Mountain Ranges in India

By Jolly Mazumdar

No other nation in the world can be compared with India's stupendous glory. From holy rivers to tranquil lakes to magnificent waterfalls to verdant valleys to lush green canopies and to diverse flora and fauna.

Mother nature has blessed India with its every creation. Even India has no dearth of mountain ranges, which are the known as the origin point of several Indian rivers.

Mountain ranges can be defined as a group or chain of mountains that are close together. These are generally separated from each other by passes and rivers.

India has a nine prominent mountain ranges namely: the Himalayan mountain range, Karakoram, the Kunlun, the Shiwalik the Aravali the Patkai or Purvanchal the Vindya, the Eastern ghats and the western ghats.

The Himalayan mountain range- The Himalayan Mountain ranges which literally means "land of snow", separate India from the rest of Asia. These are the youngest and highest mountain ranges in the world. The Himalayas has some 30 mountain peaks which are of 7315m high.

Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga, two of the world's highest mountain peaks is in Himalaya only. It stretches to 2500 km and covers an area of about 500,000 sq km.

It comprises three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and Valleys. The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are nestled in the lap of Himalayan mountain ranges.

The Karakoram range - The Karakoram is another major mountain range of India, located in the region of Ladakh in Jammu and kashmir state near the Chineese border. This range extends 500km towards south-east direction and housed more than 60 mountain peaks of 7000 m high.

It houses world's second highest mountain peak known as K2 and many of the world's longest glaciers like Siachen glacier at 70km and the Biafo glacier at 63km. Both are ranked as second and third longest glaciers respectively outside the polar region.

The Kunlun Range-The Kunlun range of India runs in the eastward direction along the northern part of Kashmir and the Tibetan plateau.

The Shiwalik Range- This range is a sub Himalaya mountain range. Located on the foothills of the lower Himalayas, it runs in a continuous belt from Jammu, through the Kangra valley and then on through the Sirmaur district to Dehradun and further on the Bhabbar tracts of Garhwal and Kumaon.

Continuing through Nepal, the only break comes at Sikkim, and then on again through Arunachal. The width of this mountain range varies from a few kilometers to around 40 kilometers at different places.

It comprises many smaller hills. Some of the famous Indian hill stations are located on this range namely Dehradun, Nainital and many more. The climate condition in this mountain range varies from subtropical in the foothills to alpine at the higher elevations of these mountain ranges.

The Aravali Range - It is the oldest range in India, runs approximately 300 miles from northeast to southwest direction across Rajasthan in western India. The sole hill station nestled in this mountain range is Mount Abu, which is situated 1300m above sea level.

The Patkai Range- Patkai or Purvanchal ranges are located in the eastern boundary of India that connects India with Myanmar. This mountain range is blessed with conical peaks, steep slopes and deep valleys.

These are formed due to the result of tectonic processes. This mountain ranges comprises of three main hills namely the Patkai-Bum, the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia and the Lushai hills.

This mountain range covers a total area of 108, 229 sq km of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. Due to the different altitude, the climatic condition here varies from temperate to alpine.

The Vindhya range and Satpura Range- These two ranges runs across entire central India region. The Vindhya Range is a low mountain range, located in Madhya Pradesh.

It have a height of 910m and covers an area of 970 km only. It acts as a divider between the Indo-Gangetic plain and the Deccan Plateau on the south.

The Satpura range is a triangular shaped mountain range present in central India. It originates in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast and covers an area of 900km. It runs mainly in the east through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Chhattisgarh.

The Western Ghats- As the name reflects the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range runs north to south along the western edge of Deccan Plateau of India.

This ghat is parallel to the Arabian sea. This range starts from the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and runs across 1600km through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu and ends at Kanya Kumari.

The average height of the hills of this mountain range is 1200 m. This area is famous as a world' s " hottest biodiversity zone".

The Eastern Ghats - These ranges stretches from West Bengal in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south.

Four biggest rivers of India namely Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri cuts this mountain range and makes it irregular at some places.

The average height of the range is 600m. At the northern and the southern end of the mountain range, maximum elevation can be seen but not as much to the height of hills of Western Ghats. It runs parallel to the Bay of Bengal.