Tulsi Ghat, (Varanasi)

Tulsi Ghat sits along the Ganges, identified by its steep stone steps and the small, simple house perched directly above them. This is where the sixteenth-century poet Tulsidas lived and composed the Ramcharitmanas, his epic retelling of the Ramayana in the vernacular language. Locals still maintain a small wooden boat here, which they claim is the very one Tulsidas used to cross the river. Every year, performers enact the Leela of Krishna right here on these stairs, carrying on a tradition centuries old.