Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi

The Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganga at Varanasi — the primary cremation ghat of the city, where an estimated 200-300 cremations are performed daily (around 100,000 annually). Puranic tradition identifies the ghat with the fall of Sati's earring (manikarnika) and the Manikarnika Kund as a Vishnu-dug tank that preceded the Ganga's descent. The 1302 Govardhan Giri Maharaj's Manikarnika Kund expansion and the subsequent 18-century Peshwa Bajirao I ghat construction frame the modern ghat. The adjacent 500-year-old Chandal tola (Dom caste community that lights the funeral pyres) retains the hereditary cremation-ritual authority. The Rajiv Ghat annexe (built 1992) handles the growing demand.