Terai

The Terai is a plain landscape south of the outer foothills of the Himalaya, the Siwalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and their tributaries. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps. In northern India, the Terai spreads eastward from the Yamuna River across Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Terai is part the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion. Corresponding parts in West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Assam east to the Brahmaputra River are called 'Dooars'. In Nepal, the Terai lies at an altitude of between 67 and 300 m (220 and 984 ft) and comprises more than 50 wetlands. North of the Terai rises the Bhabhar, a narrow but continuous belt of forest about 8–12 km (5.0–7.5 mi) wide.

Etymology

In Sanskrit, the region is called तराई tarāī meaning "foot-hill". In Nepali, the region is called तराइ tarāi meaning "the low-lying land, plain" and especially "the low-lying land at the foot of the Himālayas". The region's name in Urdu is ترای tarāʼī meaning "lands lying at the foot of a watershed" or "on the banks of a river; low ground flooded with water, valley, basin, marshy ground, marsh, swamp; meadow".

Terai (disambiguation)

Terai or Tarāī (Hindi and Nepali: तराई) are plains south of the outermost Siwalik foothills of the Himalayas spanning India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Terai or Tarai may also refer to: