Ghats

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

or GHAUTS (gâts), EAST- ERN and WESTERN, two converging ranges of mountains, which run parallel with the E. and W. coasts of southern India, and meet at Cape Comorin, inclosing the Deccan. The Ghats commence in the vicinity of Balasor, a little N. of the Mahanadi, and run through Madras, with an average height of 1,500 feet, for the most part at a distance of from 50 to 150 miles from the coast. They are nowhere a watershed on any considerable scale, being penetrated and crossed by nearly all the drainage of the interior. The Western Ghats stretch from the valley of the Tapti, in about the same latitude as Balasor, to their junction with the kindred ridge, and on to Cape Comorin itself. Though they are generally far more continuous and distinct than the Eastern Ghats, yet they are sharply divided by the gap of Palghat-the N. section measuring 800 miles in length, and the S. 200. Their general elevation varies from about 3,000 feet to upward of 7,000; the peak of Dodabetta, in the Nilgiri hills, is 8,760 feet above sea-level. The name Ghats is also applied to the flights of steps, whether intended as landing places or as bathing stairs, in towns which line the river banks and places of pilgrimage in northern and central India. Most great rivers, and especially the Ganges, possess many gháts; but they are also built on the margins of lakes, as at Pushkar and Sagar, or even of tanks. The uniformity of the long lines of steps is often broken by shrines or temples, built either close to the water's edge or at the top; and on these steps are concentrated the pastimes of the idler, the duties of the devout, and much of the necessary intercourse of business. The ghats of Benares, Harwar, Panharpur, and of Maheswar, on the Nerbudda, are noteworthy either for their number or beauty; while Cawnpur, Sadullapur, the ruined city of Gaur, and other places possess noted "burning ghats" for purposes of cremation.