Physiography of India: The Six Physical Divisions

Start with the country as a whole. Its size and position explain why its land, climate and soils differ so much.

1. What is physiography, and what are the six divisions?

The physiography of an area is the outcome of structure, process and the stage of development. In plain words, it describes how the land was built and shaped. It does not follow state borders or climate.

India has six physiographic divisions. They are the Northern and North-eastern Mountains, the Northern Plain, the Peninsular Plateau, the Indian Desert, the Coastal Plains and the Islands. The Class IX list is similar, with the Himalayas as the first division.

2. How large is India, and where does it stretch?

India covers 3.28 million square kilometres. That is about 2.4 per cent of the world’s land surface. India is the seventh largest country in the world.

The mainland lies between 8°4’N and 37°6’N latitude. It lies between 68°7’E and 97°25’E longitude. The mainland runs from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari and from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat.

The southern boundary extends to 6°45’N in the Bay of Bengal. India’s territorial limit reaches 12 nautical miles into the sea, about 21.9 km.

3. Why is the north-south distance longer than the east-west distance?

The latitude and longitude spread is about 30 degrees in each direction. Yet the ground distance is 3,214 km from north to south. It is only 2,933 km from east to west.

The distance between two latitudes stays the same everywhere. The distance between two longitudes shrinks towards the poles. That explains the gap.

Picture the climate shift along that length. Kashmir has cold, snowy winters. Kanniyakumari, at the southern tip of the mainland, never sees snow. The south lies in the tropics. The north lies in the sub-tropical, warm temperate zone.

4. What is the Standard Meridian, and why does the sun rise earlier in the east?

The longitude spread causes a time gap of nearly two hours between the easternmost and westernmost parts. The sun rises in the north-eastern states about two hours before it does at Jaisalmer. Yet watches in Dibrugarh and Jaisalmer show the same time.

India uses one Standard Meridian, 82°30’E. Countries choose standard meridians in multiples of 7°30′. The 82°30’E line passes through Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Indian Standard Time is ahead of Greenwich Mean Time by 5 hours 30 minutes. The USA spans several time zones, because it is also very wide.

5. How long are India's coast and land border, and who are the neighbours?

The Class IX book gives India a land boundary of about 15,200 km. Its coastline is 7,516.6 km. That counts the mainland plus the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.

The Class XI book gives the mainland coast as 6,100 km and rounds the full figure to 7,517 km.

India shares land boundaries with seven countries. Pakistan and Afghanistan lie in the north-west. China, Nepal and Bhutan lie in the north. Myanmar and Bangladesh lie in the east.

Sri Lanka and the Maldives are the island neighbours. The Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar separate Sri Lanka from India. The Maldives lie south of the Lakshadweep islands.

6. What makes India a subcontinent?

The Himalayas bound India in the north. The Hindukush and Sulaiman ranges lie in the north-west. The Purvachal hills lie in the north-east. The Indian Ocean spreads in the south.

This makes a great geographic entity, the Indian subcontinent. It includes Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India.

The Himalayas acted as a barrier in the past. Only a few passes, such as the Khyber, the Bolan and the Nathula, made crossing possible. This helped a unique regional identity grow.

7. Where do the Tropic of Cancer and the southernmost point fall?

The Tropic of Cancer (23°30’N) divides India into two almost equal parts. It crosses eight states. From west to east they are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

Kanniyakumari is the southernmost point of the mainland only. The southernmost point of the whole Indian Union is Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island. It went under the sea in the 2004 tsunami.

India has 28 states and eight Union Territories. In 2019 Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Himalayas are the first and tallest division. They are also a climatic, drainage and cultural divide.

8. How old are the Himalayas, and what makes them different from the Peninsula?

The Himalayas are young, weak and flexible in structure. They are unlike the rigid, stable Peninsular Block. So they still feel the push of internal and external forces.

That push makes faults, folds and thrust plains. Fast-flowing rivers cut the mountains in their youthful stage. Gorges, V-shaped valleys, rapids and waterfalls show this stage.

The Great Himalayan range is about 2,500 km long from east to west. Its width varies between 160 and 400 km. The Himalayas are a climatic, drainage and cultural divide.

9. What are the three parallel Himalayan ranges?

The Himalayas are not one ridge. They run as three parallel ranges, from north to south. Their heights are as follows.

• Himadri (Greater Himalaya): the most continuous range, with the loftiest peaks, averaging 6,000 m.
• Himachal (Lesser Himalaya): the altitude varies between 3,700 and 4,500 m, with an average width of 50 km.
• Shiwaliks: the outermost range, only 900 to 1,100 m high, and 10 to 50 km wide.

