Geography of Maharashtra

Maharashtra encompasses an area of 308,000 km² (119,000 mi²), the third largest in India after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra is bordered by the states of Madhya Pradesh to the north, chhattisgarh to the east, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast, Karnataka to the south, and Goa to the southwest. The state of Gujarat lies to the northwest, with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli sandwiched in between. The Arabian Sea makes up Maharashtra’s west coast.

The Western Ghats are a hilly range runing parallel to the coast, at an average elevation of 1,200 metres (4,000 feet)). To the west of these hills lie the Konkan coastal plains, which is 50 - 80 kilometres in width.

To the east of the Ghats lies the flat Deccan Plateau. The Western Ghats form one of the three watersheds of India, from which many South Indian rivers originate from. To the north of the state, near the Madhya Pradesh border, lies the Satpura Range.

The Western Ghats form the source of several major rivers of Maharashtra, notable among them being Godavari and the Krishna. The rivers, along with their tributaries, flow eastwards into the Bay of Bengal, irrigating most of central and eastern Maharashtra.