The Terai or Tarai is to a lowland region in parts of northern India and southern Nepal that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps. In North India, the Terai spreads from the Yamuna River eastward across Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The Terai is part of the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.
Nepal's Terai stretches over 33,998.8 km2 (13,127.0 sq mi), about 23.1% of Nepal's land area, and lies at an elevation of between 67 and 300 m. The region comprises more than 50 wetlands. North of the Terai rises the Bhabar, a narrow but continuous belt of forest about 8–12 km (5.0–7.5 mi) wide.
Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal
The light green areas indicate the Terai in Nepal
Tharu people of Terai
Jungle in Uttarakhand
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.
"Nēpāla" in the late Brahmi script, in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (350–375 CE).
This painting in a Laotian temple depicts a legend surrounding the birth of Gautama Buddha c. 563 BC in Lumbini, Western Nepal.
In the premises of the Changu Narayan Temple, is a stone inscription dated 464 AD, the first in Nepal since the Ashoka inscription of Lumbini (c. 250 BC).
Sinja Valley, thought to be the place of origin of the Khasas and the Nepali language, was at the heart of the Khas Malla empire.