Prayagraj (, ;
ISO
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
Me ...
: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a
metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big city b ...
in the Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
.
The other five cities were: Agra
Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...
, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow
Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
, Meerut
Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...
, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrative headquarters of the
Prayagraj district
Prayagraj district, formerly known as Allahabad district, is the most populous Districts of Uttar Pradesh, district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Prayagraj city is the district headquarters of this district. The District is divided in ...
, the most populous district in the state and 13th most populous district in India and the
Prayagraj division. The city is the judicial capital of Uttar Pradesh with the
Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established o ...
being the highest judicial body in the state. Prayagraj is the
seventh most populous city in the state,
thirteenth
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is most commonly major or minor .
A thirteenth chord is th ...
in
Northern India
North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...
and
thirty-sixth in India, with an estimated population of 1.53 million in the city.
In 2011, it was ranked the world's 40th fastest-growing city.
The city, in 2016, was also ranked the third most liveable
urban agglomeration
An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
in the state (after
Noida
Noida (), short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (ISO: ), is a city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As per provisional reports of Census of India, the population of Noida in 2011 was ...
and
Lucknow
Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
) and sixteenth in the country.
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
is the most widely spoken language in the city.
Prayagraj lies close to
Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is a sacred place, with a bath here said to flush away all of one's sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth.
Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj ...
, the "three-river confluence" of the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
,
Yamuna
The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Low ...
, and the mythical
Sarasvati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...
.
It plays a central role in
Hindu scriptures
Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. Scholars ...
. The city finds its earliest reference as one of the world's oldest known cities in Hindu texts and has been venerated as the holy city of ''Prayāga'' in the ancient
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
. Prayagraj was also known as
Kosambi
Kosambi (Pali) or Kaushambi (Sanskrit) was an ancient city in India, characterized by its importance as a trading center along the Ganges Plain and its status as the capital of the Vatsa Kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was loca ...
in the late
Vedic period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...
, named by the
Kuru rulers of
Hastinapur, who developed it as their capital. Known as Purimtal in ancient Jain scriptures, it is also a sacred place for
Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and ...
, as their first
Tirthankar,
Rishabhdeva attained
kevalya gyana here. This was one of the greatest cities in India from the late Vedic period until the end of the
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...
, with occupation continuing until the
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...
. Since then, the city has been a political, cultural and administrative centre of the
Doab region.
''
Akbarnama'' mentions that the
Mughal emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
founded a great city in Allahabad.
Abd al-Qadir Badayuni and
Nizamuddin Ahmad mention that Akbar laid the foundations of an imperial city there which was called ''Ilahabas'' or ''Ilahabad''.
In the early 17th century, Allahabad was a provincial capital in the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...
under the reign of
Jahangir
Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...
.
In 1833, it became the seat of the
Ceded and Conquered Provinces region before its capital was moved to
Agra
Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...
in 1835.
Allahabad became the capital of the
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...
in 1858 and was the
capital of India for a day.
The city was the capital of the
United Provinces from 1902
to 1920
and remained at the forefront of national importance during the
struggle for Indian independence.
Prayagraj is an international
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
destination, second in terms of tourist arrivals in the state after Varanasi. Located in southern Uttar Pradesh, the city covers .
Although the city and its surrounding area are governed by several municipalities, a large portion of Prayagraj district is governed by the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation. The city is home to colleges, research institutions and many
central and
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
offices, including High court of Uttar Pradesh. Prayagraj has hosted cultural and sporting events, including the
Prayag Kumbh Mela and the
Indira Marathon. Although the city's economy was built on tourism, most of its income now derives from real estate and financial services.
Etymology
The location at the confluence of Ganges and
Yamuna
The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Low ...
rivers has been known in ancient times as Prayāga, which means "place of a sacrifice" in Sanskrit (''pra-,'' "fore-" + ''yāj-'', "to sacrifice"). It was believed that god
Brahma
Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...
performed the very first sacrifice (''yāga,
yajna
In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedas, Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature ...
'') in this place.
