Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is defined by the lush Western Ghats and the semi-arid Deccan Plateau in the west, the discontinuous Eastern Ghats in the north, the fertile Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern cape of the peninsula—Kanyakumari, and the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, and the union territory of Puducherry, as well as an international maritime border with the Northern Province of Sri Lanka at Pamban Island.