Ummehani Hussain Kagalwalla

Sacred Steinkerns: Shaligram Shilas as a Living Geomyth, and the Palaeontological Consequences of Devotional Custody

This paper looks at Shaligram shilas, the black spiral stones from Nepal's Kali Gandaki river that Hindus worship as forms of Vishnu, from two sides. As geology, they are Late Jurassic ammonoid fossils. The paper traces them from the Spiti Shale sea floor on the edge of the Tethy...