What are the six physical divisions of India?

The Himalayan mountains, the Northern Plains, the Peninsular Plateau, the Indian Desert, the Coastal Plains and the Islands.

What are the three ranges of the Himalaya?

The Himadri or Greater Himalaya (highest), the Himachal or Lesser Himalaya, and the Shiwalik or Outer Himalaya (lowest).

Which is the highest peak of India?

Officially K2 (8,611 m) in the Karakoram, in Gilgit-Baltistan (part of Ladakh on India's official map, now under Pakistan's occupation). Within the area India controls, Kangchenjunga (8,586 m) in Sikkim is the highest. If K2 is not an option, choose Kangchenjunga.

Where does the Sutlej rise?

At Rakas Tal near Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in south-western Tibet. It enters India at Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh.

Where does the Ganga begin?

Its main stream, the Bhagirathi, rises at the Gangotri glacier. It meets the Alaknanda at Devprayag, and from there it is called the Ganga.

Which rivers flow west into the Arabian Sea?

The Narmada and the Tapi are the main ones. The Sabarmati, Mahi and the short rivers of the Western Ghats also flow west.

Why do the Narmada and Tapi not form deltas?

They flow fast through narrow rift valleys over hard rock and carry little silt. So they end in estuaries.

Which is the largest freshwater lake in India?

Wular lake in Jammu and Kashmir. The largest salt-water lake is Chilika in Odisha.

Which dam is on which river?

Bhakra Nangal – Sutlej; Tehri – Bhagirathi; Hirakud – Mahanadi; Sardar Sarovar – Narmada; Nagarjuna Sagar – Krishna; Mettur – Kaveri.

What is the difference between Bhangar and Khadar?

Bhangar is older alluvium on higher land, with kankar. Khadar is newer alluvium on the flood plains, renewed by floods and more fertile.

Punjab Police ASI Geography — Indian Geography: Physiography, Rivers and Drainage Notes

Photo from space: flat brown plains with a pale winding river at the bottom, a band of snowy mountains across the middle, and a dry orange plateau with dark lakes at the top — India from the International Space Station. At the bottom are the flat **Northern Plains** with the **Sharda** river. Across the middle runs the snowy **Himalaya**. At the top is the dry **Tibetan plateau**, where the Indus, Sutlej and Brahmaputra rise. Image: Donald Pettit (NASA), Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

India has high young mountains in the north, wide river plains in the middle and an old hard plateau in the south. A sandy desert lies in the west, with coastal plains and islands at the edges. Rivers born in the Himalaya flow all year; rivers of the plateau depend on rain. Exams ask where rivers rise, where they meet the sea, and which dams and lakes lie on them.

On this page you will learn:

The six physical divisions of India
The three Himalayan ranges, the Trans-Himalaya, peaks and passes
Plains, plateau, the Western and Eastern Ghats, the Thar, coasts and islands
The Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra systems
Peninsular rivers: east-flowing and west-flowing
Lakes, waterfalls and dams

6

Physical divisions

Asked in SI 2023

2,525 km

Length of the Ganga

India's longest river

2,695 m

Anamudi

Highest peak of the peninsula

The six physical divisions

Rule in one line: mountains, plains, plateau, desert, coasts, islands — six in all.

1

Himalayan mountains

Young fold mountains in the north, with the Trans-Himalaya and the hills of the north-east (Purvanchal).

2

Northern Plains

Built of silt laid by the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra. Very fertile and thickly peopled.

3

Peninsular Plateau

The oldest part of India, of hard old rocks. Rich in minerals.

4

Indian Desert

The Thar, west of the Aravalli hills.

5

Coastal Plains

Narrow strips along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

6

Islands

Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea; Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal.

NCERT groups India's land into these six physiographic divisions.

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Based on the macro variations, India can be divided into how many physiographic divisions?

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The Himalaya: ranges, peaks and passes

Rule in one line: three parallel ranges — Himadri (highest), Himachal (middle), Shiwalik (lowest, outer).

