Introduction
Jabalpur city is located on the bank of Narmada river thus with the passage of time, various ghats were developed and used by human society. Here Gwarighat is popular among local citizens and tourists. Just adjoining to Gwarighat, their is one more ghat, easily visible during boatride called Kharighat. It is a ghat, developed for special post death ritual of Hindu religion called Khari-visarjan. In simple langauge, Khari means the residual ashes, which includes some unburned human bones, left after burning of dead body. These ashes were collected on Day 03 from body burning and in company of all close relatives, a major part of collected ashes was poured into Narmada river and remaining part is poured into Sangam of Prayagraj. When these ashes were collected and with relatives, family members moved to Narmada river, special puja was performed, visitors take holy bath in river and by hiring a boat, ashes were poured in mid of river. This whole process is called Khari-visarjan. In order to facilitate in this ritual, a separate ghat was developed for convenience for such families and was given name as "Khari-ghat".
Why separate ghat
As Narmada river is much older than Ganges and is a life line of Central India thus it is considered as holy river in Hinduism. Visiting this river-bank is a holy act in Hinduism. Here people visit Narmada ghats for different reasons like for special puja, surrounding people visit for taking bath as their daily act, some people visits these ghat to spend sometime in peace or as a leisure act etc. At the same time it is also used by for pouring ashes, called Khari visarjan, which is a specaial ritual done by family members who lost their family member. This act is not only done by local citizens of Jabalpur city but also done by villagers, living in radius of 200 kms. In order to facilitate such families, who are visiting Narmada ghat for Khari Visarjan, almost on daily basis, their is need of separate ghat where they can perform their activities in peaceful manner, without being disturbed by others, local society developed Khari-ghat. Here we will get the priests service, for performing special pujas, barbers for removing hairs of head, boat service providers, bathing facility and vehicle parking space. Those tourists who are very curious to learn about Indian rituals and traditions, often visit this ghat to understand and observe them.
