Ghat
The stepped riverbank where people bathe, pray and perform rites.
Also: ghats
A ghat is a flight of steps leading down to a river or lake, a place where Indians bathe, wash clothes, pray, make offerings and cremate the dead. Varanasi has about eighty-eight ghats along the Ganges, each with its own character: Dashashwamedh, where the evening aarti draws crowds, and Manikarnika, where cremations burn day and night. At dawn, pilgrims enter the water to face the rising sun. Boatmen, priests, barbers and flower sellers work on the steps. In the festival of Kartik Purnima, the ghats are lit by thousands of lamps. The steps connect daily life with the sacred.
Region: South Asia