Range	Height	Remember it for
Himadri (Greater or Inner Himalaya)	Average about 6,000 m	Most continuous range; all the highest peaks; always under snow
Himachal (Lesser Himalaya)	3,700–4,500 m	Pir Panjal, Dhauladhar and Mahabharat ranges; Kashmir, Kangra and Kullu valleys; hill stations
Shiwalik (Outer Himalaya)	900–1,100 m	Loose gravel and silt; flat valleys called duns, such as Dehra Dun

North of the Himadri lies the Trans-Himalaya: the Karakoram, Ladakh and Zaskar ranges. In the east, the Himalaya turns south as the Patkai, Naga and Mizo hills (Purvanchal).

A huge snow-covered mountain peak lit by morning sun against a deep blue sky, with dark forested hills in front — **Kangchenjunga** (8,586 m) seen from Pelling, Sikkim. It is on the Sikkim–Nepal border and is the highest peak in the part of India under its control. India's official highest peak is K2 (8,611 m) in the Karakoram, in Gilgit-Baltistan (shown in Ladakh on India's official map, now under Pakistan's occupation). Image: My Discovery, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Highest peaks of India

K2 (Godwin Austen), Karakoram

8,611 m

Kangchenjunga, Sikkim

8,586 m

Nanga Parbat

8,126 m

Nanda Devi, Uttarakhand

7,816 m

From high to low: K-2, Kanchenjunga, Nanga Parbat, Nanda Devi. 'Kanchenjunga' and 'Mt. Kanchenjunga' are other spellings of Kangchenjunga. K2 and Nanga Parbat lie in Gilgit-Baltistan, part of India's Ladakh UT on India's official map, now under Pakistan's occupation, so Nanda Devi is the highest peak wholly inside the part India controls.

Section (west to east)	Between the rivers	Peaks to remember
Punjab Himalaya	Indus – Sutlej	Kashmir and Himachal ranges
Kumaon Himalayas	Sutlej – Kali	Nanda Devi, Kamet
Nepal Himalaya	Kali – Teesta	Everest, Kangchenjunga
Assam Himalaya	Teesta – Dihang (Brahmaputra)	Namcha Barwa at the eastern end

NCERT divides the Himalaya from west to east by the river valleys. So Nanda Devi forms a part of the Kumaon Himalayas.

Pass	Where	Why it is asked
Zoji La	J&K – Ladakh	Srinagar–Leh road
Khardung La	Ladakh	Leh to the Nubra valley
Lanak La	Ladakh (Aksai Chin)	On the border between India and China
Baralacha La	Himachal (Lahaul)	Chandra and Bhaga rise near it; they join to form the Chenab
Rohtang	Himachal	Kullu to Lahaul; the Beas rises at Beas Kund nearby
Shipki La	Himachal (Kinnaur)	The Sutlej enters India here from Tibet
Lipulekh	Uttarakhand	Route of the Kailash–Mansarovar yatra
Nathu La	Sikkim	Old trade route to Tibet
Bomdi La	Arunachal Pradesh	Route to Tawang

'La' means pass in Tibetan.

KEY TERM

Karewa

Karewas are flat beds of clay and silt left by an old lake in the Kashmir valley. They are good for growing Zafran, the local saffron of Kashmir.

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Siachen Glacier is located in:

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Karewa formations are found in the Kashmir Himalayas and are useful for the cultivation of _________, a local type of saffron.

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — The Chenab river rises from which of the following?

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Plains, plateau, desert, coasts and islands

Rule in one line: the plains are young river silt; the plateau is old hard rock.

The Northern Plains spread over about 7 lakh sq km. They are an aggradational plain: built up layer by layer from the silt that the Himalayan rivers lay down. From the hills down to the rivers, they have four belts:

Bhabar — a narrow belt of pebbles at the foot of the Shiwaliks. Streams sink into it and vanish.
Terai — the streams come up again; wet, marshy and once thickly forested.
Bhangar — older alluvium on higher ground, with lime nodules (kankar).
Khadar — newer alluvium of the flood plains, renewed almost every year. The most fertile.

The Peninsular Plateau is a table-land of old rocks. The Narmada splits it into two parts. North of it are the Central Highlands — the Aravalli, Malwa, Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand and Chota Nagpur plateaus. South of it is the Deccan Plateau, edged by the Western and Eastern Ghats.

