Major Waterfalls of India

One Indian waterfall drops over 450 metres. Another spreads nearly 300 metres wide. Height and width turn out to be two very different kinds of record.

Jog Falls on the Sharavathi river in Karnataka, among India’s tallest waterfalls. Photo: Photos Worldwide, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Major waterfalls of India, concentrated along the Western Ghats plateau edge and the eastern hill ranges.

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Indian Geography · IndGeo0056

India’s Tallest Waterfalls, By Drop

Kunchikal (KA)

455 m

Nohkalikai (ML)

340 m

Dudhsagar (GA)

310 m

Jog Falls (KA)

253 m

Chitrakoot (CG)

30 m

Chitrakoot wins a different contest

Barely 30 metres tall, Chitrakoot Falls doesn’t compete on height — but at nearly 300 metres wide, it’s India’s widest waterfall, earning its “Niagara of India” nickname.

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know

🏛️ Must Know

India’s Tallest Waterfalls

Kunchikal Kunchikal Falls, in Karnataka‘s Shimoga district, is India’s tallest waterfall, dropping about 455 metres.
Nohkalikai Nohkalikai Falls, near Sohra (Cherrapunji) in Meghalaya, is India’s tallest single-drop, or “plunge,” waterfall, at about 340 metres.
Dudhsagar Dudhsagar Falls, on the Mahadayi River in Goa, is a four-tiered waterfall about 310 metres tall.
Jog / Gersoppa Jog Falls, also called Gersoppa Falls, sits on the Sharavati River in Karnataka and drops about 253 metres. It splits into four named cascades: Raja, Rani, Roarer, and Rocket. A frequent exam trap wrongly pairs it with the Netravati River instead.
Chitrakoot Chitrakoot Falls, on the Indravati River in Chhattisgarh, is about 30 metres tall but nearly 300 metres wide, making it India’s widest waterfall.

Two More Named Falls

Dhuandhar Dhuandhar Falls sits on the Narmada River at Bhedaghat, near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Jabalpur falls in the Mahakoshal region, not Malwa, another common exam trap.
Hundru Hundru Falls sits on the Subarnarekha River, in Ranchi district, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, Jharkhand.

🏘️ Good to Know

Records, Setting, and Rainfall

Two Records Height and width measure very different things. A tall, narrow “plunge” waterfall and a short, wide “cascade” waterfall can both be called record-holders, just for different records.
Niagara of India Chitrakoot Falls widens further during the monsoon, taking on a horseshoe shape. This has earned it the nickname “Niagara Falls of India.”
Protected Setting Dudhsagar Falls sits inside the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, within the Western Ghats.
Extreme Rainfall Jog Falls sits close to Sohra (Cherrapunji), one of the wettest inhabited places on Earth. Its extreme rainfall feeds several of the region’s tallest waterfalls.

Test Yourself

⚡ Great to Know

How and Where Waterfalls Form

Formation Waterfalls form where a river crosses a sudden change in rock hardness, or drops off a steep escarpment edge. The Western Ghats and the Meghalaya plateau are classic examples of such edges.
Two Clusters India’s tallest waterfalls cluster heavily in just two regions: the Western Ghats (Karnataka, Goa) and the Meghalaya plateau. Both are zones of high rainfall and steep terrain.
Tourism Beyond their scenic draw, many of these waterfalls anchor major tourism economies for their surrounding districts.
Hydropower Several, including Jog Falls and Dudhsagar Falls, also sit near hydroelectric infrastructure. A steep natural drop is exactly the kind of terrain power planners look for.