The word ''prayāga'' has been traditionally used to mean "a confluence of rivers". For Allahabad, it denoted the physical meeting point of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna in the city. An ancient tradition has it that a third river, invisible Sarasvati, also meets there with the two. Today, Triveni Sangam (or simply Sangam) is a more frequently used name for the confluence.
Prayagraj (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ''Prayāgarāja''), meaning "the king among the five ''prayāgas''", is used as a term of respect to indicate that this confluence is the most splendid one of the
five sacred confluences in India.
The
Mughal emperor
Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
visited the region in 1575 and was so impressed by the strategic location of the site that he ordered a fort be constructed.
The fort was constructed by 1584 and called ''Ilahabas'' or "Abode of Allah", later changed to ''Allahabad'' under
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...
. Speculations regarding its name, however, exist. Because of the surrounding people calling it ''Alhabas'', has led to some people holding the view that it was named after
Alha from
Alha's story.
James Forbes' account of the early 1800s claims that it was renamed Allahabad or "Abode of God" by
Jahangir
Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...
after he failed to destroy the
Akshayavat tree. The name, however, predates him, with ''Ilahabas'' and ''Ilahabad'' mentioned on coins minted in the city since Akbar's rule, the latter name became predominant after the emperor's death. It has also been thought to not have been named after
Allah
Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...
but ''ilaha'' (the gods). Shaligram Shrivastav claimed in ''Prayag Pradip'' that the name was deliberately given by Akbar to be construed as both Hindu ("ilaha") and Muslim ("Allah").
Over the years, a number of attempts were made by the
BJP-led governments of Uttar Pradesh to rename Allahabad to Prayagraj. In 1992, the planned rename was shelved when the chief minister,
Kalyan Singh, was forced to resign following the
Babri Masjid demolition. 2001 saw another attempt led by the government of
Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician and lecturer who is serving the Defence Minister of India since 20 May 2019. He was also the Deputy Leader of the House, Lok Sabha since 2014. He also served the Home Minister in th ...
which remained unfulfilled.
The rename finally succeeded in October 2018 when the
Yogi Adityanath-led government officially changed the name of the city to Prayagraj.
History
Antiquity
The earliest mention of Prayāga and the associated pilgrimage is found in ''
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
Pariśiṣṭa
(Devanagari: परिशिष्ट, "supplement, appendix, remainder") are Sanskrit supplementary texts appended to another fixed, more ancient text – typically the Vedic literature – that aim to "tell what remains to be told". These have s ...
'' (supplement to the ''Rigveda'', c. 1200–1000 BCE). It is also mentioned in the
Pali
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...
canons of
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, such as in section 1.7 of ''
Majjhima Nikaya'' (), wherein the Buddha states that bathing in ''Payaga'' (Skt: Prayaga) cannot wash away cruel and evil deeds, rather the virtuous one should be pure in heart and fair in action. The ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
'' (–300 CE) mentions a bathing pilgrimage at Prayag as a means of ''prāyaścitta'' (atonement, penance) for past mistakes and guilt. In ''Tirthayatra Parva'', before the great war, the epic states "the one who observes firm
thicalvows, having bathed at Prayaga during Magha, O best of the Bharatas, becomes spotless and reaches heaven." In ''Anushasana parva'', after the war, the epic elaborates this bathing pilgrimage as "geographical tirtha" that must be combined with ''manasa-tirtha'' (tirtha of the heart) whereby one lives by values such as truth, charity, self-control, patience and others.
Prayāga is mentioned in the ''
Agni Purana
The ''Agni Purana'', (, ) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. The text is variously classified as a Purana related to Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism, but also considered as a text that covers them ...
'' and other
with various legends, including being one of the places where
Brahma
Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...
attended a
yajna
In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedas, Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature ...
(homa), and the confluence of river Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati site as the king of pilgrimage sites (''Tirtha Raj'').
Other early accounts of the significance of Prayag to Hinduism is found in the various versions of the ''Prayaga Mahatmya'', dated to the late 1st-millennium CE. These ''
''-genre Sanskrit texts describe Prayag as a place "bustling with pilgrims, priests, vendors, beggars, guides" and local citizens busy along the confluence of the rivers (''sangam'').