WESTERN VS EASTERN GHATS

Western Ghats

Eastern Ghats

Shape

Continuous wall

Broken by rivers

Height

Higher: 900–1,600 m

Lower: about 600 m

Other name

Sahyadri

—

Highest peak

Anamudi, 2,695 m (Kerala)

Mahendragiri, 1,501 m (Odisha), as per NCERT

The two Ghats meet in the Nilgiri Hills; Doddabetta (2,637 m) is the highest Nilgiri peak. Rain-bearing winds hit the Western Ghats first, so their western slopes get very heavy rain.

Green forested mountains under heavy grey clouds, with a yellow flowering tree in front

Smooth sand dunes with wind ripples and a few footprints, and scattered bushes far away

Desert

The Thar

West of the Aravalli. Crescent dunes (barchans). The Luni is its only large river.

West coast

Konkan, Kannad, Malabar

Narrow plain, north to south. Malabar (Kerala) has backwaters (kayals).

East coast

Northern Circar, Coromandel

Wide plain with big river deltas. Chilika (Odisha) is India's largest salt-water lake.

Islands

Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar

Lakshadweep is made of coral. Barren Island (Andaman) is India's only active volcano.

Divisions 4, 5 and 6 at a glance.

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Parasnath peak is situated in which of the following plateaus?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — The Nilgiri Hills form a part of which of the following?

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Himalayan rivers: Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra

Rule in one line: Himalayan rivers are fed by snow and rain, so they flow all year.

Map of India in pale yellow with blue lines for rivers and blue patches for lakes, each labelled, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal — Rivers and lakes of India. Find the Narmada and Tapi flowing **west** into the Arabian Sea, and the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri flowing **east** into the Bay of Bengal. The dotted line in the far north is India's official boundary. State lines on this map are older; use it for rivers only. Image: Planemad, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

TWO KINDS OF INDIAN RIVERS

Himalayan rivers

Peninsular rivers

Water from

Snow and rain

Rain only

Flow

All year (perennial)

Low in the dry season

Course

Long; deep gorges, then meanders

Shorter and shallower

Examples

Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra

Narmada, Godavari, Kaveri

The Narmada system is peninsular, so it does not come from the Himalaya.

River	Where it rises	Key facts
Indus	Tibet, near Lake Mansarovar	Enters India in Ladakh; reaches the Arabian Sea in Pakistan
Sutlej	Rakas Tal near Mount Kailash, south-western Tibet	Enters India at Shipki La; Bhakra dam
Beas	Beas Kund, near Rohtang Pass	Flows through the Kullu Valley; joins the Sutlej at Harike
Ravi	Kullu hills, west of Rohtang	Flows through the Chamba valley
Chenab	Chandra and Bhaga, near Baralacha La	Largest tributary of the Indus
Jhelum	Spring at Verinag, foot of the Pir Panjal	Flows through Srinagar and Wular lake
Ganga	Bhagirathi from the Gangotri glacier (Gaumukh)	Bhagirathi + Alaknanda at Devprayag; about 2,525 km long
Yamuna	Yamunotri glacier	Joins the Ganga at Prayagraj (Allahabad)
Brahmaputra	Tibet, east of Mansarovar — outside India	Called the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet; enters Arunachal as the Siang (Dihang)

The Indus, Sutlej and Brahmaputra all rise close together near Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet. Ravi, Beas and Jhelum rise inside India. Punjab's rivers are covered in more detail on the Punjab Geography pages.

KEY TERM

Panjnad

The Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej meet in Pakistan as one stream, the Panjnad ('five rivers'). It joins the Indus near Mithankot. So the Indus itself is not one of the five.

Jhelum + Chenab + Ravi→Beas + Sutlej→Panjnad→Indus

Two rivers, one fast and white with rapids and one calm and green, meeting below a hillside town with a temple and steps — **Devprayag**, Uttarakhand: the **Bhagirathi** and the **Alaknanda** meet here. From this point the river is called the **Ganga**. Image: Vvnataraj, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Ganga gets the Ghaghara, Gandak and Kosi from the Himalaya (left bank) and the Son from the plateau (right bank). The Kosi floods so often that it is called the 'Sorrow of Bihar'. At Farakka the Ganga splits: the Bhagirathi–Hooghly flows south through West Bengal, and the Padma enters Bangladesh. There it meets the Brahmaputra, and together they build the delta.

