Barela is a town as well as a nagar panchayat situated in the Jabalpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The city of Jabalpur is the headquarters of the Jabalpur district. The Jabalpur district is incorporated under the Jabalpur Division. The district spreads over an area of 10,160 square km. According to the 2001 India census, the population of the district is 2,167,469. Jabalpur District is positioned in the Mahakoshal region of Madhya Pradesh, on the partition between the watersheds of the Narmada and the Son Rivers, primarily within the valley of the Narmada. Here the river Narmada flows through the famous canyon known as the Marble rocks, and falls 30 ft. over a rocky protuberance (the Dhuan dhar, or misty shoot). It encloses an extended slender plain running northeast and southwest, and bordered on all sides by the highlands. This plain, which is in fact a derivative of the great valley of the Narmada, is covered in its western and southern parts by a rich alluvial deposit of black cotton-soil. The northern and eastern part of the plain belongs to basin of the Son River, a tributary of the Ganges and the Yamuna rivers. The main railway line from Mumbai to Kolkata as well as branches of two other lines which meet at Katni junction, pass through the Jabalpur district.

The exact geographical location of the city of Barela is 23.1° North and 80.05° East. It has a mean elevation of 405 metres (1328 feet). As per the 2001 India census, the population of Barela is 10,874. Males and females respectively comprise 53% and 47% of the population. The mean literacy rate of the city is 70%, greater than the countrywide average of 59.5%. 59% of the males and 41% of the females are literate. 14% of the population is children below six years of age.