Chet Singh Ghat, Varanasi: The Fort, the Dev Deepawali Laser Show and Boat Booking

ॐEssential info at a glance

ॐChet Singh Ghat timings and the Dev Deepawali schedule

As a public riverfront the ghat is open around the clock and free, and on most days it is a quiet, historic stop. Once a year, at Dev Deepawali, it becomes one of the most spectacular sights in the city, when the fort walls are lit up as a giant screen for a laser and sound show, the steps blaze with lamps, and fireworks fill the sky.

ॐChet Singh Ghat and its fort

Chet Singh Ghat is one of the most striking sights on the whole riverfront, for here a genuine fort rises straight from the water. The fortified palace was built in the mid-eighteenth century by Raja Balwant Singh, the first Maharaja of Benares, and it became the principal residence of his son and successor, Raja Chet Singh, after whom the ghat is named. Its stone ramparts and gateways still stand above the Ganga, and if you look closely you can still see the cannon-holes etched into the stone, the marks of the dramatic history this place has witnessed. On the ghat stand old eighteenth-century Shiva temples, and the fragrance of incense and the glow of lamps give it a quietly sacred air on ordinary days.

Over time the original ghat came to be divided into four, Chet Singh, Niranjani, Nirvani and Shivala, the northern part having been given to Naga ascetics who built their akharas here. But it is the fort, and the story it holds, that sets this ghat apart.

ॐThe 1781 stand against the British

Chet Singh Ghat is, above all, a doorway into history, for it was the stage of one of the most celebrated episodes of early resistance to British power in India. In 1781, the British Governor-General Warren Hastings, needing money and troops for the East India Company, made heavy demands on Raja Chet Singh, and when the Raja refused, Hastings had him placed under house arrest here in his own fort. The people of Benares and the Raja's supporters rose up in fury, and in the fierce skirmish that followed the British guards were overwhelmed.

In the most famous moment of all, Raja Chet Singh is said to have escaped from the fort through a window facing the Ganga, letting himself down to the river on a rope made from knotted turbans. Warren Hastings, suddenly in real danger and left with only a small force, was forced to flee the city, and Banaras still remembers it with a proud old saying that mocks how hastily the great Governor-General ran from Kashi. In the end the British regrouped and prevailed, Chet Singh lost his throne, and the fort passed to the Company for over a century, until a later Maharaja regained the property in 1895. But the memory of the day a king of Kashi made the British run has never faded.

ॐDev Deepawali at Chet Singh: the laser and sound show

Once a year, at Dev Deepawali on the full moon of Kartik, Chet Singh Ghat comes gloriously alive, and its fort becomes the setting of one of the most memorable spectacles in all of Varanasi. As the ghat is lit with thousands of earthen lamps and the river glows, the massive stone walls of the fort are turned into a vast screen for a laser and sound show, which plays across the ramparts telling the great stories of Kashi: the descent of the Ganga to earth, the mythological history of the city, and its ancient spiritual heritage. Later, large fireworks burst over the river. The combination of the ancient fort, the lamplight, the lasers and the fireworks is a fusion of the timeless and the modern found nowhere else.

It is a ticketless public spectacle in the sense that the ghats are free, but the sheer scale of the crowds makes where you watch from all-important, and that is where a boat changes everything.

ॐThe best view is from a boat

Everyone who knows Dev Deepawali will tell you the same thing: the finest view of the Chet Singh laser show and the illuminated fort is from a boat on the Ganga, out on the water, facing the lit-up ramparts, with the lamps and the fireworks reflected all around you. From the ghat steps you are in a dense crowd with a partial view; from a boat you have the whole spectacle laid out before you.

The catch is that this is the busiest night of the Varanasi year. The narrow lanes leading to the ghats become heavily congested from late afternoon, and boats are booked out well in advance. So if you want to see it properly, pre-booking a private boat, a rowboat or a larger bajra, through a trusted local operator is strongly advised. This is exactly what we arrange, and we recommend booking early.

ॐA fort of defiance and light, in my own words

By Rajeev Sharma, Varanasi local

Chet Singh is the ghat where I get to tell one of my favourite stories in all of Kashi. I point up at the old fort walls, at the cannon-holes still in the stone, and I tell my guests how our Raja Chet Singh defied the mighty British, how he slipped out of a window down to the river on a rope of turbans, and how the great Warren Hastings had to run from Banaras. People love it; it makes the whole riverfront feel alive with history.

And then there is Dev Deepawali. I tell everyone who visits in Kartik that this is a night they must not spend on their feet in the crowd. I take my guests out on a boat, right in front of the fort, and we watch the lasers play across those ancient walls, telling the story of Mother Ganga, with a thousand lamps burning and fireworks over the water. It is one of the most magical evenings I can give anyone, and every year I tell people the same thing: book the boat early, because on that one night the whole world wants to be on the river.

In more than forty years of guiding, this is the ghat that best joins the history of Kashi to its living light.

ॐWhat to see and do

• Admire the fort's stone ramparts and gateways rising from the river, with their old cannon-holes.
• Hear the story of Raja Chet Singh's 1781 stand against Warren Hastings.
• At Dev Deepawali, watch the laser and sound show on the fort walls, the diyas and the fireworks, best of all from a boat.
• On ordinary days, enjoy a quiet, historic ghat and the old Shiva temples, away from the crowds.
• Take a boat along this stretch of the southern riverfront, past Tulsi and Assi.

ॐHow to reach Chet Singh Ghat

The ghat is on the southern-central riverfront, near Shivala and the Niranjani Akhara, between Assi and Dashashwamedh. You reach it on foot along the ghats or through the lanes, or by boat.

On Dev Deepawali the lanes are extremely congested from late afternoon, so a pre-booked boat is by far the best way to arrive and to watch.

ॐBest time to visit and how to plan it

• Pair it with Tulsi Ghat and Assi Ghat to the south, or the central ghats to the north.
• Allow 20 to 30 minutes on an ordinary day; a whole evening for Dev Deepawali.

For the ghats and Dev Deepawali planned together, see our Varanasi tour packages.

ॐAccessibility for elderly and mobility limited visitors

• The ghat has stone steps; those with limited mobility should take care, especially in Dev Deepawali crowds.
• A boat is gentler and, for Dev Deepawali, far more comfortable and safer than the packed ghat steps.
• On ordinary days it is a calm, easy stop for a short visit.
• We arrange a boat with comfortable seating and a helper for a relaxed Dev Deepawali.

ॐNearby sites to combine with your visit

Chet Singh sits on the southern-central riverfront among some of the loveliest ghats of Kashi.

For the grand evening aarti and a boat ride, see our Varanasi tour packages.

ॐPractical tips

ॐBook your Dev Deepawali boat and heritage visit with us

We are a Varanasi based operator, a unit of Experience My India, with more than forty years of guiding travellers across Kashi, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj. The ghat is free, so what we arrange is the experience, and above all the boat, the single best way to see Chet Singh Ghat and its Dev Deepawali spectacle. We pre-book a private rowboat or a larger bajra, position you for the finest view of the illuminated fort, the laser show, the lamps and the fireworks, and get you there past the congested lanes, with a guide who tells the fort's story.

Inclusions and exclusions are stated up front, with any taxes and conditions, and no charge appears later that was not named. See all our Varanasi tour packages for the full range.

Experience My India is a travel operator, not a temple or government body. The Dev Deepawali show is organised by the authorities; our boats and services are ours. Ghat access is free and public; event schedules can change.