Satellite photo of dark green land cut by many pale brown river channels, opening into a muddy sea at the bottom — The **Ganga–Brahmaputra delta** from space (NASA, 1994). The dark green is the **Sundarbans** mangrove forest; the brown lines are river channels carrying silt to the Bay of Bengal. NCERT calls it the world's largest and fastest-growing delta. Image: NASA, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Which of the following rivers originates from Mount Kailash?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Which river is called the Yarlung Tsangpo?

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PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Which of the following rivers rises at Verinag, at the foot of the Pir Panjal range?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Which of the following river systems does NOT originate from the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan regions?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — The total length of the river Ganga is approximately _______.

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Peninsular rivers: east-flowing and west-flowing

Rule in one line: the Western Ghats are the water divide — most rivers run east to the Bay of Bengal.

River	Rises at	Falls into	Remember
Mahanadi	Highlands of Chhattisgarh	Bay of Bengal (Odisha)	Hirakud dam; forms a delta
Godavari	Nashik, Western Ghats	Bay of Bengal (Andhra)	Largest peninsular river; 'Dakshin Ganga'
Krishna	Near Mahabaleshwar	Bay of Bengal (Andhra)	Tributaries Tungabhadra, Koyna, Bhima; Nagarjuna Sagar
Kaveri	Brahmagiri hills, Kodagu	Bay of Bengal (Tamil Nadu)	Shivasamudram falls; Mettur dam
Narmada	Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh	Arabian Sea (Gulf of Khambhat)	Flows west in a rift valley; Sardar Sarovar dam
Tapi (Tapti)	Betul, Satpura range	Arabian Sea (Gulf of Khambhat)	Surat stands at its mouth

Rayalaseema, the plateau of southern Andhra Pradesh: exams place it in the Krishna river basin (through its tributary the Tungabhadra), though much of its south drains to the Penna.

EAST-FLOWING VS WEST-FLOWING

East-flowing

West-flowing

Sea

Bay of Bengal

Arabian Sea

Mouth

Delta

Estuary (no delta)

Rivers

Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri

Narmada, Tapi, Sabarmati, Mahi

The Narmada and Tapi flow fast through narrow rift valleys over hard rock, so they drop little silt at the mouth and make estuaries, not deltas.

Lengths of major rivers (km, approx.)

Ganga

2,525

Godavari

1,500

Krishna

1,400

Narmada

1,312

Mahanadi

860

Kaveri

760

Tapi

724

Approximate lengths as given in NCERT. The Godavari is the longest peninsular river; the Narmada is the longest west-flowing one.

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2016 — Which of the following rivers falls into the Arabian Sea?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Which of the following rivers does not form a delta?

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Dams, lakes and waterfalls

Rule in one line: learn each dam with its river — papers ask the pair.

Dam / project	River	State
Bhakra Nangal	Sutlej	Himachal Pradesh – Punjab
Tehri	Bhagirathi	Uttarakhand
Hirakud	Mahanadi	Odisha
Sardar Sarovar	Narmada	Gujarat
Nagarjuna Sagar	Krishna	Telangana – Andhra Pradesh
Mettur	Kaveri	Tamil Nadu
Indira Gandhi Canal	Starts at Harike Barrage (Sutlej–Beas)	Punjab to Rajasthan

Nehru called big dams the 'temples of modern India'. The Indira Gandhi Canal is India's longest irrigation canal; it carries water to the Thar.

A long concrete dam wall with many sloping spillway sections and a tower on top, with brown water below — **Hirakud Dam** on the **Mahanadi**, near Sambalpur, Odisha. With its earthen dykes it runs about 25.8 km, which makes it one of the longest dams in the world. Image: Quarterbacker, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

LAKES

Wular (Jammu and Kashmir) — largest freshwater lake; the Jhelum flows through it
Dal (Srinagar) — houseboats
Chilika (Odisha) — largest salt-water lake
Sambhar (Rajasthan) — salt is made from it
Loktak (Manipur) — floating islands (phumdis)
Kolleru (Andhra) — between the Godavari and Krishna deltas

WATERFALLS

Jog — Sharavathi river, Karnataka
Shivasamudram — Kaveri, Karnataka
Dhuandhar — Narmada, near Jabalpur (MP)
Hundru — Subarnarekha, Jharkhand
Dudhsagar — Mandovi, Goa
Kiliyur — Yercaud in the Shevaroy hills, Tamil Nadu

QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — Hirakud, world's longest dam, is located on the _______ River.

