Porbandar stone

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File:Porbunder Stone Quarries, c.1890.jpg

File:PWD Bombay.jpg of the building features Porbandar stone.]]

Porbandar stone is the miliolite limestone found in the carbonate rocks of Saurashtra region in Gujarat, India.{{Cite journal|url=https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/56/1-4/584|title=Notes on the Consolidated Æolian Sands of Kathiawar|first=Frederick|last=Chapman|date=February 1, 1900|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society|volume=56|issue=1–4|pages=584–589|via=jgs.lyellcollection.org|doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1900.056.01-04.32|s2cid=140196559|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6MMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA135|title=Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India|first=Geological Survey of|last=India|date=June 28, 1885|publisher=order of the Government of India.|via=Google Books}} During the British Raj, the stone was extensively used in many public buildings of Bombay (now Mumbai), including the Victoria Terminus, Knesset Eliyahoo synagogue, Bombay High Court and Crawford Market.{{harvnb|Survey of India|1921|p=265}}: "...while the foraminiferal stone in Kathiawar is extensively used in Bombay and Karachi"{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnQIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA116|title=Handbook of the Bombay Presidency: With an Account of Bombay City|first1=John|last1=Murray (Firm)|first2=Edward Backhouse|last2=Eastwick|date=June 28, 1881|publisher=John Murray|via=Google Books}}{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/945rev.pdf |title=Nomination documents |website= whc.unesco.org|access-date=2020-06-28}}

The name derives from the port city of Porbandar from where it was shipped to Bombay and other cities, and does not refer to the stone quarried in the city itself; there have been instances of the city stone, considered inferior to the original, being passed off as the genuine 'Porbandar' stone.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6MMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA135|title=Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India|first=Geological Survey of|last=India|date=June 28, 1885|publisher=order of the Government of India.|via=Google Books}} In addition to Bombay, the stone also appears in prominent buildings of Madras and Cochin.{{Cite journal|author=Lele, V. S.|title = Quaternary Formations in the Bhadar Valley-Western India|year=1988|journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute|volume=47/48|pages=165–205|jstor = 42930225}} The stone was highly prized by sculptors and architects, and during 1917-18 around 32,420 tonnes was sent outside the state to Calcutta, Madras, Karachi and Rangoon.{{harvnb|Solomon|Bond|1992|p=473}}