Whatever be the reasons, old and new, if you are going to
Allahabad, go only for the Triveni Sangam, which means the confluence of three
rivers – the Yamuna, Ganga and Saraswati.
Our boatman told us that the way to identify the rivers is
with the colour. Yamuna, being greenish, Ganga, brownish and when they come
together, they become a light colour of bottle green. River Saraswati, which
was the third river, is mythical and is said to flow below, is now really
silent. Dried up, I am told. But the pandas (priests) and the boatmen will not tell you
that, because, their livelihood is dependent on. The boatmen take you to the middle of the river for your dip at the confluence of all three rivers.
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| A man ties his wraparound after having a dip in the river |
This second most ancient city in India, Allahabad was
therefore called Prayag (place of offering, because of the confluence of the
rivers). “Allahabad was originally called Kaushambi (now a separate district)
by the Kuru rulers of Hastinapur, who developed it as their capital. Since
then, Allahabad has been a political, cultural and administrative centre of the
Doab region. Mughal emperor Akbar renamed it Ilahabad, which the British changed to Allahabad. In 1833 it became
the seat of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces region before its capital was
moved to Agra in 1835. Allahabad became the capital of the North-Western
Provinces in 1858, and was the capital of India for a day.’(See Wikipedia: Allahabad)
In the political history of India, as well as in Education,
Allahabad, continued to be of importance and in fact was called ‘the Oxford of
the east’.
However, today it is best known for the Kumbh Mela See BBC Report on Kumbh Mela
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