BharatSangraha

Khandesh · Deccan Inland Plateau

Terrain and eco-zones

The hottest belt in Maharashtra. Jalgaon and Bhusawal regularly record 45–47 °C in May and are among the warmest stations in the state; winter nights fall to 8–12 °C, and rainfall is 550–750 mm, concentrated in July and August. The valley is in the rain shadow of both the Western Ghats to the west and the Satpura to the north, which is why an alluvial trough with two perennial rivers is nevertheless a dry-crop region except where canal and drip irrigation reach.

Landforms

The Tapi trough — a structural depression running east–west, parallel to the Narmada and separated from it by the Satpura blockDeep black cotton soil (regur), in places several metres thick, self-mulching and cracking in the dry seasonThe Satpura wall on the north, rising to the Toranmal plateau at about 1,150 mThe Ajanta, Satmala and Chandwad escarpments on the south, cut by passesGautala and Yaval dry deciduous forest, and teak on the Satpura slopeHatnur and Girna reservoirs, which turned two seasonal rivers into a supply for the banana belt

Rivers and waters

Tapi — the axis, flowing west from Madhya Pradesh through the region and on to the Gujarat coast, one of the few major Indian rivers running east to westPurna — joins the Tapi at Changdev, near Muktainagar, at a confluence with a temple on itGirna — from the Satmala range, joining the Tapi near Jalgaon and the source of the Girna dam commandPanzara — through Dhule, and Bori, Waghur and Aner as tributary drainageNarmada — not in the valley, but the Satpura's far side and the northern boundary of the region's forest belt

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterNovember–February10–32 °CThe working season — cotton picking, banana bunches maturing, the Sarangkheda horse fair, and the only months in which the Satpura slope is comfortable to walk.
SummerMarch–June25–47 °CExtreme and dry. Akhaji falls at its start, and its mango juice and new earthen water pots are a direct response to the heat; Unapdev's hot springs are visited in the cool months instead.
MonsoonJuly–September24–33 °CShort and concentrated. Kanbai is installed in Shravan, and the Satpura slope becomes largely unreachable by road for weeks.
Post-monsoonOctober20–35 °CCotton opens in the field, and the ginning presses start running.

Best time to visitNovember to February for everything — the caves, the Satpura, the forts and the food. Avoid April to early June, when the valley is among the hottest inhabited places in the country. Ajanta is closed on Mondays.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Khandesh, and the best time of year to visit. (4)