Vaccharaja and Jain Ghats

It is believed that a rich merchant of Varanasi has built this ghat in 1790 and in his memory the ghat is named Vaccharaja Ghat. The present structure was made by the government of Uttar Pradesh in 1965. From the bank of the Ganga towards the upper side there are stone steps. In between the upper part and the bank, there are layers of platforms containing the temples of Shiva and Ganesha. In 1931 Babu Shekhar Chanda had made repairing and also built a shrine of the goddess Ganga. On the upper part there are temples of Gopal Mandir (built in 1968 by Anandamayi) and Akrureshvara Shiva. Rarely some special festivities performed here, except daily bathing. The affiliated ghat to the preceding one is Jain Ghat, named after the 7th Jain Tirthankara Suparshvanatha who was believed to be born in the neighbourhood. In commemoration a temple of Surapshvanath (Svetambara sect) was built in the upper part in 1885.Prior to 1931 this was part of Vaccharaja Ghat, but when Babu Shekhar Chanda has built this part separately and given the name with the support of Jain monks, that is how it is called Jain Ghat. The ghat renovated and re-constructed in 1988 by the irrigation department of the government of Uttar Pradesh. The nearby area is inhabited by boatmen who were responsible for polluting the area, but in the recent past the civic sense and mass awakening have prevailed in better way to improve the situation.