Panchvati Ghat

About Panchvati Ghat

Panchvati Ghat is one of the smaller landings on the Narmada at Bhedaghat, a flight of stone steps running down to the water where people bathe, sit and make offerings. The name comes from panch and vat, the grove of five trees, an image that carries straight through from the Ramayana tradition into place names all along the rivers of central India. It tells you what the ghat is meant to be: shaded, planted and restful.

Its real value at Bhedaghat is that it is not the main attraction. The crowds concentrate where the boats load and where the falls can be seen from a railing, which leaves a ghat like this to whoever wants a stretch of river to themselves. Local families use it in the early morning and again at dusk, when lamps are set floating on the water. For a visitor it is somewhere to sit on a step with the river running past and the noise of the day somewhere else.

At the ghat

The steps and the water

Stone steps running down to the Narmada, used for bathing and for simply sitting. Water level and current change with the season, so the usable part of the ghat changes too.

The shade and the trees

Planting and shade are part of what a ghat of this name is meant to offer, and they make the difference between a stop of five minutes and one of half an hour.

Lamps on the river

Devotees float lamps on the Narmada at dusk. It is an everyday, unstaged ritual here rather than a performance, which is much of its appeal.

The view along the river

From the steps you look along the Narmada rather than down at it, which is a different and quieter perspective from the one the gorge and the falls give you.

Planning your visit

Fit this in as the slow part of a Bhedaghat day, between the boat ride and the falls, and treat it as a place of worship as well as a place to sit.

• Keep clear of anyone bathing or at prayer, and ask before taking photographs of people.
• Steps near the water stay wet and are slippery; take them carefully.
• Do not go into the river beyond the recognised bathing area, whatever the level looks like.
• Carry your litter out with you; there is little by way of bins on the bank.

Best time to visit

October to March is the comfortable season on the Narmada bank. Early morning and the hour around sunset are the two times worth aiming for, when the light is good, the bathing and the lamps are happening and the heat has gone out of the day. In the monsoon the river runs high and fast and the lower steps go under, so stay well up the flight.