The Pir Panjal is the longest range of the Himachal. The Shiwaliks are made of loose sediments brought down by rivers. Long valleys between the Lesser Himalaya and the Shiwaliks are called Duns. Dehra Dun, Kotli Dun and Patli Dun are examples.

10. How are the Himalayas divided from west to east?

River valleys mark the regional divisions. There are four.

• Punjab Himalaya: between the Indus and the Satluj.
• Kumaon Himalaya: between the Satluj and the Kali.
• Nepal Himalaya: between the Kali and the Teesta.
• Assam Himalaya: between the Teesta and the Dihang.

The Brahmaputra marks the eastern limit. Beyond the Dihang gorge, the range bends sharply south. There it becomes the Purvachal, or Eastern hills. The Purvachal includes the Patkai, Naga, Manipur and Mizo hills. These hills are mostly sandstone and thickly forested.

11. What is the highest peak, and does the exam use 8,586 m or 8,598 m?

Kanchenjunga is the world’s third highest mountain. It lies in the eastern Himalayas on the border between Sikkim and Nepal. Britannica gives its height as 8,586 m.

NCERT Class IX lists Kanchenjunga at 8,598 m and gives India as its country. So the two sources differ by 12 m. This lesson uses 8,586 m and tells you about the Class IX figure.

Nanda Devi, at 7,817 m, lies wholly in Uttarakhand. So it is the highest peak that stands wholly inside India.

The plains lie between the mountains and the plateau. Rivers built them from silt.

12. Which rivers built the Northern Plains, and how big are they?

The Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, with their tributaries, built the Northern Plains. The plains extend about 3,200 km from east to west. The average width is 150 to 300 km.

The alluvium is up to about 2,000 m deep. The plain is nearly featureless, at 50 to 150 m above sea level. Haryana and Delhi form a water divide between the Indus and the Ganga river systems.

Class IX gives a slightly different size. It says the plain is about 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad. Both books agree the plain is fertile and densely populated.

13. What are the Bhabar, Terai, Bhangar and Khadar?

The plains have four relief bands from north to south.

• Bhabar: a narrow belt of pebbles along the Shiwalik foothills. Streams sink underground here.
• Terai: a marshy belt south of the Bhabar, where those streams come out again.
• Bhangar: older alluvium on higher terraces, with limestone nodules called kankar.
• Khadar: the newer floodplain deposits, renewed almost every year and very fertile.

NCERT Class XI gives the Bhabar a width of 8 to 10 km and the Terai 10 to 20 km. Class IX gives the Bhabar as 8 to 16 km. Use the figure your book gives.

14. What do Doab, Punjab and Majuli teach us?

Doab joins do, meaning two, and ab, meaning water. It is the land between two rivers. Punjab joins panj, meaning five, and ab.

The Punjab Plains are dominated by doabs. Most of that plain lies in Pakistan. The Ganga plain stretches between the Ghaggar and the Teesta. The Brahmaputra plain lies in Assam.

Majuli, in the Brahmaputra, is the largest inhabited riverine island in the world. Rivers split into many channels in their lower course. These channels are called distributaries.

These two divisions rest on the oldest rock in India.

15. How did the Peninsular Plateau form, and how is it divided?

The Peninsular Plateau is a tableland of old crystalline, igneous and metamorphic rock. It formed when Gondwanaland broke and drifted. So it is part of the oldest landmass. It is one of the most stable landmasses of India.

The Class IX book splits it into two parts. The Central Highlands lie north of the Narmada and cover the Malwa plateau. The Deccan Plateau lies south of the Narmada and is a triangle.

The Class XI book uses three groups instead. These are the Deccan Plateau, the Central Highlands and the Northeastern Plateau.

16. Where does the Malwa Plateau sit?

The Central Highlands lie north of the Narmada. They are bounded in the west by the Aravali range. The Vindhyan range is bounded by the Satpura range on the south and the Aravalis on the north-west.

A Class IX question asks which plateau lies between the Aravali and the Vindhyan ranges. The answer is the Malwa plateau. So a statement that puts the Malwa on the plateau’s eastern flank is a trap.

Rivers such as the Chambal, Sind, Betwa and Ken flow from south-west to north-east. That shows the slope of the Central Highlands.

17. What are the Aravalis, the Deccan Trap and the Duns?

The Aravali hills lie on the western and north-western edge of the plateau. They are highly eroded, broken hills. They run from Gujarat to Delhi in a south-west to north-east line. They are among the oldest mountain ranges (they are relict mountains), so erosion has worn them low and rounded.

The Deccan Trap is a black-soil area of volcanic origin. Its rocks are igneous. Over time they wore down and made the black soil.

Duns are not part of the plateau. They are long valleys between the Lesser Himalaya and the Shiwaliks. Dehra Dun is the best known.

18. How do the Western and Eastern Ghats differ?

The Western Ghats run parallel to the west coast. They are continuous and can be crossed only through passes. NCERT gives their average height as 900 to 1,600 m in Class IX and about 1,500 m in Class XI.

The highest peaks are Anai Mudi (2,695 m) and Doda Betta (2,637 m). Most peninsular rivers rise in the Western Ghats.

The Eastern Ghats are discontinuous and irregular. Rivers such as the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri cut through them. Their average is about 600 m. Mahendragiri (1,501 m) is the highest peak. The two ranges meet at the Nilgiri hills.

19. What is the Indian Desert like?

The Great Indian Desert lies north-west of the Aravali hills. It is an undulating sandy plain with sand dunes. It gets below 150 mm of rain a year. So it has an arid climate and thin vegetation.

Barchans, the crescent-shaped dunes, cover larger areas. Longitudinal dunes become more common near the Indo-Pakistan border.

Streams appear only in the rainy season and vanish into the sand. Luni, flowing in the southern part, is the one large river. Salt comes from brackish lakes and playas. Wood fossils near Jaisalmer are about 180 million years old.

The two coasts have very different shapes. The two island groups have very different origins.

20. Why is the west coast narrow and the east coast wide?

The western coastal plain is a submerged coast. It is narrow and has natural ports such as Kandla, Marmagao, Mangalore and Cochin. Its rivers do not form deltas. The Malabar coast has backwaters, called kayals.

Class IX splits the west coast into the Konkan, the Kannad Plain and the Malabar coast.

The eastern coastal plain is wide and level. It is an emergent coast. The Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri have built large deltas there. The northern part is the Northern Circar. The southern part is the Coromandel Coast.

21. What is Chilika Lake?

Chilika Lake lies on the eastern coast of Odisha, south of the Mahanadi delta. It is the largest salt water lake in India.

The Ramsar factsheet lists Chilika as a natural lagoon. A lagoon is often brackish, because sea water mixes with fresh water from rivers.

22. How do Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands differ?

India has two island groups. Lakshadweep lies in the Arabian Sea. It is built wholly of coral deposits. It has about 36 islands, of which 11 are inhabited. Kavaratti is its administrative headquarters.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands lie in the Bay of Bengal, with about 572 islands and islets. They are an elevated portion of submarine mountains.

The Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman from the Nicobar. Barren Island, the only active volcano in India, lies in this group. Saddle Peak in North Andaman (738 m) is the highest peak of the islands.

Age and structure decide where earthquakes, farms and ports are found.

23. Why do age and structure matter?

The Himalayas are young and still rising, so they lie in an active seismic belt. The older, more stable Peninsula sees fewer large earthquakes, but it is not free of them (Latur 1993). The northward push of the Indian plate still continues.

The Khadar, the newer floodplain, is renewed almost every year by fresh silt. This is why the northern plains are called the granaries of the country.

The plateau is a storehouse of minerals. The coasts and islands give sites for fishing and ports. In sum, each region complements the other.

24. What is the exam trap in physiography questions?

Many questions pair a true fact with a false “hence” conclusion. Check the second half on its own. For example, a statement may say Himalayan rivers are dry in winter because they are snow-fed. The reverse is true. Melting snow and glaciers keep them flowing all year.

Another pattern puts a feature in the wrong region. A statement may place the Malwa on the plateau’s eastern flank. The Malwa lies between the Aravali and the Vindhyan ranges.

Treat textbook numbers with care. Check whether the question follows the Class IX or Class XI figure.

25. What did UPSC and CDS ask?

UPSC Mains 2021 asked: “Why is India considered as a subcontinent? Elaborate your answer.” It carried 10 marks and a 150-word limit. Define the term first. Then cover size, natural boundaries, contrasting geology, the stable Peninsular shield, and climatic and cultural diversity.

According to the site’s paper page, CDS-II 2017 Q100 gave three statements on rivers. Statement 1 said snow-fed Himalayan rivers are dry in winter. That is false, since they are perennial. Statements 2 and 3 were correct: Peninsular rivers have reached geomorphic maturity, and Himalayan rivers show all three stages of the erosion cycle.

CDS-II 2017 Q83 tested the Peninsular Plateau’s sub-regions. It covered the Deccan slope, the Malwa-Vindhyan link, the Satpura, Narmada and Tapi, and Chota Nagpur geology.

26. What happened in Ladakh on 19 January 2026?

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Leh-Ladakh region on 19 January 2026 at 11:51 am. The National Center for Seismology put its depth at 171 km. Reports said it was felt in Srinagar, Kargil and parts of Jammu, with no casualties.

This is a live reminder that the young Himalayan belt is seismically active. The activity links to the continuing northward push of the Indian plate.