जतर घाट

Tucked gently between more prominent stretches of the riverfront, Jatar Ghat is one of Varanasi’s lesser-known ghats — and perhaps because of that, it feels more real, lived-in, and unfiltered. Constructed by the Diwan of Raja of Gwalior, this ghat has a huge palace and an ornate temple of Laxminarayan, and hence it is also called the Lakshmanbala ghat.

It’s name is believed to derive from ancient Vedic rituals — Jatar related to sacrificial fire, birth, or ancestral rites — suggesting a ghat that once echoed with the mantras of solemn ceremonies.