भारत (Bhārat)

How is the land laid out?

भारत (Bhārat)¹ is in the south center of Asia and occupies 3.2 million square kilometers. It includes the Indian Peninsula and vast lands north of it. The nation of Bangladesh takes a bite out of its northeast. The nation also includes two island chains: Lakshadweep,² west of the south end of the peninsula; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between Myanmar's Coco Islands and the northwest end of Indonesia's Sumatera.³

There are six geophysical zones of very unequal size. In the very north are the Himalayas, consisting of several parallel ranges. They take up all of Jammu and Kashmīr, Himāchal Pradesh, Uttarakhand⁴ and Sikkim, and nearly all of Arunāchal Pradesh. They reach 7,800 meters at Nanda Devi.

A large plain extends from Gujarāt (and beyond, in Pakistān), north to Punjab, and then southeast through West Bengal (and beyond, in Bangladesh). It is named the Indo-Gangetic Plain after the Indus⁵ and the Ganga⁶ rivers.

The Indus flows northwest through a high valley between two of the Himalayan ranges, and leaves भारत before entering the plain. Important tributaries partly in भारत are the Jhelum, the Chenāb, the Rāvi and the Sutlej.⁷

The Ganga flows from Uttarakhand to exit भारत into Bangladesh. It is joined by the Yamuna, the Gandak, the Kosi and the Son, among others.

The plain's flats extend to the lowlands just north of the Kāthiāwār Peninsula--the Rann of Kachchh,⁸ and to the Thar Desert⁹ of Rājasthān.

The bulk of the peninsula and some lands north of it are central highlands. The bulk of this is a great plateau sandwiched between the Western and Eastern Ghats. Its north center is named the Deccan, and the south, where the two edging ranges converge, is called the Mysore Plateau. These highlands are almost cut in two by the Tāpti (or Tāti) River valley on the west, and the Godāvari River system's valleys on the east. Another dramatic cut in the west is made by the Narmada. Between them is the Sātpura Range, and north of the Narmada are the Vindhyas.

Another interruption is found in the east: the Chhattisgarh Plain formed by the Mahānadi system. Beyond it are the Hazaribagh and Ranchi plateaus, and the Garhjat Hills.

The Son also cuts in, this time from the north, lined on its left by the Kaimur Range.

Farthest northwest is the Arāvalli Range of Rājasthān, and farthest south are the Cardamon Hills or Southern Ghats.

The fourth feature consists of the coastal lowlands. These blend into the Indo-Gangetic plain at Gujarāt and West Bengal. They are narrow on the Arabian Sea--Konkani and Malabar coasts, and wide along much of the Bay of Bengal--Coramandel Coast and beyond. The west-flowing rivers are short except for two flowing into the Gulf of Khambāt, and the already mentioned two surrounding the Sātpuras. In the east they are long, and include--besides those already mentioned, the Kāveri and the Krishna.

The last two features are in the northeast beyond Bangladesh, but south of the Himalayas. First is the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, and second, the peripheral hills and mountains to its east and south, in Meghālaya, Mizoram, Nāgāland and Manipur.

Who lives there?

Just under 1.1 billion people live in India.¹⁰

See: Languages or language group.

Hindus are the majority in most of India. The chief¹¹ exception is Jammu and Kashmīr, which is Moslem.

Cities and metropolitan areas with a million or more residents: Indian cities. डिलली (Dillī or Delhi), কলকাতা (Kolkata or Calcutta) and मुंबई (Mumbai, formerly Bombay) have over ten million metropolitan residents.

Within the area

Jammu and Kashmīr
ਪੰਜਾਬ, हिमाचल परदॆश, हरियाणा, चंडीगढ़, डिलली, etc. (Panjāb, Himāchal Pradesh, Hariyāna, Chanḍīgarh, Dillī, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh
Rājasthān
Gujarāt, Damān and Diu, Dādra and Nagar Haveli
Bihār, Jharkhand
Paścimbangga, Assam, Meghālaya, Nāgāland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim
Arunāchal Pradesh
महाराश्त्र¹² (Mahārāshtra)
Chhattisgarh
Orissa
Karnātaka, Goa
Andhra Pradesh, the Yanam enclave of Puducherry, Telangana
Tamil Nādu, Kerala, Puducherry (excluding the Yanam enclave), Lakshadweep
Andaman and Nicobar

Footnotes

1. Also officially India.
2. The Lacodives in English.
3. Sumatra in English.
4. Formerly Uttaranchal.
5. Asia's ninth longest river.
6. Ganges in English.
6. Bengladesh in English. The delta begins in Bangladesh.
7. The Sutlej and the Chenab merge to form the Panjnad.
8. Kutch in English.
9. Great Indian Desert in English.
10. www.gazetteer.com, accessed 6/25/2005.
11. Punjab is grouped statistically with Himāchal Pradesh, Haryāna, Chandīgarh and Dillī; Arunāchal Pradesh is grouped statistically with parts of Xizang (Tibet); the other northeastern states are grouped statistically with West Bengal; the Andaman and Nicobar islands are grouped statistically with Sumatera (Sumatra), Indonesia.
12. Ideally the final consonant cluster and vowel are rendered by a single ligature for the three akṣaras.