Land

Maharashtra means the land of Marathi speaking people. The word Maharashtra has been derived from Maharashtri, an old form of Prakrit. It is located in the north center of Peninsular India. Maharashtra is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the west and by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on the north. It is also encircled by Madhya Pradesh in the east and by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on the south.

Maharashtra's physical features are quite homogeneous. But the landscape of this state is dominated by a plateau. The western side of this plateau rises up to form the Sahyadri Range and it declines gently towards the east and southeast. The plateau has been carved by the major rivers and their master tributaries, into alternating broad-river valleys. They have also formed the Ahmednagar, Buldana, and Yavatmal plateaux.


¤ Geographical Features

The Sahyadri Range is the highlight of the landscape of Maharashtra. This range is the physical backbone of the state. The average height of the range is around 1000m. Near the Konkan, the range falls to a steep cliff, on the west. There is a transitional area towards the east, where the hill country falls in steps. This area is known as Mawal to the plateau level.

The region between the Arabian Sea and the Sahyadri Range is called the Konkan. It is a narrow coastal lowland, hardly 50 km. wide. The average height of Konkan is mostly below 200 m. The landscape here is very uneven. Konkan alternates between narrow, steep-sided valleys and low laterite plateaux.

The Satpuda hills are covered with dense forests. These hill forests are the a major feature of Maharashtra. It is situated along the northern border of the state. The Satpuda hills and the Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri Ranges on the eastern border of the state form physical barriers preventing easy movement and also forms the natural border of the state.


¤ Geology and Topography

The landscape of the state is quite uniform and monotonous, except the areas around Mumbai and along the eastern limits of Maharashtra. The geological structure of the state has given way to its topography. The Deccan trap meets the state area, except for the extreme eastern Vidarbha region and parts of Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. Around 60 to 90 yeas ago, the basalt area was formed by the basic lava coming out of the fissures. These are now found in the form of massive, well jointed steel gray cliff due to the variation in their composition and structure. The cliffs are found facing the alternate structural beaches of vesicular amygdaloid lava and ash layers. All these features contribute to the pyramid-shaped hills and crest-level plateau or mesas.

The rivers of state, Krishna, Bhima, Godavari, Tapi-Purna and Wardha-Wainganga have divided it into broad, open river valleys and alternating plateaux, that helps in the formation of the Sahyadri hills. The water falls of the Konkan are hardly a 100 km. long, rushing down as roaring streams. These streams flow in deeply established valleys that end up as tidal estuaries.


¤ Climate

Maharashtra experiences tropical monsoon climate. The state faces extremely hot summers from March onwards till the starting of the rainy season in early June. The lush greenery is the result of monsoon season, which persists during the following mild winters. The state enjoys mild winters and but the season changing month of October is very unpleasant.

The Sahyadri hills receives a heavy rainfall of 400 cm due to the seasonal rains from the western sea-clouds. The Konkan region is also receives torrential rainfall. At the eastern side of the Sahyadri, the rainfall diminishes with the area receiving just 70 cm. of rainfall. The Solapur-Ahmednagar lies in the heart of the dry zone. But later in the season, the rainfall increases towards the eastwards in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The unpredictable monsoon, some times results in short spells of rainy weather, long dry breaks, floods and droughts making life a little difficult here.


¤ Flora and Fauna

The flora and fauna of Maharashtra is quite diverse. The varied climate and topography has resulted in rich vegetation and a good animal population. The land of Maharashtra has arid desert, tropical rain forest and mountain range with an height of 4000 feet. 17 % of Maharashtra's land is covered with thick virgin forests. The forests found here are mainly evergreen deciduous type. Majority of the forests are in the eastern and Sahyadri regions of the state. Maharashtra has five national parks, three game reserves, and 24 wildlife/bird sanctuaries. Here many different kinds of animals are found like tigers, panthers, bison, deer and antelopes, wild boars, bears and blue bull.