The Indian peninsula, though considered to be a very stable part the earth's crust and hence called the 'Indian Shield', shows in different parts evidence of formerly having sustained epicontinental basins, in which sedimentation occurred. These sediments are now found in detached prisms as crystalline gneisses and schists in different parts of India, e.g. in the Madras Presidency, Bihar and Orissa, Central Provinces, Central India, and Rajputana. They have been found overlying the ancient gneigses (Archaean), and belong to a division known in Indian geology as the Dharwar System.