Nigambodh Ghat is located on the banks of the

Yamuna river The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Ban ...

coast in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, situated on the

Ring Road, Delhi The Inner Ring Road refers to one of the two main ring roads, the main inner one and an outer one in Delhi, India. The two ring roads have a combined length of . There are two less significant Ring Roads in Delhi apart from the above two, name ...

at the back of the historic

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift hi ...

. It consists of a series of bathing and ceremonial stepped piers leading to the waters of the river. It is most known for being the oldest burning

ghat Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ...

in Delhi for performing

Antyesti Antyesti (IAST: Antyeṣṭi, sa, अन्त्येष्टि) literally means "last sacrifice", and refers to the funeral rites for the dead in Hinduism, which usually involves cremation of the body. This rite of passage is the last sams ...

(

Antim Sanskar Antyesti ( IAST: Antyeṣṭi, sa, अन्त्येष्टि) literally means "last sacrifice", and refers to the funeral rites for the dead in Hinduism, which usually involves cremation of the body. This rite of passage is the last sam ...

), Hindu funeral rites and also one of its busiest with 50–60 pyres burning every day. It also has an electric crematorium built in the 1950s and a

CNG Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cyl ...

-run crematorium was added by the Municipal corporation with manages the cremation facilities in 2006.

Etymology

It is believed that it was on this ghat during the

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

era, Lord

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

, Hindu God of

Creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

, had bathed and recovered his lost memory and sacred books and hence the name Nigambodh Ghat, literally realization of knowledge.

Overview

It is believed that the ghats were established by the eldest

Pandava The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...

brother, Prince

Yudhishthira ''Yudhishthira'' (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his first w ...

, the king of

Indraprastha Indraprastha (lit. "Plain of Indra" or "City of Indra") is mentioned in ancient Indian literature as a city of the Kuru Kingdom. It was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas mentioned in ''Mahabharata'' . Under the Pali form of its name ...

. At present, the ghat area includes the largest and busiest cremation ground of New Delhi, where the ''

'', Hindu funeral rites are carried out.

Nili Chatri Nili Chhatri Temple (Neeli Chhatri) is an ancient Hindu temple in New Delhi, India dedicated to Shiva. It is believed that the eldest Pandava brother, Prince Yudhishthira of ''Mahabharata'', established the temple and the Nigambodh Ghat adjacen ...

mandir dedicated to Lord Shiva, also established by

and Nigambodh Gate lie adjacent to the ghats, which one of last gates of the walled city of

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...

(

Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal Empire, Mughal Mughal emperors, emperor at the time) decided to shift t ...

) built during

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

References

External links

Nigambodh Ghat
''

wikimapia Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...

'' Neighbourhoods in Delhi New Delhi Ghats of India Yamuna River {{Delhi-geo-stub