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The
Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of
Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and
Chhattisgarh. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the
plateau, and the basin of the Mahanadi River lies to the south. The total area
of the Chota Plateau is approximately 65,000 square kilometres (25,000 sq mi). The
name Nagpur is probably taken from Nagavanshis, who ruled in this part of the
country. Chota is a corruption of the word Chutia, a village in the outskirts
of Ranchi, which has the remains of an old fort belonging to the Nagavanshis.
The
Chota Nagpur Plateau is a continental plateau - an extensive area of land
thrust above the general land. The plateau has been formed by continental
uplift from forces acting deep inside the earth. The Gondwana substrates attest
to the plateau's ancient origin. It is part of the Deccan Plate, which broke
free from the southern continent during the Cretaceous to embark on a
50-million-year journey that was violently interrupted by the northern Eurasian
continent. The northeastern part of the Deccan Plateau, where this ecoregion
sits, was the first area of contact with Eurasia.
