Abstract:
The city of Varanasi since the past and in the present is an exceptional testimony to living
traditions to be seen, performed and to be believed in religious faith, rituals and myriad festivals,
traditional and ancient forms of lifeways that makes it the cultural capital of India (Rana P.B and
Neelam, 2012). The Ganga and the sacred territory of Kashi together form the cosmic
composition of Varanasi, where the river renders the architectural layout and stylistic connection
between the two where one can experience life as an urban theatre.
Manikarnika ghat the oldest firmly dated ghat constructed in 1302, famous for cremation
symbolically represents the naval of this cosmic city. A source for liberation of souls, today with
the half-forgotten philosophical knowledge of rituals is reduces to merely practices and taboos.
The stigma attached to Manikarnika ghat has affected the spirit of the place transforming to an
introvert space. The heterotopia at funerary space deserves more space devoted by its makers,
dealing with the physical decay of the site generating a sense of transference to the cultural
matrix similar to the transmigration of souls. The socio-spatial phenomenological relationship
formulates architecture as the psyche of a culture. Historic urban areas are not only a sum of
monuments and urban fabric, but also are dynamic organisms that continuously change
according to the social, economic and physical changes (Bandarin and Oers, 2012).
The thesis explores the Historic cultural landscape of Manikarnika Ghat as a vessel of spirit of
place, its primordial values, urban degradation and seclusion, furthermore analyzing and
suggesting preservation tools that can be applied to the rejuvenation. The addition of new
design aims to revive the spirit of the place by embodying a contemporary spirit with an
architectural language derived from the primordial geometries and rhythm present at the site
and establishes humane connection absent today. The design aims to establish an innate
connection between the act of thinking to act of doing or as Hegel says the abstract to the
absolute through rites, rituals and collective consciousness towards the Hindu beliefs for death
