MPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 29 of 100

Correct — option (1), Sahyadri, is where Kalsubai actually stands. Kalsubai, at about 1,646 metres (roughly 5,400 feet), is the highest peak anywhere in Maharashtra, and it belongs to the Sahyadri range — the Maharashtra stretch of the Western Ghats that runs parallel to the Konkan coast. The peak sits in Akole taluka of Ahmednagar (recently renamed Ahilyanagar) district, near the well-known trekking and reservoir town of Bhandardara, and it carries a small temple to the goddess Kalsubai at its summit, which is why locals sometimes call it the 'Everest of Maharashtra.' The Sahyadri is the parent range of the state's high-altitude tourism belt — it is the same range that carries Mahabaleshwar, Harishchandragad, and most of Maharashtra's celebrated hill forts and trekking peaks — so a candidate who has internalised 'Sahyadri = Western Ghats = Maharashtra's tallest terrain' has the fastest route to this answer. The three wrong options name real Maharashtra ranges, but none of them is where Kalsubai is found: they are all lower, drier, more interior ranges that branch eastward off the Sahyadri rather than the Sahyadri itself.

• (2)Shambhu Mahadeo — Not Kalsubai's range — the Shambhu-Mahadeva range does exist, but it branches off the Sahyadri near Mahabaleshwar and runs east through Satara and Sangli districts towards the Maharashtra-Karnataka border, dividing the upper Bhima and Krishna river systems. It is a real spur of the Western Ghats system, which is exactly why it is a tempting distractor, but Kalsubai stands well to the north of this range, in the core Sahyadri line through Ahmednagar district, not on this eastern offshoot.
• (3)Satpuda — Not Kalsubai's range — the Satpuda is an entirely different hill system that runs along Maharashtra's northern border with Madhya Pradesh, forming the watershed for the Tapi river and containing the Melghat forests. It has no connection to the Sahyadri chain running down the western edge of the state, and its highest points (in the Chikhaldara-Gavilgad area) are unrelated to Kalsubai, which lies far to the south-west of the Satpuda in a completely different range.
• (4)Balaghat — Not Kalsubai's range — the Balaghat range branches south-eastward off the Western Ghats at the Harishchandra range and runs at comparatively low elevation through Ahmednagar, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad and Solapur districts, separating the Godavari basin to its north from the Bhima basin to its south. It shares a district (Ahmednagar) with Kalsubai, which is exactly the kind of geographic proximity a question like this exploits, but Kalsubai itself rises in the core Sahyadri line, not on this lower, drier interior spur.

Maharashtra's hill geography is essentially one main range — the Sahyadri, the state's stretch of the Western Ghats, running roughly north-south parallel to the Konkan coast — with several lower, drier ranges (Shambhu-Mahadeo, Balaghat, Ajanta, Satmala, Harishchandra) branching eastward off it into the Deccan plateau, plus the wholly separate Satpuda system along the state's northern border. Kalsubai, Maharashtra's highest peak at about 1,646 m, sits on the core Sahyadri line in Ahmednagar district near Bhandardara, alongside other well-known Sahyadri peaks and forts such as Mahabaleshwar, Harishchandragad and Salher.

MPSC's Paper-I geography section leans hard on Maharashtra-specific facts precisely because they will not appear on an all-India UPSC paper, and 'which range is this peak/fort/river in' is one of the most efficient ways to test whether a candidate has actually studied the state's physical map rather than only its national-level geography. The trap here is that the wrong options are not invented names — Shambhu-Mahadeo and Balaghat are genuine Maharashtra ranges that share districts and general proximity with the Sahyadri — so a candidate who half-remembers 'Kalsubai is somewhere near Ahmednagar' can be pulled towards a range that is merely nearby rather than the one the peak actually sits on.

• Kalsubai, at approximately 1,646 m, is the highest peak in Maharashtra, standing in the Sahyadri range.
• The peak lies in Akole taluka, Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar) district, near Bhandardara, and carries a small temple to the goddess Kalsubai at its summit.
• The Sahyadri is Maharashtra's segment of the Western Ghats, running parallel to the Konkan coast and carrying most of the state's high peaks and hill forts.
• The Shambhu-Mahadeo range branches off the Sahyadri near Mahabaleshwar and runs through Satara-Sangli towards Karnataka, dividing the upper Bhima and Krishna basins.
• The Balaghat range branches off the Sahyadri at the Harishchandra range and runs at lower elevation through Ahmednagar, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad and Solapur, separating the Godavari basin from the Bhima basin.
• The Satpuda range is a separate system altogether, along Maharashtra's northern border with Madhya Pradesh, forming the Tapi river's watershed and containing the Melghat forests.

• Assuming a peak's range follows automatically from the district it is in, when several different ranges can pass through or near the same district
• Confusing the Sahyadri (the main Western Ghats line) with its own eastward branches, such as Shambhu-Mahadeo or Balaghat, which are lower and structurally distinct
• Mixing up the Satpuda (a separate northern-border range tied to the Tapi) with any part of the Sahyadri-Western Ghats system

MPSC Paper-I's Maharashtra-geography questions repeatedly test the state's peaks, forts and passes against their correct range, usually as direct recall like this one or occasionally as a match-the-columns item pairing several peaks with several ranges. Because Kalsubai is the single most-cited 'highest point' fact in Maharashtra geography, it recurs across editions in slightly different phrasings, and the safest preparation is to fix its range, district and approximate height as one linked fact rather than memorising them separately.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which district of Maharashtra does Kalsubai, the state's highest peak, lie ?

  • (a)Nashik
  • (b)Pune
  • (c)Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar)
  • (d)Satara

  Answer(c) Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar) — Kalsubai stands in Akole taluka of this district, near Bhandardara, on the Sahyadri range.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Balaghat range of Maharashtra separates which two river basins ?

  • (a)Godavari basin (north) and Bhima basin (south)
  • (b)Krishna basin (north) and Tapi basin (south)
  • (c)Bhima basin (north) and Krishna basin (south)
  • (d)Tapi basin (north) and Narmada basin (south)

  Answer(a) Godavari basin (north) and Bhima basin (south) — the Balaghat range branches south-eastward off the Sahyadri at the Harishchandra range and runs through Ahmednagar, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad and Solapur along this watershed line.