Panchganga Ghat

When the Scindia royal family rebuilt this ghat in the 19th century, the sheer weight of the marble caused a riverside Shiva temple to subside, leaving it partly submerged and gently tilted - an image now emblematic of the Varanasi waterfront.

Manikarnika is the foremost mahasmasana - the great cremation ground - where the funeral fires are said never to have gone out. The name recalls the legend of Shiva's earring (manikarnika) falling into a sacred well dug by Vishnu beside the river.

Commissioned by Bengal and Bihar nobility in the early 1900s, the palace at Darbhanga Ghat has been lovingly restored into one of India's most atmospheric heritage hotels, complete with a century-old hand-operated lift.