Shivala Ghat

Shivala Ghat unfurls along the western bank of the Ganga in the southern reach of Varanasi, a broad, solemn sweep of stone steps that feels a world away from the crush of Dashashwamedh.

• Its name comes from the Shivala — the shrine of Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of Kashi — and the ghat has long carried a stately, lived-in dignity.
• The King of Banaras, Balwant Singh, gave the ghat its permanent stone form (pucca) in 1767, and in 1770 the young Maharaja Chet Singh extended it while his fortress-palace rose alongside.
• Historically Shivala spread across a much larger stretch of riverbank; by the mid-19th century the area had been subdivided into several named ghats, so that today Shivala sits shoulder to shoulder with Chet Singh Ghat just to its south.
• The skyline here is one of the most characterful on the river.
• Three landmarks dominate: the Shiva temple that lends the ghat its name; the Brahmendra Math, a monastery raised by the Kashiraj for the welfare of pilgrims from South India, which to this day anchors a community of Iyer Brahmins and Telugu-speaking Shaivites; and, most striking of all, the grand riverside mansion built in the late 19th century by the Nepali king Sanjay Vikram Shah, who also endowed a Shiva temple of his own.
• Weathered balconies, carved brackets and high ochre walls rise straight from the steps, and in the golden hour the whole facade catches fire with reflected light.
• Until the mid-20th century this quarter formed part of the grand Budhva Mangal celebration, when the water between Chet Singh and Shivala filled with lantern-lit boats and floating concerts of classical music.
• Today Shivala is one of the calmer, more contemplative ghats — a place local families bathe, priests keep unhurried rituals, and boatmen drift past on the way between Assi and the busier northern ghats.
• There is no entry fee and the ghat is open day and night as an open riverfront; the finest hours are dawn, when the sun lifts over the far bank and pilgrims greet the river, and dusk, when the ghats glow amber.
• Come on foot along the riverside promenade from Assi Ghat, or arrive by boat for the classic view of the Shivala Palace from the water.
• Vegetarian travellers will feel completely at home in this corner of Kashi, which is emphatically meat-free and, like the whole city, steeped in a satvik food culture.
• Sonarpura and the Assi Ghat lanes just behind the ghat are lined with pure-vegetarian kitchens: sit down to a crisp kachori-sabzi breakfast, a plate of Banarasi tamatar chaat, thick malaiyyo in winter, or a cooling glass of plain sweet lassi.
• One gentle caution unique to Varanasi — many riverside stalls sell bhang thandai, a cannabis-laced drink; always ask specifically for plain lassi or ordinary thandai without bhang, and stick to the pure-veg sweet houses named below to eat with total confidence.