South India South India South India is the area including five Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as three union territories of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry, occupying 19% of India's area (). Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse with two mountain ranges–the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers
Chota Nagpur Plateau ecoregion, encompasses the plateau. The ecoregion has an area of , covering most of Jharkhand state and adjacent portions of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. The ecoregion is drier than surrounding ones, including the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests that covers the Eastern Ghats and Satpura Range to the south, and the Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests in the lowlands to the east and north. The plateau is covered with a variety of various habitats of which Sal forest is predominant. The plateau is home to the Palamau Tiger Reserve and other large blocks