Highest Peaks of Indian States and Hill Ranges

Questions on peaks are pure matching questions: a peak, a state and a range. They are easy marks if the list is held in order, and easy to lose if two famous names are swapped. This note sets out the highest peak of every important Indian state and of every major range, keeps the figures in metres, and ends with the four pairs that examiners use to trip candidates.

The three Himalayan ranges and the Trans-Himalaya

The Himalaya runs for about 2,400 kilometres in three parallel ranges. The northernmost is the Himadri or Greater Himalaya, which carries the loftiest summits, with an average height above 6,000 metres and perpetual snow. South of it lies the Himachal or Lesser Himalaya, with heights between about 3,700 and 4,500 metres, in which the hill stations and valleys such as Kashmir, Kangra and Kullu lie. The outermost range is the Shiwalik, from about 900 to 1,100 metres, made of unconsolidated gravel and sediment, with the flat-floored duns such as Dehra Dun lying between the Shiwalik and the Lesser Himalaya. Beyond the Greater Himalaya is the Trans-Himalaya, which includes the Karakoram, Ladakh, Zanskar and Kailash ranges; the Karakoram holds K2, at 8,611 metres the second highest summit on earth, which lies in the part of Jammu and Kashmir under illegal occupation and so is often described as the highest point in Indian territory. Nanga Parbat, 8,126 metres, stands at the western end of the Himalaya in the same occupied region.

Highest peaks of the states

Meghalaya's highest point is Shillong Peak in the Khasi hills, and Nokrek is the highest of the Garo hills. Parasnath in Giridih is the highest point of Jharkhand, and in Ladakh the Saser Kangri group of the eastern Karakoram rises above 7,600 metres.

The highest peak of each range

The four pairs students mix up

• Kangchenjunga and Nanda Devi. Kangchenjunga, 8,586 metres, is the highest peak in India and the third highest in the world, but it stands on the boundary with Nepal. Nanda Devi, 7,816 metres, is therefore the highest peak lying entirely within Indian territory. If the question says "entirely in India", the answer is Nanda Devi.
• K2 and Kangchenjunga. K2, 8,611 metres, is the second highest peak in the world and lies in the Karakoram within the Indian union territory of Ladakh as claimed, in the area under occupation. Where a paper asks for the highest peak of India as a political unit, K2 is the intended answer; where it asks for the highest in the Himalaya within India, it is Kangchenjunga.
• Anamudi and Doddabetta. Anamudi, 2,695 metres, in Kerala, is the highest peak of the Western Ghats and of peninsular and south India. Doddabetta, 2,637 metres, is only the highest of the Nilgiri hills and of Tamil Nadu.
• Guru Shikhar and Dhupgarh. Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu is the highest of the Aravalli, the oldest fold mountains of India; Dhupgarh at Pachmarhi is the highest of the Satpura and of Madhya Pradesh.

Peaks worth a line of their own

Kangchenjunga means the five treasures of snow, and the Kangchenjunga National Park around it was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 2016. The Nanda Devi National Park, with the Valley of Flowers, is also a World Heritage Site, and Nanda Devi gives its name to a biosphere reserve. Anamudi lies in the Eravikulam National Park, the home of the Nilgiri tahr. Phawngpui, the Blue Mountain of Mizoram, has a national park named after it, and Sandakphu is the point from which both Kangchenjunga and Everest can be seen on a clear day. Guru Shikhar stands above Mount Abu, the only hill station of Rajasthan, and Dhupgarh above Pachmarhi, the only hill station of Madhya Pradesh. Outside India, Mount Everest in Nepal, at 8,848 metres, remains the highest point on earth, and its height was revised to 8,848.86 metres in 2020 after a joint survey by Nepal and China.