Northern India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. In traditional Indian geography, India is divided into five major zones: North India, North-East India, East India , West India and South India. The Vindhya mountains, in particular the line marked by the Narmada River and the Mahanadi River marks the southern boundary of north India. The line made by the Son river and the Kosi river marks its eastern border. The dominant geographic feature of northern India is the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

However, the socio-cultural boundaries of north India have actually surpassed these traditional boundaries. As a linguistic-cultural and political region, North India consists of twelve Indian states: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (Bihar and Jharkhand are also considered as parts of East India).