त्रिलोचन घाट

If there is a ghat that breathes of ancient sanctity, it is Trilochan Ghat. Its very name — Trilochan, the three-eyed one — is a direct invocation of Lord Shiva, the ever-watchful, the destroyer of illusion.

This ghat is one of the oldest and most revered in Varanasi. Scriptures like the Skanda Purana mentions it as a tirtha — a sacred crossing — where bathing is said to grant moksha, liberation from the cycle of birth and death. It is believed to be a site of an invisible confluence of the Ganga, Narmada, and Pippila rivers.

At its edge stands the Trilochaneshwar Mahadev Temple, said to house a self-manifested lingam, placed here since time unrecorded. Pilgrims, particularly during Kartik and Shivratri, come in silent procession, carrying water from the Ganga to anoint the deity. M. A. Sherring mentions this ghat and the adjoining temples multiple times in his 1868 book ‘The Sacred City of the Hindus’ on Benares.