Manikarnika Ghat

Naming of Manikarnika

There are many stories that go with the name Manikarnika. In one such story, when Lord Shiva was carrying Devi Sati’s body in his arms, earrings from her corpse had fallen here, hence the name Manikarnika.

Visit to Kashi

In the last ten to fifteen years of my life, I was fortunate enough to visit Kashi multiple times. A few times, I visited solely with the purpose of spending personal time immersed in spirituality. On every visit, we found ourselves at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, gazing to the left at the flow of the Ganga River, but we never walked the distance to Manikarnika Ghat.

Last year in July, without much planning, I found myself in Varanasi on one such occasion. To my knowledge, on the same day, our respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was on a one-day trip to Kashi for several programs and their inauguration. After some rest in my hotel room, that evening I kept my schedule open to enjoy only the Ganga Arti. I had decided to only be present at the Ganga Arti that day because there was a high possibility that Modi was there and had visited the Arti, but it did not happen. Anyway, it was the most peaceful Ganga Arti I watched from the stairs connecting the Ghat and the Ganga river.

The next morning, I visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, and my expectations came to fruition when I entered the newly built, expansive Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. Witnessing your mighty up close is always a feeling that’s hard to explain. Despite the huge crowd that the newly built temple corridor attracts every day, the temple visit was hassle-free

Next, we went to the Kaal Bhairav temple, which has its own stories. In the Shiva Purana, it is mentioned that once an argument erupted between Lord Brahma and Vishnu regarding who is supreme. To test their supremacy, Shiva pierced the three worlds as endless pillars of light, and whoever finds an end would be deemed supreme. Lord Vishnu moved towards the end and accepted his defeat, unable to find the bottom, while Brahma arrogantly lied and suggested he had found the top end by offering a flower as a witness. Upon learning of Brahma’s arrogance and deceit, Shiva created a new being, Kaal Bhairav, who decapitated Brahma’s fifth head. On Lord Shiva’s order, Kaal Bhairav found his place in Varanasi to help his devotees rid themselves of sins.

Now, one thing remained—to see the newly built Kashi Corridor from the banks of the Ganga River. To do this, we checked with our hotel staff, who suggested either going to Dashashwamedh Ghat and taking a boat, which is a 10-minute distance from there, or taking an auto that would drop us near the Manikarnika Ghat, from where we could walk for 15 minutes to reach another gate of the Kashi Corridor near the Ganga Ghat.

We took an auto that dropped us at least a kilometer before the Manikarnika Ghat. Exactly what was calling us, we don’t know, but we found ourselves at this place in mid-July at 12 noon, with the sun scorching us from above our heads. Anyways, we started our walk through a very narrow street with shops full of cremation materials. After 15-20 minutes of walking, we reached Manikarnika Ghat.

Expect the unexpected

On a sunny day at 12 noon, with the sun burning over our heads, on the ground there were so many dead bodies getting burnt to ashes. There were no cries, there was only silence. The heat from the fire of dead bodies was reaching us from a distance and the energy here was completely different which I had never experienced in my life. It is being said that there are many accommodations to stay here if someone wishes to spend the last days of their life. So many people from different cities visit this place to get cremated, in only expectation of achieving Moksha.

Seeing so many dead bodies burning together, the tearful families of those on their deathbeds, and the vast stocks of wood for those next in line to be cremated—was it scary or eye-opening? I cannot explain. But there is something about that place that one can only fully comprehend by visiting it. For a moment, with the entire visual of Manikarnika Ghat appearing before my eyes, I felt blank. I couldn’t move for a few seconds, even though I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

We left the place and walked for a minute, jumping stairs here and there. We reached the other part of the Kashi Corridor, wide-open and connecting the river Ganga to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It was a satisfying moment to witness Kashi completely transformed for a new beginning of spirituality.

A view from Kashi Corridor (Near Manikarnika Ghat)

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