The great riverbanks at Varanasi, built high with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pavilions and palaces, temples and terraces, are lined with a chain of stone steps - the
ghats - progressing along the whole of the waterfront, altering in appearance with the dramatic seasonal fluctuations of the river level. Each of the hundred
ghats , big and small, is marked by a
lingam , and occupies its own special place in the religious geography of the city. Some have crumbled over the years, others continue to thrive, with early-morning bathers, brahmin priests offering puja, and people practising meditation and yoga. Hindus regard the Ganges as
amrita , the elixir of life, which brings purity to the living and salvation to the dead. Actually the river is scummy with effluent - don't be tempted to join the bathers; never mind the chemicals and human body parts, it's the level of heavy metals, dumped by factories upstream, that are the real cause for concern. Whether Ganga water still has the power to absolve sin if sterilized is a contentious point; current thinking has it that boiling is acceptable but chemical treatment ruins it.
For centuries, pilgrims have traced the perimeter of the city by a ritual circumambulation, paying homage to shrines on the way. Among the most popular routes is the Panchatirthi Yatra , which takes in the pancha (five) tirthi (crossings) of Asi, Dashaswamedh, Adi Keshava, Panchganga and finally Manikarnika. To gain merit or appease the gods, the devotee, accompanied by a panda (priest), recites a sankalpa (statement of intent) and performs a ritual at each stage of the journey. For the casual visitor, however, the easiest way to see the ghats is to follow a south-north sequence either by boat or on foot.
Asi Ghat to Kedara Ghat
At the clay-banked
Asi Ghat , at the confluence of the Asi and the Ganges, pilgrims bathe prior to worshipping at a huge
lingam under a
peepal tree. Another
lingam visited is that of
Asisangameshvara , the "Lord of the Confluence of the Asi", in a small marble temple just off the
ghat . Traditionally, pilgrims continued to
Lolarka Kund , the "Trembling Sun", a rectangular tank 15m below ground level, approached by steep steps. Now almost abandoned, except during the Lolarka Mela fair (Aug/Sept), when thousands come to propitiate the gods and pray for the birth of a son, Lolarka Kund is among Varanasi's earliest sites, one of only two remaining sun sites linked with the origins of Hinduism. Equated with the twelve
adityas or divisions of the sun, which predate the great deities of modern Hinduism, it was attracting bathers in the days of the Buddha.
Much of the adjacent Tulsi Ghat - originally Lolarka Ghat, but renamed in honour of the poet Tulsi Das, who lived nearby in the sixteenth century - has crumbled. Continuing north, above Shivala Ghat, Hanuman Ghat is the site of a new temple built by the ghat's large south Indian community. Considered by many to be the birthplace of the fifteenth-century Vaishnavite saint, Vallabha, who was instrumental in the resurgence of the worship of Krishna, the ghat also features a striking image of Ruru , one of the eight forms of the dog Bhairava , a ferocious and early form of Shiva.
Named after a legendary king who gave up his entire kingdom in a fit of self-abnegation, Harishchandra Ghat , one of Varanasi's two cremation or burning ghats , is easily recognizable from the smoke of its funeral pyres.
Further north, the busy Kedara Ghat is ignored by pilgrims on the Panchatirthi Yatra. Above its steps, a red-and-white-striped temple houses the Kedareshvara lingam , an outcrop of black rock shot through with a vein of white. Mythologically related to Kedarnath in the Himalayas, Kedara and its ghat become a hive of activity during the sacred month of Sravana (July/Aug), the month of the rains.
Chauki Ghat to Chaumsathi Ghat
Northwards along the river, Chauki Ghat is distinguished by an enormous tree that shelters small stone shrines to the nagas , water-snake deities, while at the unmistakeable Dhobi (Laundrymen's) Ghat , clothes are still rhythmically pulverized in pursuit of purity. Past smaller ghats such as Manasarovara Ghat , named after the holy lake in Tibet, and Narada Ghat , honouring the divine musician and sage, lies Chaumsathi Ghat , where impressive stone steps lead up to the small temple of the Chaumsathi (64) Yoginis . Images of Kali and Durga in its inner sanctum represent a stage in the emergence of the great goddess as a single representation of a number of female divinities. Overlooking the ghats here is Peshwa Amrit Rao's majestic sandstone haveli (mansion), built in 1807 and currently used for religious ceremonies and occasionally as an auditorium for concerts.
Dashaswamedh Ghat
Dashaswamedh Ghat , the second and busiest of the five tirthas on the Panchatirthi Yatra, lies past the plain, flat-roofed building that houses the shrine of Shitala . Extremely popular, even in the rainy season when devotees have to wade to the temple or take a boat, Shitala represents both benign and malevolent aspects - ease and succour as well as disease, particularly smallpox.
Dashaswamedh is Varanasi's most popular and accessible bathing ghat , with rows of pandas sitting on wooden platforms under bamboo umbrellas, masseurs plying their trade and boatmen jostling for custom. Its name, "ten horse sacrifices", derives from a complex series of sacrifices performed by Brahma to test King Divodasa: Shiva and Parvati were sure the king's resolve would fail, and he would be compelled to leave Kashi, thereby allowing them to return to their city. However, the sacrifices were so perfect that Brahma established the Brahmeshvara lingam here. Since that time, Dashaswamedh has become one of the most celebrated tirthas on earth, where pilgrims can reap the benefits of the huge sacrifice merely by bathing.
