Everyday Life on the Ghats

The ghats of Varanasi are associated with pilgrimage, worship, ritual, bathing and the Ganges. They are also part of the city’s everyday environment.

Here, a badminton game unfolds directly in front of a large painted image of Ganesha. Recreation and religious imagery simply share the same physical space.

That coexistence is important to the larger Varanasi archive. The riverfront is both sacred landscape and lived city: a place where people worship, work, travel, meet, wait—and play.

Brian Silver Documentary Archive

India Documentary Archive → Varanasi → 2014

Part 13 knowledge control: No fully public Part 13 photograph record is currently available · schema 13.1

A badminton player is shown during play on the stepped riverfront environment of Varanasi, one arm and racket raised. A large painted representation of Ganesha occupies much of the background. The image forms part of a short photographic sequence documenting badminton in the ghat environment. V-2014-619 provides a wider environmental view of the same scene.

Evidence status

Photographer

Brian Silver(verified)

Collection

Varanasi 2014(verified)

City

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India(verified)

Activity

Badminton(visual)

Mural subject

Ganesha(visual)

Specific ghat/site

Not yet verified(unresolved)

Subjects

• Varanasi
• Uttar Pradesh
• India
• Ghats
• Daily life
• Recreation
• Badminton
• Ganesha
• Hindu religious imagery
• Public space
• Riverfront
• Documentary photography

Provenance

• Original documentary source retained in the archive.
• Approved website/publication derivative maintained separately from the source record.
• V-2014-619 is the same-scene environmental companion; V-2014-620 is the preferred presentation frame.

Image preparation

The approved presentation derivative includes tonal and presentation adjustments and removal of a distracting secondary background figure. The original documentary source remains preserved.