Ghat (), a term used in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, to refer to the series of steps leading down to a body of water or

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

, such as a bathing or cremation place along the banks of a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

, the Ghats in Varanasi, Dhobi Ghat or the Aapravasi Ghat.Sunithi L. Narayan, Revathy Nagaswami, 1992
Discover sublime India: handbook for tourists
Page 5.Ghat definition
Cambridge dictionary.

Etymology

The origin of the English 'ghat' is , ' and is normally translated as ghaṭ, quay, landing or bathing place, as well as, steps by a river-side. The word 'ghat' has also been derived from Dravidian etymons such as Telugu ''kaṭṭa '' and ''gaṭṭu'' (dam and embankment) derived from ''kaṭṭu'' meaning "to tie".

Types

River ghats

These are bathing wharves on a river. The numerous significant ghats along the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

are the Varanasi ghats (the city of

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

has 88 ghats) and generically the "ghats of the Ganges". Most of these were constructed under the patronage of various Maratha rulers such as Ahilyabai Holkar (Queen of the

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

Kingdom from 1767 to 1795) in the 18th century. In

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

in central

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, there are further significant ghats along the

Narmada River The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

. People who live on the steps are also called ghats.

Shmashana, the cremation ghats

Ghats such as these are useful for both mundane purposes (such as cleaning) and religious rites (i.e. ritual bathing or ablutions); there are also specific " shmashana" or "cremation" ghats where bodies are cremated waterside, allowing ashes to be washed away by rivers. Notable examples include Nigambodh Ghat and Raj Ghat in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, situated on the Yamuna River. Raj Ghat, in particular, was the cremation site for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and numerous political leaders after him, and the Manikarnika Ghat at Varanasi on the

As place name suffix

"Ghat" and "Ghata" is also a

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

used in several place names across the

subcontinent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of A ...

. This is an incomplete list: * Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India * Balurghat, West Bengal, India * Batiaghata, Khulna,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

* Charghat, Rajshahi, Bangladesh * Chunarughat, Habiganj, Bangladesh * Devghat, Nepal * Gaighat, Nepal * Ghatail, Tangail, Bangladesh * Ghoraghat, Dinajpur, Bangladesh * Goalandaghat, Rajbari, Bangladesh * Golaghat, Assam, India * Gowainghat, Sylhet, Bangladesh * Haluaghat, Mymensingh, Bangladesh * Kanaighat, Sylhet, Bangladesh * Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, India * Patharghata, Barguna, Bangladesh * Saghata, Gaibandha, Bangladesh

Outside Indian subcontinent

The word is also used in some places outside the Indian subcontinent. For example, in

George Town, Penang George Town is the capital of the States and federal territories of Malaysia, Malaysian state of Penang. It is the core city of the George Town Conurbation, Malaysia's List of cities and towns in Malaysia by population#Largest metropolitan are ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the label "Ghaut" is used to identify the extensions of those streets which formerly ended in ghats before the reclamation of the quayside (e.g., Church St Ghaut, in Malay ''Gat Lebuh Gereja'', is the name of the extension of Church St beyond where the street used to descend to the water via a ghat). Both in

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, there are areas named Dhoby Ghaut (

dhobi Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba, Rajaka, a Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, scheduled caste in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are Clothes washing, washing, ironing, and Farmworker, agricultur ...

meaning "launderer" or "laundry", depending on whether it refers to a person or a business). Aapravasi Ghat or ''The Immigration Depot'' is a building complex located in

Port Louis Port Louis (, ; or , ) is the capital and most populous city of Mauritius, mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre. It is admi ...

on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

island of

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, the first British

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

to receive indentured, or contracted, labour workforce from India. From 1849 to 1923, half a million Indian indentured labourers passed through the Immigration Depot, to be transported to plantations throughout the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. The large-scale migration of the laborers left an indelible mark on the societies of many former British colonies, with Indians constituting a substantial proportion of their national populations. In Mauritius alone, 68 percent of the current total population is of Indian ancestry. The Immigration Depot has thus become an important reference point in the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity (social science), identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, Locality (settlement), locality, gender, o ...

of Mauritius.

References

External links

Ghats of Varanasi, webpage
at ''

'' official website. {{Authority control Geography of India Hindu symbols Religious tourism in India *