SATPURA  , a range of hills in the centre of

India . Beginning at the lofty plateau of Amarkantak (about 82° E.), the range extends westward almost to the W. coast . From Amarkantak an outer ridge runs S.W. for about too m. to a point known as the Saletekri hills in Balaghat district . As it proceeds westward the range narrows from a broad tableland to two parallel ridges enclosing the valley of the Tapti, as far as the famous hill-fortress of Asirgarh . Beyond this point the Khandesh hills, which separate the valley of the Nerbudda from that of the Tapti, complete the chain as far as the Western Ghats . The mean elevation is about 2500 ft.; but the plateaus of Amarkantak and Chauradadar in the east of Mandla district rise to nearly 3500 ft., and many of the peaks and some of the tablelands exceed this altitude . The hill of Khamla in Betul district is 3700 ft., which is also the general height of the Chikalda hills overlooking the Berar plain, while the Pachmarhi hills east of Betul, rising abruptly from the Nerbudda valley, culminate in Dhokgarh at an elevation of 4500 ft . Just east of Asirgarh there is a break in the range, through which passes the railway from Bombay to Jubbulpore, the elevation at this point being about 1240 ft . The extreme length of the range is about 600 m.; the breadth, which is too m. at its head across Balaghat and Mandla, diminishes to the narrow ridges of Nimar .