Mountain ranges of India
India's relief is built around three mountain families. The Himalayan and trans-Himalayan ranges in the north are young fold mountains that are still rising. The north-eastern hills carry that arc south along the Myanmar border. The peninsular ranges — from the ancient Aravalli to the Western and Eastern Ghats — are far older, worn down by millions of years of erosion. Exams return to them constantly: highest peaks, passes, and which states each range touches.
Quick facts for exams
Kangchenjunga (8,586 m) is the highest peak associated with India and lies on the Sikkim–Nepal boundary; Nanda Devi (7,816 m) is the highest peak wholly within India.
The Aravalli is among India’s oldest fold-mountain systems; the Himalayas are geologically young.
Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Western Ghats is the highest peak of peninsular India.
The Nilgiri highlands lie around the southern meeting zone of the Western and Eastern Ghats.
Himalayan & trans-Himalayan ranges
The Himalayas run as three parallel ranges — the Greater Himalayas (Himadri), the Lesser Himalayas (Himachal) and the outermost Shiwaliks. North of them lie the trans-Himalayan Karakoram, Ladakh and Zanskar ranges, home to K2 and the Siachen glacier. Famous passes such as Zoji La, Nathu La and Rohtang cross these ranges, and exam papers regularly ask which range a pass or peak belongs to.
North-eastern hills
At the Dihang gorge the Himalayan arc bends sharply south and continues along the Myanmar border as the Purvanchal — the Patkai, Naga, Manipur and Mizo hills. The Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya are different: geologically they are a detached block of the old peninsular plateau, and their southern slopes at Mawsynram and Cherrapunji receive the heaviest rainfall on Earth.
Peninsular ranges
The peninsular block carries India's oldest mountains. The Aravalli is a heavily eroded relict range. The Vindhya and Satpura cross central India between the Narmada and Tapi valleys. Along the coasts, the continuous Western Ghats and the broken Eastern Ghats frame the Deccan plateau, meeting at the Nilgiris — where Doddabetta rises near Ooty.
Major ranges at a glance
| Range | Group | Highest peak | Height | States / region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karakoram | Trans-Himalayan | K2 / Saser Kangri I | 8,611 m / 7,672 m | International Karakoram system; the India-administered section is in Ladakh |
| Pir Panjal | Himalayan | Indrasan | 6,221 m | Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh |
| Greater Himalaya (Himadri) | Himalayan | Mount Everest / Kangchenjunga / Nanda Devi | 8,848.86 m / 8,586 m / 7,816 m | Northern mountain arc from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh |
| Shiwalik (Outer Himalaya) | Himalayan | — | — | Discontinuous foothill belt from Jammu eastward to Arunachal Pradesh |
| Purvanchal hills | North-eastern | Mount Saramati | 3,840 m | Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura |
| Garo–Khasi–Jaintia hills | North-eastern | Shillong Peak | 1,965 m | Meghalaya |
| Aravalli Range | Peninsular | Guru Shikhar | 1,722 m | Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat |
| Vindhya Range | Peninsular | — | — | Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar through the Kaimur extension |
| Satpura Range | Peninsular | Dhupgarh | 1,350 m | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh |
| Western Ghats (Sahyadri) | Peninsular | Anamudi | 2,695 m | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu |
| Eastern Ghats | Peninsular | — | — | Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu |
| Nilgiri hills | Peninsular | Doddabetta | 2,637 m | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala junction |
Methodology, sources and accuracy limits
Named extents use the 2022 GMBA Mountain Inventory v2.0 standard polygons where a matching unit exists. Representative alignments are simplified geographic lines projected through the shared India projection; they are not surveyed ridges. Himadri and Shiwalik use generalized NCERT-supported alignments without displayed extents because a matching complete subdivision polygon was unavailable. Peak markers are rounded reference locations. Boundaries follow the shared project map and do not express a position on territorial claims.