Hin: अरावली arāvalī
‘Line of Jagged Peaks’ – Mountain Range
From Skt: ārāvalī, ‘row of awl-shaped hills’ [Skt: ārā, ‘shoemaker’s awl/knife; Skt: āvali, ‘row’, ‘range’].
The mountains stretch 700 km through Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat reaching a maximum peak of nearly 2,000m.
Monier-Williams is the source for this etymology. Others suggest Skt: adaval, ‘supine’, ‘obstructing (the way)’ and there’s also James Tod’s Skt: aravulli, ‘refuge of strength’.
Cunningham describes the range as a ‘higgledy -piggledy…broken and confused mass of hills’.
Sadly, mining and building have made it it even more broken and confused [Article: Mining maims the mighty Aravallis].
For related place names see Indian Place names and Rajasthan place names.
