broken range of hills forming the southern escarpment of the central upland of India. From Gujarat state on the west, it extends about 675 miles (1,086 km) across Madhya Pradesh state to abut on the Ganges (Ganga) River (Ganges River) valley near Varanasi. The mountains form the southern edge of the Malwa Plateau and then divide into two branches: the Kaimur Range, running north of the Son River into western Bihar state, and the southern branch, running between the upper reaches of the Son and Narmada (Narmada River) rivers to meet the Satpura Range in the Maikala Range (or Amarkantak Plateau).

The Vindhya Range, at an elevation from 1,500 to 3,500 feet (450 to 1,100 metres), gives rise to the main southern tributaries of the Ganges-Yamuna system, including the Chambal (Chambal River), Betwa (Betwa River), Ken, and Tons rivers. Because of their horizontal sandstone structure, the mountains tend to be flat-topped and plateaulike. The 2nd-century-CE Greek geographer Ptolemy called them the Vindius. The range is regarded as marking the border between northern and peninsular India.