also classified by some to be an important outlier or extension in the southern Aravalli foothills area in the northern part of Gujarat. The latter is, after all, one of the four states where the hill range, currently in the throes of controversy, ...