GHAT. HIND. A term employed in India to designate a ferry or landing place on a river, or a quay or wharf ; also a range of hills, or the scarped wall of a table-land, or the defile or pass leading througb such. The Western Ghats or Syhadri range extend from the valley of the Tapti to the gap of Palghat, a distance of 800 miles. They are clothed with dense forests, with few inhabit ants. The coast-line from the sea to their base is generally flat and low, with occasional spurs or solitary hills, but the ghats rise abruptly, almost scarped, to an average height of 3000 feet. Pur undar is 4472, and Mahabalesh war 4700. Mather= is a projecting spur. The Eastern Ghats extend from Orissa to Coimbatore, along the eastern or Coromandel side of the Peninsula of India, at distances of 50 to 150 miles from the Bay of Bengal. They are steep, and well clothed with forests. The country lying between them and the sea is low, scarcely rising above a hundred feet above the sea. Towns, as Hinginghat in lat. 20° 34' N.,
and Palghat in the south of the Peninsula, have their names from the passes; and Hindus speak of Bala-ghat and Paen-ghat, above or below the Eastern Ghats. The chief passes in the western range are the Thul, Bhor, and Rani Ghats.
In Rajputana, Antri means a defile, a tract sur rounded by mountains. The Antri of Mewar is fertilized by the Brahmani, which joins the Cham bal after a course of thirty miles through a sin gularly diversified country.
The Ghatiya is a Brahman -who attends at ghats where Hindu pilgrims bathe, to take care of their clothes, and supply sandal, flowers, etc. He exacts certain fees as a right, denouncing imprecations on any who resist his exactions. These people sometimes repair to a. distance to escort pilgrims to their places of ablution.
Ghat-manjhi, is a ferryman ; also a man who regulates the hire of boats, supplies, etc.
Ghatwal, a guard of the passes in the moun tains of Bengs,I.