It is believed that a human's soul attains moksha, and hence breaks the cycle of rebirth when cremated here.

When Mata Sati (Adi Shakti) sacrificed her life and set her body ablaze after Raja Daksh Prajapati (one of the sons of Brahma) tried to humiliate Shiva in a Yagya practiced by Daksh, Shiva took her burning body to the Himalaya.

On seeing the unending sorrow of Shiva, Vishnu sent the Divine chakra to cut the body into 51 parts, which then fell to earth.

[6] A proposal for renovating the Manikarnika ghat has been proposed by Departments of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign (UIUC), USA, and Bhanubhen Nanavati College of Architecture for Women (BNCA), Pune, India.

[7] A proposal for renovating and redevelopment the Manikarnika ghat is in progress by Eastern Infrastructure Fund of Varanasi, India.