Manikarnika Ghat

Manikarnika Ghat lies on the Ganga in Varanasi between Dashashwamedh Ghat and Scindia Ghat and is one of the holiest places for Hindu cremation. It began as a tirtha, a bathing place for pilgrims, and only later became a cremation ground. Today it serves both: the cleaner, paved northern stretch is used for ritual bathing and the southern end is kept for funeral pyres.

The name comes from a legend in which Vishnu made a pool for Shiva and Parvati; when Parvati's jewelled earring, or mani, dropped into it, Shiva dug a well on the spot and filled it with his own sweat. This pool, the Manikarnika Kund, lies near the steps, and a footprint beside it is said to be Vishnu's, left from his meditation in the city. Bathers gather in large numbers in the month of Kartik, on Ekadashi and at solar and lunar eclipses.