Mahalanobis D2 statistic was applied to assess the divergence of thirty-five ridge gourd genotypes. The 35 genotypes were grouped into eight clusters, where Cluster I and II included eleven lines followed by cluster IV and VI with four genotypes each and cluster VII with two, whereas cluster III, V and VIII were solitary. Maximum intra-cluster diversity (D2=20.50) observed in cluster VI followed by cluster IV (D2=17.87), cluster II (D2=17.59) and cluster I (D2=16.84). Based on inter-cluster distance, the average D2 value was maximum (D2=42.40) between cluster IV and cluster VII having four and two genotypes, respectively. Flesh thickness (38.66 %) contributed the maximum to the total genetic diversity followed by rind thickness (16.30%) and fruit weight (9.58 %). The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was low compared to the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) for all the characters studied. The highest GCV and PCV observed for sex ratio, leaf area, leaf area index, fruit yield per plant and fruit yield per hectare. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent mean observed for number of nodes, sex ratio, days to first harvest, leaf area, leaf area index, chlorophyll content, fruit length, percent fruit set, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant , fruit yield per hectare, rind thickness and flesh thickness indicating greater scope of improvement through selection.