Dumas Beach

Dumas Beach, located 21 km from Surat on the Arabian Sea, is famous for its unusual black sand — the colour derived from centuries of ash and charred remains from the Hindu cremation ground (shmashana) that occupied this shoreline long before the beach became a public attraction.

In Hindu cosmology, cremation grounds are the domain of pretas — souls of the recently dead, particularly those whose rites were incomplete or disrupted. When the burning ghats were displaced and the beach opened to public use, local belief held that the unquiet dead remained tied to the sand that contains their remains.

Reports centre on walkers who enter the beach after dark and do not return, and on disembodied voices — whispers and giggles — heard near the water at night when no one is visible. The Surat Municipal Corporation, which manages the beach, discourages night visits but has placed no formal prohibition.