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The
city of Allahabad is 135 Km west of Varanasi
at the confluence of two of India's most important rivers
- the Ganges and the Yamuna(Jumna). This
meeting point of the rivers, the Sangam, is believed
to have great soul cleansing powers and is a major pilgrimage
site. It is even more holy because the invisible Saraswati
river is supposed to join the Ganges and the
Yamuna at this point. Every 12 years the Kumbh
Mela, the world's largest's pilgrimage
gathering, draws millions for a holy dip here. |
HISTORY |
Built
on a very ancient site, Allahabad was known in
Aryan times as Prayag, and Brahma
himself is said to have performed a sacrifice here.
The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang described visiting
the city in 634 AD, and it acquired its present name
in 1584, under Empror Akbar. Later Allahabd
was taken by the Marathas, sacked by the Pathans
and finally ceded to the British in 1801 by the
Nawab of Awadh. |
It
was in Allahabd that the East India Company
officially handed over control of India to the
British government in 1858, following the Mutiny.
The city was a centre of the Indian National Congress
and at the conference here in 1920, Mahatma Gandhi
Proposed his programme of nonviolent aggression to achieve
independence. |
ORIENTATION
& INFORMATION |
Allahabad
is less congested and more modern than its sister city,
touristy Varanasi. Civil Lines, with its
modern shopping centre(and numerous bookshops), has
broad treelined avenues and the main bus terminals.
The older part of town is near the Yamuna river.
The hub of the older part of the city is known as Chowk,
and this is also the location of the main produce market,
Loknath. |
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