Prayaga is also mentioned in the Hindu epic ''
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
'', a place with the legendary ''Ashram'' of sage
Bharadwaj.
In Jainism

''Purimtal Jain Tirth'', located in Prayagraj (formerly known as ''Purimtal'') , is a site of religious and historical significance for
Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and ...
. This ancient pilgrim site is revered as the spot where
Rishabhadeva
Rishabhanatha (Devanagari: ऋषभनाथ), also Rishabhadeva (Devanagari: ऋषभदेव, ), Rishabha (Devanagari: ऋषभ, ) or Ikshvaku (Devanagari: इक्ष्वाकु, ''Ikṣvāku''), is the first (Supreme preacher) ...
, the first
Tirthankara
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''Dharma (Jainism), dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a ''Tirtha (Jainism), tirtha'', a fordable passage across ''Saṃsā ...
, achieved ''
keval gyan'' as per Jain beliefs. As documented in
Vividha Tirtha Kalpa by Acharya Jinaprabhasuri, ''Purimtal'' once featured numerous Jain temples. Rishabhadeva is said to have attained omniscience under the
''Akshayavat'' tree. This tree, often referred to as the "indestructible" tree in legends, is a point of spiritual reverence in other religions as well. The site also holds importance in
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and Buddhist traditions. Originally, sandalwood footprints of Rishabhadeva were placed beneath the tree, which were later replaced with stone replicas following theft.
Acharya Hemachandrasuri's ''Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra'' describes ''Purimtal'' as a 'hub of Jain activity', where multiple
Tirthankaras
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', a fordable passage across '' saṃsāra'', the sea of interminable birt ...
, including
Mahavira
Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...
, visited and meditated. Mahavira is said to have practised deep meditation in the ''Shakatmukh Udyan'' nearby, and a divine
Samavasaran () was constructed here. Acharya Arnikaputra is also said to have attained omniscience and
moksha
''Moksha'' (; , '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'', and ''mukti'', is a term in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, '' nirvana'', or release. In its soteriological and eschatologic ...
near the
Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is a sacred place, with a bath here said to flush away all of one's sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth.
Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj ...
, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and
Saraswati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...
rivers.
In the 15th century,
Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
constructed a fort enclosing the
''Akshayavat'' tree. During British rule, public access to the fort was restricted, and the shrine was relocated to the Patalpuri Śvetāmbara Jain Temple on the fort's outskirts. While the Patalpuri Śvetāmbara Jain Temple houses a tree worshiped as the ''Akshayvat'', many believe the original Akshayvat is in an underground temple within the fort. Maps from the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
confirm this, showing the original temple's location at the fort's center.
''Purimtal'' is home to five Jain temples, including four
Digambara
''Digambara'' (; "sky-clad") is one of the two major Jain schools and branches, schools of Jainism, the other being ''Śvetāmbara'' (white-clad). The Sanskrit word ''Digambara'' means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic pract ...
and one
Śvetāmbara
The Śvetāmbara (; also spelled Shwetambara, Shvetambara, Svetambara or Swetambara) is one of the two main branches of Jainism, the other being the Digambara. ''Śvetāmbara'' in Sanskrit means "white-clad", and refers to its ascetics' practi ...
temple. The Śvetāmbara Jain temple features a marble idol of Rishabhadeva, dating back to the 11th century CE. Alongside the idol, the temple enshrines images of other
Tirthankaras
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', a fordable passage across '' saṃsāra'', the sea of interminable birt ...
, such as
Vimalnatha,
Parshvanatha,
Mahavira
Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...
, and
Shantinatha. Footprints of Jain monks are also installed here. The
Allahabad Museum further highlights the region's Jain heritage, displaying ancient idols and artefacts excavated from nearby areas.
''Purimtal'' is associated with numerous milestones in
Jain history, including:
* Rishabhadeva's attainment of omniscience beneath the
''Akshayvat'' tree.
* The creation of the first ''Samavasaran'' () of this
Avasarpiṇī
''Avasarpiṇī'' (), is the descending half of the cosmic time cycle in Jainism and the one in which the world is said to be at present. According to Jain texts the ''Avasarpiṇī'' is marked by a decline in goodness and religion. The ascen ...
