A variant spelling of ghata or ghat, referring to steps leading down to a river or a landing place on a riverbank, particularly in India.
From Hindi ghat (घाट), also spelled gata in some transliterations. Originally from Sanskrit, the word entered English through colonial India where such river steps are culturally and religiously significant.
The ghats of Varanasi are so central to Hindu spirituality that cremations and bathing happen at the same steps—it's where thousands of years of ritual, death, and rebirth literally take place on stone steps.
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