Eastern Ghats

Topic: Structure and Physiography of India: Himalayas, Plains, Peninsula, Coasts and Islands · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 1 "Geographical Diversity of India"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"

Meaning

The Eastern Ghats are a chain of low, broken hills along the eastern edge of the Peninsular Plateau, roughly parallel to the Bay of Bengal coast, from Odisha to Tamil Nadu. They form the eastern border of the Deccan Plateau. They show how big east-flowing rivers can wear down and cut through old hills, and they meet the Western Ghats at the Nilgiri hills.

Explanation

How the hills became broken

• The Deccan tilts east
• The plateau is highest along the Western Ghats and slopes gently down towards the Bay of Bengal.

• So the big rivers rise in the Western Ghats and flow east across the whole plateau.

• Rivers cut through the hills

• The Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri reach the eastern edge of the plateau and cut right through the Eastern Ghats.

• Over a very long time, these rivers have worn the hills down by erosion (land being worn away by running water, wind and weather).

• The result

• There is no single, continuous wall.
• The hills stand as separate blocks, with wide river gaps and deltas (flat, fan-shaped land built where a river drops its mud before entering the sea) between them.

Main ranges (north to south)

Range	Location	Key fact
Mahendragiri hills	southern Odisha	northern part; Mahendragiri is a well-known high peak
Nallamala hills	Andhra Pradesh and Telangana	between the Krishna and the Pennar; the Krishna cuts through them at Srisailam
Palkonda range	southern Andhra Pradesh	near Tirupati
Javadi hills	northern Tamil Nadu	Vellore–Tiruvannamalai area
Shevaroy hills	Salem, Tamil Nadu	hill station of Yercaud
Biligirirangan hills	Karnataka–Tamil Nadu border	link the Eastern and Western Ghats; BRT Tiger Reserve

Key features

• Height: lower than the Western Ghats, because erosion has worn them down. The highest ground is in the Mahendragiri area of Odisha.
• Rainfall: they get less rain than the windward slope of the Western Ghats, which gets 250–400 cm.
• Forests: mostly tropical dry and moist deciduous forests. These trees shed their leaves in the dry season.
• Meeting point: they join the Western Ghats at the Nilgiri hills, where Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala meet.
• Status: unlike the Western Ghats, they have no UNESCO natural listing.

Where it occurs

• States: Odisha → Andhra Pradesh and Telangana → Tamil Nadu, with the Biligirirangan hills on the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu border.
• River gaps:
• The Mahanadi cuts through in Odisha.
• The Godavari and Krishna cut through in Andhra Pradesh.
• The Kaveri cuts through in Tamil Nadu.

• The Krishna crosses the Nallamala hills at Srisailam.

• Protected areas:

• Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in the Nallamala hills is India's largest tiger reserve by area.

• BRT Tiger Reserve is in the Biligirirangan hills.

• Hill station: Yercaud, in the Shevaroy hills (Salem, Tamil Nadu).

• Southern end: they meet the Western Ghats at the Nilgiri hills, home of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1986), India's first biosphere reserve.

Don't confuse with

• Western Ghats: a continuous, higher wall (average about 1,500 m, highest peak Anamudi, 2,695 m) where most Peninsular rivers rise. The Eastern Ghats are broken and lower, and those rivers cut through them.
• Nilgiri hills: the knot where both Ghats meet. Their peak Dodabetta (2,637 m) is the second highest peak of the Peninsula. Do not list it as an Eastern Ghats peak.
• Satpura–Maikal–Mahadeo line: the northern border of the Deccan Plateau, running east–west. The Eastern Ghats form the eastern border and run roughly north–south along the coast.
• Western Ghats passes (Palghat, Shencottah, Thal, Bhor): these are narrow gaps in a continuous chain. The breaks in the Eastern Ghats are wide river valleys and deltas.

Prelims Hooks

• Ranges, north to south: Mahendragiri (Odisha) → Nallamala (AP–Telangana) → Palkonda (near Tirupati) → Javadi (Vellore–Tiruvannamalai) → Shevaroy (Salem).
• Hill–feature pairs: Nallamala → Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (India's largest by area). Shevaroy → Yercaud. Biligirirangan → BRT Tiger Reserve.
• The four rivers that cut through: Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. All rise in the Western Ghats or on the plateau and flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Krishna cuts through the Nallamala hills at Srisailam.
• Meeting point of the two Ghats: the Nilgiri hills. The Biligirirangan hills also link the Eastern and Western Ghats.
• Trap: "Anamudi is the highest peak of the Eastern Ghats" is wrong. Anamudi is in the Anaimalai hills of the Western Ghats. The highest part of the Eastern Ghats is the Mahendragiri area, Odisha.
• Trap: the Eastern Ghats are not a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Only the Western Ghats were listed (2012) [2].

Mains Points

• Rivers, deltas and farming: the eroded Eastern Ghats let the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri reach the sea through wide gaps.
• These rivers build fertile deltas along the east coast.

• The rivers are lifelines for the rain-shadow Deccan, which also explains interstate water disputes over the Krishna and Kaveri.

• Minerals, forests and tribal rights (GS-III): the Eastern Ghats in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh hold minerals, forests and tribal homelands.

• Mining and development have to be balanced with forest rights and the livelihoods of tribal people.

• Protected areas such as Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam and BRT tiger reserves show the conservation side of this trade-off.

• Unequal attention to conservation: the Western Ghats have UNESCO status and an ESA debate (Gadgil vs Kasturirangan) [3]. The broken, deciduous-forest Eastern Ghats have no similar listing, even though they are habitat corridors that link to the Western Ghats through the Nilgiri and Biligirirangan hills.

Related concepts

• Deccan Plateau
• Western Ghats
• Anamudi
• Dodabetta
• Nilgiri hills
• Palghat Gap
• Thal Ghat and Bhor Ghat
• Nallamala hills

Read more

• The Deccan Plateau and the Western and Eastern Ghats