Man Mandir Ghat to Lalita Ghat
Man Mandir Ghat is known primarily for its magnificent eighteenth-century observatory, equipped with ornate window casings, and built for the Maharaja of Jaipur. Pilgrims pay homage to the important lingam of Someshvara, the lord of the moon, alongside, before crossing Tripurabhairavi Ghat to Mir Ghat and the New Vishwanatha Temple , built by conservative brahmins who claimed that the main Vishwanatha lingam was rendered impure when Harijans (untouchables) entered the sanctum in 1956. Mir Ghat also has a shrine to Vishalakshi , the Wide-Eyed Goddess, on an important pitha - a site marking the place where various parts of the disintegrating body of Shakti fell as it was carried by the grief-stricken Shiva. Also here is the Dharma Kupa , the Well of Dharma, surrounded by subsidiary shrines and the lingam of Dharmesha , where it is said that Yama, the Lord of Death, obtained his jurisdiction over all the dead of the world - except here in Varanasi.
Immediately to the north is Lalita Ghat , renowned for its Ganga Keshava shrine to Vishnu and the Nepali Temple, a typical Kathmandu-style wooden temple which houses an image of Pashupateshvara - Shiva's manifestation at Pashupatinath, in the Kathmandu Valley - and sports a small selection of erotic carvings.
Manikarnika Ghat
North of Lalita lies Varanasi's pre-eminent cremation ground, Manikarnika Ghat . Such grounds are usually held to be inauspicious, and located on the fringes of cities, but the entire city of Shiva is regarded as Mahashmashana , the Great Cremation Ground for the corpse of the entire universe. The ghat is perpetually crowded with funeral parties, as well as the Doms , its Untouchable guardians, busy and preoccupied with facilitating final release for those lucky enough to pass away here. Seeing bodies being cremated so publicly has always exerted a great fascination for visitors to the city, but photography is strictly taboo; even having a camera visible may be construed as intent, and provoke hostility. Wood touts descend on tourists at the ghat explaining the finer metaphysical points of transmutation ("cremation is education") before subtly shifting to the practicalities of how much wood is needed to burn one body, the never-ending cycle of inflation and would you like to give a donation. The amounts written down in their "ledgers" are unbelievable.
Lying at the centre of the five tirthas , Manikarnika Ghat symbolizes both creation and destruction, epitomized by the juxtaposition of the sacred well of Manikarnika Kund , said to have been dug by Vishnu at the time of creation, and the hot, sandy ash-infused soil of cremation grounds where time comes to an end. In Hindu mythology, Manikarnika Kund predates the arrival of the Ganga and has its source deep in the Himalayas. Vishnu carved the kund with his discus, and filled it with perspiration from his exertions in creating the world, at the behest of Shiva. When Shiva quivered with delight, his earring fell into this pool, which as Manikarnika - "Jewelled Earring" - became the first tirtha in the world. Every year, after the floodwaters of the river have receded to leave the pool caked in alluvial deposits, the kund is re-dug. Its surroundings are cleaned and painted with bright folk art depicting the presiding goddess, Manikarni Devi .
Scindhia Ghat
Bordering Manikarnika to the north is the picturesque Scindia Ghat , with its tilted Shiva temple lying partially submerged in the river, having fallen in as a result of the sheer weight of the ghat's construction around 150 years ago. Above the ghat , several of Varanasi's most influential shrines are hidden within the tight maze of alleyways of the area known as Siddha Kshetra (the "Field of Fulfilment"). Vireshvara, the Lord of all Heroes, is especially propitiated in prayer for a son; the Lord of Fire, Agni, was supposed to have been born here.
Panchganga Ghat to Adi Keshava Ghat
Beyond Lakshmanbala Ghat, with its commanding views of the river, lies one of the most dramatic and controversial ghats , Panchganga Ghat , dominated by Varanasi's largest riverside building, the great Mosque of Alamgir , known locally as Beni Madhav-ka-Darera. With its minarets now much shortened, the mosque stands on the ruins of the Bindu Madhava , a Vishnu temple that extended from Panchganga to Rama Ghat before it was destroyed by Aurangzeb and replaced by the mosque. Panchganga also bears testimony to more favourable Hindu-Muslim relations, being the site of the initiation of the medieval saint of the Sufi-Sant tradition, Kabir, the son of a humble Muslim weaver who is venerated by Hindus and Muslims alike. Along the riverfront lies a curious array of three-sided cells, submerged during the rainy season, some with lingams , others with images of Vishnu, and some empty and used for meditation or yoga.
Above Trilochana Ghat , further north, is the holy ancient lingam of the three ( tri )-eyed ( lochana ) Shiva. Beyond it, the river bypasses some of Varanasi's oldest precincts, now predominantly Muslim in character; the ghats themselves gradually become less impressive and are usually of the kaccha (clay-banked) variety.
At Adi Keshava Ghat (the "Original Vishnu"), on the outskirts of the city, the Varana flows into the Ganga. Unapproachable during the rainy season, when it is completely submerged, it marks the place where Vishnu supposedly landed as an emissary of Shiva, and stands on the original site of the city before it spread southwards; around Adi Keshava are a number of Ganesha shrines.