.
* The establishment of the first ''
Chaturvidha Jain Sangh'' (fourfold Jain congregation) of this
Avasarpiṇī
''Avasarpiṇī'' (), is the descending half of the cosmic time cycle in Jainism and the one in which the world is said to be at present. According to Jain texts the ''Avasarpiṇī'' is marked by a decline in goodness and religion. The ascen ...
.
*
Marudevi's attainment of
moksha
''Moksha'' (; , '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'', and ''mukti'', is a term in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, '' nirvana'', or release. In its soteriological and eschatologic ...
, marking the first ''moksha'' of this
Avasarpiṇī
''Avasarpiṇī'' (), is the descending half of the cosmic time cycle in Jainism and the one in which the world is said to be at present. According to Jain texts the ''Avasarpiṇī'' is marked by a decline in goodness and religion. The ascen ...
.
* The composition of the first
Dvādaśāṅgī scriptures by
Ganadhara
In Jainism, the term Ganadhara is used to refer the chief disciple of a ''Tirthankara''. In '' samavasarana'', the ''Tīrthankara'' sat on a throne without touching it (about two inches above it). Around, the ''Tīrthankara'' sits the ''Gana ...
Pundarika, a disciple of Rishabhadeva.
The
''Akshayvat'' tree remains a key attraction. Ongoing efforts to preserve and document ''Purimtal's''
Jain heritage ensure its enduring relevance to the community and the broader historical narrative.
Archaeology and inscriptions

Inscription evidence from the famed Ashoka edicts containing
Allahabad Pillar – also referred to as the Prayaga Bull pillar – adds to the confusion about the antiquity of this city.
[ Excavations have revealed ]Northern Black Polished Ware
The Northern Black Polished Ware culture (abbreviated NBPW or NBP) is an urban Iron Age Indian culture of the Indian subcontinent, lasting –200 BCE (proto NBPW between 1200 and 700 BCE), succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture and Black and ...
dating to 600–700 BCE. According to Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti
Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti (born 27 April 1941) is an Indian archaeologist, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Archaeology at Cambridge University, and a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University. He ...
, "... there is nothing to suggest that modern Prayag (i e. modern Allahabad) was an ancient city. Yet it is inconceivable that one of the holiest places of Hinduism, Prayag or the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna should be without a major ancient city." Chakrabarti suggests that the city of Jhusi, opposite the confluence, must have been the "ancient settlement of Prayag". Archaeological surveys since the 1950s has revealed the presence of human settlements near the ''sangam'' since BCE.[
Along with Ashoka's Brahmi script inscription from the 3rd century BCE, the pillar has a Samudragupta inscription, as well as a Magha Mela inscription of ]Birbal
Mahesh Das (; 1528 16 February 1586), popularly known by his title Rajah Birbal (), was an Indian minister and commander of the Mughal Empire. He is mostly known in the Indian subcontinent for the folk tales which focus on his wit. He was app ...
of Akbar's era. It states,
These dates correspond to about 1575 CE, and confirm the importance and the name Prayag. According to Cunningham, this pillar was brought to Allahabad from Kaushambi by a Muslim Sultan, and that in some later century before Akbar, the old city of Prayag had been deserted. Other scholars, such as Krishnaswamy and Ghosh disagree. In a paper published in 1935, they state that the pillar was always at its current location based on the inscription dates on the pillar, lack of textual evidence for the move in records left by Muslim historians and the difficulty in moving the massive pillar. Further, like Cunningham, they noted that many smaller inscriptions were added on the pillar over time. Quite many of these inscriptions include a date between 1319 CE and 1575 CE, and most of these refer to the month Magha. According to Krishnaswamy and Ghosh, these dates are likely related to the Magh Mela pilgrimage at Prayag, as recommended in the ancient Hindu texts.
