If you decide to hire a boat, an essential Varanasi experience, come to this unofficial "main" ghat for most purposes. The best time to see the ghats is at sunrise, when a solemn group of people and even animals—lit by the sun's darkly golden first rays—hover on the water's edge, bent on immersion in the holy stream. As you float on the river, you'll see young bodybuilders, members of the city's many wrestling clubs, exercising. Older men sit cross-legged in meditation or prayer. A corpse may even float by.
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