Question

Give a brief description of the Peninsular Plateau region of India.

Answer 1

The Deccan Plateau[1] is a large plateau in southern India. It rises to 100 metres (330 ft) in the north, and to more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in the south, forming a raised triangle within the South-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent's coastline.[2]


It extends over eight Indian states and encompasses a wide range of habitats, covering most of central and southern India.[3]

The plateau is located between two mountain ranges, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, each of which rises from its respective nearby coastal plain, and almost converge at the southern tip of India. It is separated from the Gangetic plain to the north by the Satpuraand Vindhya Ranges, which form its northern boundary. The Deccan produced some of the major dynasties in Indian history Pallavas, Satavahana, Vakataka, Chalukya, and Rashtrakuta dynasties, the Western Chalukya, the Kadamba Dynasty, Kakatiya Empire, Vijayanagara and Maratha empires and the Muslim Bahmani Sultanate, Deccan Sultanate, and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Answer 2

The triangular shaped Peninsular Plateau of India extends from the south of Indo-Ganga Plain to the Cape Comorin (now Kanyakumari). This plateau is one of the oldest surfaces of the Earth and represents a segregated part of the old Gondwanaland.

Physical features:

The Aravalli range in the west and the Satpura, the Mahadeo and the Kaimur range in the south divide the Peninsular Plateau into two parts:

(i) The Central Indian Plateau in the north and (ii) The Deccan Plateau in the south of it.