In papers published about 1979, John Irwin – a scholar of Indian Art History and Archaeology, concurred with Krishnaswamy and Ghosh that the Allahabad pillar was never moved and was always at the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna.[ According to Irwin, an analysis of the minor inscriptions and ancient scribblings on the pillar first observed by Cunningham, also noted by Krishnaswamy and Ghosh, reveals that these included years and months, and the latter "always turns out to be Magha, which also gives it name to the Magh Mela", the Prayaga bathing pilgrimage festival of the Hindus.][ He further stated that the pillar origins were undoubtedly pre-Ashokan based on the new evidence from the archaeological and geological surveys of the triveni site (Prayaga), the major and minor inscriptions as well as textual evidence, taken together.] Archaeological and geological surveys done since the 1950s, states Irwin, have revealed that the rivers – particularly Ganges – had a different course in distant past than now. The original path of river Ganges at the Prayaga confluence had settlements dating from the 8th century BCE onwards.[ According to ]Karel Werner Karel Werner (12 January 1925 – 26 November 2019) was an indologist, orientalist, religious studies scholar, and philosopher of religion born in Jemnice in what is now the Czech Republic.
Life
Werner has described his childhood in the smal ...
– an Indologist known for his studies on religion particularly Buddhism, the Irwin papers "showed conclusively that the pillar did not originate at Kaushambi", but had been at Prayaga from pre-Buddhist times.
Gupta Empire
Homeland
In some recent academic studies, the Guptas are traced to have originated from the Prayaga region, where they first established power. Goyal suggests that the Allahabad Pillar Inscription strongly indicates that the early Gupta center of power was in the modern eastern Uttar Pradesh
Purvanchal () is the region of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Purvanchal is also a proposed state in India, encompassing 32 eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh. The proposal, introduced in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 2011 by then Chief ...
, probably around Prayaga.
The Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana () is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into ...
provides an intriguing reference: "Anu-Ganga Prayāgam Māgadha Guptās-cha bhokshyanti," which has been translated by Majumdar
Majumdar () is a native Bengali surname that is used by both the Bengali Hindu and Bengali Muslim community of Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and as well as of Bangladesh.
Etymology and history
The name literally translates to 'record keepe ...
as "The territory along the Ganges
The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
(up to) Prayaga will be enjoyed by the people of Magadha
Magadha was a region and kingdom in ancient India, based in the eastern Ganges Plain. It was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period. The region was ruled by several dynasties, which overshadowed, conquered, and ...
and the Guptas." This excerpt suggests that the Guptas were distinguished from the people of Magadha, yet both jointly ruled the region along the Ganges up to Prayaga.
Historically, the Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...
emerged from the unification of the Gupta and Licchavis states, which aligns with this Purana's reference. The text seems to imply that the Licchavis of Nepal were identified with the Magadhas, and their joint domain included Magadha and the territory stretching westward to Prayag.
In this context, the capital of the Gupta empire likely started around Magadha and Prayag and expanded from there. The concentration of early Gupta inscriptions and gold coinages around Prayag (especially of Samudragupta's famous prasasti) tends to suggest that this region was the residence of greatest power of the Guptas. They probably controlled Sarnath
Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, ''Sarangnath'', ''Isipatana Deer Park'', ''Rishipattana'', ''Migadaya'', or ''Mrigadava'')Gabe Hiemstra, "Buddha Chronicle 24: Kassapa Buddhavaṃsa". ''Wisdom Library'', 14 September 2019. is a town nort ...
in the east, and as their stronghold, they used Prayag. For the initial phase of the empire, the exact boundaries in the region above and the west is vague, but they most definitely controlled eastern Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
. By the late third and early fourth centuries, this area had burgeoned into a dynasty aiming to build a great empire.
Imperial capital
Various scholarships considers Prayaga as the initial Gupta capital and supports this arguments with The references, and multiple early Gupta era inscriptions alongside the discovery of numerous coin hoards scattered around the region, further suggesting that the Guptas strengthened their sovereignty over the area prior to further expansion.
This statement was also supported by R.S. Sharma who claimed that it is highly likely the Guptas based themselves in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
because from there they could expand anywhere. With Prayag as their center, they extended their rule over Anuganga (mid- Gangetic basin), Prayag (modern Prayagraj), Saketa (modern Ayodhya
Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became th ...
