Legends in the Stone: How Varanasi’s Most Famous Ghats Got Their Names

Every stone slab on the Varanasi riverfront has a story to tell. With eighty-four distinct ghats stretching across seven kilometers, their names are not random administrative labels; they are chapters of mythology, battlefields of imperial defiance, and monuments to ancient sages.

Here are the astonishing origin stories behind five of the most legendary ghats of Kashi.

1. Chet Singh Ghat: The Fort Fortress of Royal Defiance

Unlike most ghats dedicated to prayers, Chet Singh Ghat is an imposing stone citadel flanked by colossal rounded ramparts and gun-ports. In August 1781, this peaceful riverfront became the scene of a thrilling historical revolt against the British East India Company.

The Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings, arrived in Benares demanding exorbitant tribute money and soldiers from Maharaja Chet Singh to fund British wars against the Marathas. When Chet Singh resisted, Hastings placed him under house arrest inside his own river palace with two companies of British sepoys.

Hearing of their king's imprisonment, Chet Singh’s loyal soldiers and the fiery citizens of Benares crossed the river en masse, stormed the palace, and overwhelmed the British guard. In the chaotic battle, Maharaja Chet Singh was lowered down the sheer river fortress walls using a rope made of tied-together turbans (pagris) into a boat waiting below, escaping across the river to safety!

Hastings was forced to flee the city in panic disguised as a palanquin bearer, inspiring the famous Benares folk rhyme still sung today:

"Ghode par hauda, haathi par jeen,
Jaldi bhaga Warren Hastings!"
("Howdah on horse, saddle on elephant, so hastily fled Warren Hastings!")

2. Manikarnika Ghat: The Jewel and the Lost Earring

Known as the Maha Smashan (The Great Cremation Ground), Manikarnika is the most sacred place on earth for Hindu funeral rites. Yet its origin begins with a cosmic love story between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

Long before creation began, Lord Vishnu dug a sacred pool here with his celestial discus (Sudarshana Chakra) and filled it with his own sweat of intense penance. Pleased by Vishnu’s devotion, Lord Shiva and Parvati arrived to grant him a boon. As Shiva shook his head in supreme ecstasy, a priceless jewel-studded earring (karnika with a jewel mani) slipped from Goddess Parvati’s ear and fell into the sacred pond.

To this day, the sacred pool beside the burning ghat is called the Chakrapushkarini Kund, and the stone steps take their name from Parvati's fallen earring: Mani-karnika.

3. Harishchandra Ghat: The Crucible of Truth

Varanasi’s second major cremation ghat honors King Harishchandra of Ayodhya (an ancestor of Lord Rama), renowned across the ancient world for his unshakeable commitment to truth (Satya).

Tested by the sage Vishwamitra, Harishchandra gave away his entire empire, was separated from his beloved wife Taramati and son Rohitashva, and sold himself into servitude to Kallu Dom, the keeper of the cremation ground at this very ghat. His task was to collect the cremation fee from every mourning family.

When his own young son died of a snakebite, Queen Taramati brought the child’s body to the cremation ground in rags, penniless. Despite his agonizing grief, Harishchandra refused to allow the cremation without the customary fee, stating that duty and truth must never bend for personal attachment. Moved to tears by his steadfast integrity, the gods descended from the heavens, restored the child’s life, and crowned Harishchandra in the eternal realm of glory.

4. Dashashwamedha Ghat: The Sacrifice of Ten Horses

The bustling central hub of Varanasi takes its name from an epic Vedic ritual. Myth recounts that Lord Brahma performed the grand Dasha-Ashwamedha Yajna (the sacrifice of ten horses) at this spot to help King Divodasa establish righteous rule over Kashi.

Because Brahma personally consecrated this riverbank with ten sacred fires, bathing here is believed to grant the spiritual merit of having performed ten horse sacrifices—cleansing a lifetime of sins.

5. Assi Ghat: The Sword of Goddess Durga

Marking the southernmost boundary of the ancient city, Assi Ghat sits at the confluence of the holy Ganges and the historic Assi river. The name traces back to the Devi Bhagavata Purana.

After fighting a titanic battle against the demon generals Shumbha and Nishumbha, Goddess Durga slew eighty thousand demon warriors. Her divine curved sword (Asi in Sanskrit) fell from her hand onto the earth, carving a deep ravine that filled with water and became the Assi river.