Difference Between Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats

Western Ghats vs Eastern Ghats

India is a land of marvelous natural beauty and relief features that are very diverse. If you have hills and snow covered mountain peaks, you also get deserts. India has lots of rivers, plateaus, plains, beaches, deltas and deserts. It boasts of a large coastline along its western, southern, and eastern borders. While the central and eastern India has fertile Indo-Gangetic plains, the southern peninsula is composed of the Deccan plateau. This Deccan plateau has two hilly coastal ranges known as Western and Eastern Ghats. These are the only mountains people of south India have, and present a great topological feature. There are many differences in the composition of these two relief features that will be discussed in this article.

Though the word Ghat in Indian languages means a pass, Europeans erroneously named these hilly ranges as Western and Eastern Ghats. These hilly regions have small hillocks, but they also have some high mountains slopes going up to a height of around 9800 feet. These Ghats lie on the west and east of the central plateau and present a beautiful region full of diverse flora and fauna and nice weather conditions. Europeans and other foreigners are attracted to these regions as they remind them of their own climate. Sensing opportunity, many farm houses, hill resorts, and bungalows have come up in these regions that are always full of tourists.

Western Ghats start from Tapti Valley in the west and go up to the southern most tip of India known as Cape Camorin. These hills carry the monsoon along with them and cause heavy rainfall along the Ghats. Western Ghats meet Eastern Ghats at Nilgiri Hills. Both Western and Eastern Ghats run parallel to the coastal area of India. Both include several discontinuous and dissimilar hill masses.