), and Magadha.
Early medieval period
The 7th-century Buddhist Chinese traveller Xuanzang
Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
(Hiuen Tsang) in Fascicle V of ''Dà Táng Xīyù Jì'' ('' Great Tang Records on the Western Regions'') explicitly mentions Prayaga as both a country and a "great city" where the Yamuna river meets Ganges river. He states that the great city has hundreds of "deva
Deva may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster
* Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...
temples" and to the south of the city are two Buddhist institutions (a stupa built by Ashoka and a monastery). His 644 CE memoir also mentions the Hindu bathing rituals at the junction of the rivers, where people fast near it and then bathe believing that this washes away their sins. Wealthy people and kings come to this "great city" to give away alms at the Grand Place of Almsgiving. According to Xuanzang's travelogue, the confluence is to the east of this "great city" and the site where alms are distributed every day.[Li Rongxi (1996), ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions'', Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, , pp. 136–138] Kama MacLean – an Indologist who has published articles on the Kumbh Mela predominantly based on the colonial archives and English-language media, states based on emails from other scholars and a more recent interpretation of the 7th-century Xuanzang memoir, that Prayag was also an important site in 7th-century India of a Buddhist festival. She states that Xuanzang festivities at Prayag featured a Buddha statue and involved alms giving, consistent with Buddhist practices. According to Li Rongxi – a scholar credited with a recent and complete translation of a critical version of the ''Dà Táng Xīyù Jì'', Xuanzang mentions that the site of the alms-giving is a ''deva'' temple, and the alms-giving practice is recommended by the "records at this temple". Rongxi adds that the population of Prayaga was predominantly heretics (non-Buddhists, Hindus), and affirms that Prayaga attracted festivities of ''deva''-worshipping heretics and also the orthodox Buddhists.[
Xuanzang also describes a ritual-suicide practice at Prayaga, then concludes it is absurd. He mentions a tree with "evil spirits" that stands before another ''deva'' temple. People commit suicide by jumping from it in the belief that they will go to heaven.][ According to Ariel Glucklich – a scholar of Hinduism and Anthropology of Religion, the Xuanzang memoir mentions both the superstitious devotional suicide and narrates a story of how a Brahmin of a more ancient era tried to put an end to this practice.] Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Sappers who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly crea ...
believed the tree described by Xuanzang was the Akshayavat tree. It still existed at the time of Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...
who calls it as "Prayaga", located at the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna.
The historic literature of Hinduism and Buddhism before the Mughal emperor Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
use the term Prayag, and never use the term Allahabad or its variants. Its history before the Mughal Emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
is unclear. In contrast to the account of Xuanzang, the Muslim historians place the tree at the confluence of the rivers. The historian Dr. D. B. Dubey states that it appears that between this period, the sandy plain was washed away by the Ganges, to an extent that the temple and tree seen by the Chinese traveller too was washed away, with the river later changing its course to the east and the confluence shifting to the place where Akbar laid the foundations of his fort.
Henry Miers Elliot believed that a town existed before Allahabad was founded. He adds that after Mahmud of Ghazni
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...
captured Asní near Fatehpur, he couldn't have crossed into Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...
without visiting Allahabad had there been a city worth plundering. He further adds that its capture should have been heard when Muhammad of Ghor captured Benares. However, Ghori's historians never noticed it. '' Akbarnama'' mentions that the Mughal emperor
The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...
Akbar founded a great city in Allahabad. 'Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni and Nizamuddin Ahmad mention that Akbar laid the foundations of an Imperial City there which he called ''Ilahabas''.
Mughal rule
Abul Fazal in his ''Ain-i-Akbari'' states, "For a long time his (Akbar's) desire was to found a great city in the town of Piyag (Allahabad) where the rivers Ganges and Jamuna join... On 13th November 1583 (1st Azar 991 H.) he (Akbar) reached the wished spot and laid the foundations of the city and planned four forts." Abul Fazal adds, "Ilahabad anciently called Prayag was distinguished by His Imperial Majesty kbarby the former name". The role of Akbar in founding the Ilahabad – later called Allahabad – fort and city is mentioned by ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni as well.[
Nizamuddin Ahmad gives two different dates for Allahabad's foundation, in different sections of ''Tabaqat-i-Akbari''. He states that Akbar laid the foundation of the city at a place of the confluence of Ganges and Jumna which was a very sacred site of Hindus, then gives 1574 and 1584 as the year of its founding, and that it was named "Ilahabas".] The next generation of Mughal rulers started calling it Illahabad, and finally, the British started calling it "Allahabad" for ease of pronunciation.
