Kedar Ghat

At the quieter southern tip of the riverfront, Assi Ghat is where students, sadhus and travellers gather for Subah-e-Banaras - a daily dawn celebration of Vedic chanting, classical ragas and collective yoga on the steps.

Originally Lolark Ghat, this southern ghat was renamed for the 16th-century poet-saint Goswami Tulsidas, who lived here while composing the Ramcharitmanas - the beloved Awadhi retelling of the Ramayana.

Believed to be the ghat where Lord Brahma performed the Dasa-Ashwamedha sacrifice, this is the beating heart of Kashi's riverfront. By day it hums with pilgrims, priests and flower-sellers; by dusk it becomes a stage for the most elaborate Ganga Aarti in all of India.