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — The Sardar Sarovar Project has been constructed on which of the following rivers?

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QUICK CHECK

PYQ · Punjab Police SI 2023 — One of the largest fresh water lakes, 'Wular', is located in which State/Union Territory?

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More facts that are asked onceTap to open

The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, stands on the bank of the Bagmati river.
The Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, on the Nevada–Arizona border in the USA, is an Arch-gravity dam: it holds water both by its curve and by its weight.
The Tehri dam on the Bhagirathi is India's highest dam.
Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands. Kavaratti is the capital of Lakshadweep.
The Aravalli (also spelt Aravalis) are the oldest mountains in India and among the oldest fold mountains in the world. Their highest peak is Guru Shikhar (1,722 m) at Mount Abu.
Passes of the Western Ghats: Thal Ghat (Mumbai–Nashik), Bhor Ghat (Mumbai–Pune), Pal Ghat (Palakkad gap, Kerala–Tamil Nadu) and the Shencottah gap further south.
The Narmada makes the Marble Rocks gorge and the Dhuandhar falls near Jabalpur.

Traps and practice

Last revision — where the options try to fool you.

COMMON TRAPS

The Chenab rises near Baralacha La; the Beas near Rohtang. Do not swap them.
Rivers rising outside India: Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra (all in Tibet). The Ravi, Beas and Jhelum rise inside India.
Narmada and Tapi flow west and make estuaries; Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri flow east and make deltas.
Siachen is in the Karakoram (Trans-Himalaya), not in the Greater Himalaya.
Wular is the largest freshwater lake; Chilika the largest salt-water lake.
The Panjnad is made of five rivers that join the Indus — the Indus is not one of them.
Anamudi (Western Ghats) is the highest peak of the peninsula; Mahendragiri is the highest of the Eastern Ghats.

CHECK YOURSELF

Why do the Himalayan rivers flow all year while most peninsular rivers shrink in summer?

Show answer

Himalayan rivers get rain in the monsoon and melted snow from glaciers in summer. Peninsular rivers have no snow and depend only on monsoon rain.

FLASHCARDS

Rivers and relief flashcards

Chenab rises near: Baralacha La
Jhelum rises at: Verinag
Beas flows through: Kullu valley
Yarlung Tsangpo: Brahmaputra
Ganga is formed at: Devprayag
Hirakud dam: Mahanadi
Sardar Sarovar: Narmada
City at the mouth of the Tapi: Surat
Parasnath peak: Chota Nagpur plateau
Karewas grow: Zafran (saffron)

QUICK BYTES

Six divisions: mountains, plains, plateau, desert, coasts, islands
Himadri → Himachal → Shiwalik; Trans-Himalaya has the Karakoram and Siachen
Bhabar → Terai → Bhangar (old) → Khadar (new)
Western Ghats continuous and higher; Eastern Ghats broken and lower
Sutlej from Rakas Tal (Kailash); Brahmaputra = Yarlung Tsangpo
Ganga about 2,525 km; Sundarbans delta largest
West-flowing: Narmada, Tapi — no delta
Hirakud–Mahanadi; Sardar Sarovar–Narmada; Bhakra–Sutlej; Tehri–Bhagirathi

India: Physical Features, Rivers and Drainage

The six physical divisions

The Himalaya: ranges, peaks and passes

Plains, plateau, desert, coasts and islands

Himalayan rivers: Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra

Peninsular rivers: east-flowing and west-flowing

Dams, lakes and waterfalls

Traps and practice

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the six physical divisions of India?

What are the three ranges of the Himalaya?

Which is the highest peak of India?

Where does the Sutlej rise?

Where does the Ganga begin?

Which rivers flow west into the Arabian Sea?

Why do the Narmada and Tapi not form deltas?

Which is the largest freshwater lake in India?

Which dam is on which river?

What is the difference between Bhangar and Khadar?

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