Akbar was impressed by its strategic location for a fort. According to William Pinch, Akbar's motive may have been twofold. One, the armed fort secured the control of fertile Doab region. Second, it greatly increased his visibility and power to the non-Muslims who gathered here for pilgrimage from distant places and who constituted the majority of his subjects. Later, he declared Ilahabas as a capital of one of the twelve divisions (''subahs''). According to Richard Burn, the suffix "–bas" was deemed to "savouring too much of Hinduism" and therefore the name was changed to ''Ilahabad'' by Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...
.[ This evolved into the two variant colonial-era spellings of Ilahabad (Hindi: इलाहाबाद) and Allahabad.] According to Maclean, these variant spellings have a political basis, as "Ilaha–" means "the gods" for Hindus, while Allah is the term for God to Muslims.
After Prince Salim's coup against Akbar and a failed attempt to seize Agra's treasury, he came to Allahabad and seized its treasury while setting himself up as a virtually independent ruler. In May 1602, he had his name read in Friday prayers and his name minted on coins in Allahabad. After reconciliation with Akbar, Salim returned to Allahabad, where he stayed before returning in 1604. After capturing Jaunpur in 1624, Prince Khurram ordered the siege of Allahabad. The siege was however, lifted after Parviz and Mahabat Khan came to assist the garrison. During the Mughal war of succession, the commandant of the fort who had joined Shah Shuja made an agreement with Aurangzeb
Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...
's officers and surrendered it to Khan Dauran on 12 January 1659.
Nawabs of Awadh
The fort was coveted by the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
for the same reasons Akbar built it. British troops were first stationed at Allahabad fort in 1765 as part of the Treaty of Allahabad signed by Lord Robert Clive
Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British List of governors of Bengal Presidency, Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for l ...
, Mughal emperor Shah Alam II
Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...
, and Awadh's Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula. The combined forces of Bengal's Nawab Mir Qasim, Shuja and Shah Alam were defeated by the English at Buxar in October 1764 and at Kora in May 1765. Alam, who was abandoned by Shuja after the defeats, surrendered to the English and was lodged at the fort, as they captured Allahabad, Benares
Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges, Ganges river in North India, northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hinduism, Hindu world.*
*
*
* The city ...
and Chunar in his name. The territories of Allahabad and Kora were given to the emperor after the treaty was signed in 1765.
Shah Alam spent six years in the Allahabad fort and after the takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...
of Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
by the Marathas, left for his capital in 1771 under their protection. He was escorted by Mahadaji Shinde
Mahadaji Shinde (23 December 1730 – 13 February 1794), later known as Mahadji Scindia or Madhava Rao Scindia, was a Maratha statesman and general who served as the Gwalior State, Maharaja of Gwalior from 1768 to 1794. He was the fifth and the ...
and left Allahabad in May 1771 and in January 1772 reached Delhi. Upon realising the Maratha intent of territorial encroachment, however, Shah Alam ordered his general Najaf Khan to drive them out. Tukoji Rao Holkar and Visaji Krushna Biniwale in return attacked Delhi and defeated his forces in 1772. The Marathas were granted an imperial '' sanad'' for Kora and Allahabad. They turned their attention to Oudh to gain these two territories. Shuja was however, unwilling to give them up and made appeals to the English and the Marathas did not fare well at the Battle of Ramghat. In August and September 1773, Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...
met Shuja and concluded a treaty, under which Kora and Allahabad were ceded to the Nawab for a payment of 50 lakh rupees.
