Desaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi, crowded with pilgrims at sunrise. Photographed in November 1996 by Andy Carvin.

The term ghats (Bengali: ঘাট ghaţ, Hindi: "steps") refers to a series of steps leading down to a body of water in many parts of South Asia. In Bengali-speaking regions, this set of stairs can lead down to something as small as a pond or as large as a major river. In Hindi-speaking areas, it is typically used to refer specifically to the steps leading to the River Ganges (Ganga) in the holy city of Varanasi. Many religiously significant ghats are situated on the Ganges and Narmada Rivers. Image File history File links Desaswamedh-ghat. ... Image File history File links Desaswamedh-ghat. ... Andy Carvin is the founding editor and current coordinator of the Digital Divide Network, an online community of more than 7,500 Internet activists in over 120 countries working to bridge the digital divide. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and Gujarati... STEP has several meanings: Sixth Term Examination Paper The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. ... This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... This article is about the river. ... VārāṇasÄ«   (HindÄ«: वाराणसी, UrdÅ«: وارانسی, IPA: ), also known as Benares, Banaras, or Benaras (HindÄ«: बनारस, UrdÅ«: بنارس, ; IPA: ), or Kashi or Kasi (काशी کاشی ), is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... The Narmada or Nerbudda is a river in central India. ...

When capitalized, the term Ghats is often used in reference to the steep mountainous ranges of India; the Western and Eastern Ghats. They are the coastal mountains of India.Ghats are mountains covered by thick forests. The Agasthiyamalai range of the Western Ghats The Western Ghats are a mountain range in India. ... The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains, eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri. ...