Ram Kund

Ram Kund is one of the many little-known sacred tanks (kunds) that lie hidden in the dense lanes of old Kashi, tucked into the Luxa neighbourhood of central Varanasi, close to its better-known neighbour Laxmi Kund.

• Away from the thronged riverfront, this is a place of a very different rhythm: a rectangular stone-lined pool reached down worn steps, its green water reflecting the surrounding houses, small shrines and a peepal tree.
• Like the city's other temple tanks, Ram Kund belongs to Kashi's ancient sacred geography, described in the Puranic literature that counts hundreds of kunds and tirthas across the holy city.
• For pilgrims and locals it is a spot of everyday devotion rather than a set-piece monument, and that unforced authenticity is exactly its charm.
• What gives Ram Kund its living character is the akhada beside it.
• An active traditional wrestling ground, the Svargiya Guru Shri Pannalal Akhada, sits at the water's edge, and each dawn young pehalwans work the earthen pit with dands, baithaks and joris in the age-old Banarasi kushti tradition before bathing in the tank.
• Older akhada members carry a belief heard across Kashi's kunds: that the water of these tanks is Ganga water risen up from below, so a dip here is spiritually equal to a plunge in the great river itself.
• Watching the wrestlers train and then step down into the kund at first light is a rare, intimate window onto a devotional-athletic culture that once filled Varanasi with some thirty akhadas.
• Vegetarian travellers will feel completely at home here, as they do across Kashi's overwhelmingly satvik old city.
• Ram Kund itself has no eateries, but the pure-vegetarian sweet shops and chaat houses of Godowlia and Bansphatak are a short walk or auto ride away.
• Kashi Chat Bhandar at Godowlia is famous for its tamatar chaat and palak-tikki, Keshari Restaurant serves generous South-Indian and North-Indian vegetarian thalis, and Deena Chaat Bhandar at Bansphatak is a beloved old chaat counter.
• A word of caution common to Varanasi: some lassi and thandai stalls near Godowlia sell bhang (cannabis) thandai, so always ask clearly for a plain lassi or plain thandai.
• Nothing you eat in this quarter need trouble a strict vegetarian, and the district is alcohol-free in spirit.
• A practical note and a disambiguation: this is Ram Kund in Varanasi, a small neighbourhood tank, and not the famous Ramkund bathing ghat on the Godavari river in Nashik, Maharashtra, with which it is often confused.
• Entry is free, it is a working religious and akhada site rather than a ticketed attraction, and the best time to come is at sunrise when the wrestlers train and the light is soft.
• Dress modestly, remove footwear near the shrines, and ask before photographing anyone at prayer or practice.