Saadat Ali Khan II, after being made the Nawab by John Shore, entered into a treaty with the company and gave the fort to the British in 1798. Lord Wellesley after threatening to annexe the entire Awadh, concluded a treaty with Saadat on abolishing the independent Awadhi army, imposing a larger subsidiary force and annexing Rohilkhand
Rohilkhand (today Bareilly, Moradabad, Badaun and Rampur; ) is a region in the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, India, that is centered on the Bareilly and Moradabad divisions. It is part of the upper Ganges Plain, and is named after the ...
, Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...
and the Doab in 1801.
British rule
Acquired in 1801, Allahabad, aside from its importance as a pilgrimage centre, was a stepping stone to the agrarian track upcountry and the Grand Trunk Road. It also potentially offered sizeable revenues to the company. Initial revenue settlements began in 1803. Allahabad was a participant in the 1857 Indian Mutiny, when Maulvi Liaquat Ali unfurled the banner of revolt. During the rebellion, Allahabad, with a number of European troops, was the scene of a massacre.
After the mutiny, the British established a high court, a police headquarters and a public-service commission in Allahabad, making the city an administrative centre. They truncated the Delhi region of the state, merging it with Punjab
Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
and moving the capital of the North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...
to Allahabad (where it remained for 20 years). In January 1858, Earl Canning departed Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
for Allahabad. That year he read Queen Victoria's proclamation, transferring control of India from the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
to the British Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
(beginning the British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
), in Minto Park. In 1877 the provinces of Agra and Awadh were merged to form the United Provinces, with Allahabad its capital until 1920.
The 1888 session of the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
was held in the city, and by the turn of the 20th century, Allahabad was a revolutionary centre. Nityanand Chatterji became a household name when he hurled a bomb at a European club. In Alfred Park
Chandra Shekhar Azad Park (also known by its List of renamed places in India, former name Alfred Park, and Company Bagh during the Company Raj) is a public park in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. Built in 1870 to mark Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Co ...
in 1931, Chandrashekhar Azad died when surrounded by British police. The Nehru family homes, Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan, were centres of Indian National Congress activity. During the years before independence, Allahabad was home to thousands of satyagrahis led by Purushottam Das Tandon, Bishambhar Nath Pande
Bishambhar Nath Pande (23 December 1906 – 1 June 1998) was a freedom fighter, social worker, and parliamentarian in India. Pande devoted his life to the cause of national integration, and to the spread of the Gandhian way of life.
Life
...
, Narayan Dutt Tiwari and others. The first seeds of the Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
i nation were sown in Allahabad: on 29 December 1930, Allama Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address to the All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslims, Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim L ...
proposed a separate Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
state for the Muslim-majority regions of India.
Geography
Cityscape
Prayagraj's elevation is over 90 m (295 ft) above sea level. The old part of the city, at the south of Prayagraj Junction railway station, consists of neighbourhoods like Chowk, Johnstongunj, Dariyabad, Khuldabad and many more. In the north of the Railway Station, the new city consists of neighbourhoods like Lukergunj, Civil Lines, Georgetown, Tagoretown, Allahpur, Ashok Nagar, Mumfordgunj, Bharadwaj Puram and others which are relatively new and were built during the British rule
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
* or dire ...
. Civil Lines is the central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
of the city and is famous for its urban setting, gridiron plan
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...
roads and high rise buildings. Built in 1857, it was the largest town-planning project carried out in India before the establishment of New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. Prayagraj has many buildings featuring Indo-Islamic and Indo-Saracenic architecture
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and gov ...
. Although several buildings from the colonial period have been declared "heritage structures", others are deteriorating. Famous landmarks of the city are Allahabad Museum, New Yamuna Bridge, Allahabad University
The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...
, Triveni Sangam, All Saints Cathedral, Anand Bhavan, Chandrashekhar Azad Park etc. The city experiences one of the highest levels of air pollution
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
worldwide, with the 2016 update of the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
's ''Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database'' finding Prayagraj to have the third highest mean concentration of "PM2.5" (<2.5 μm diameter) particulate matter
Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defin ...
in the ambient air among all the 2972 cities tested (after Zabol and Gwalior
Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...
).
Triveni Sangam and Ghats
The Triveni Sangam (place where three rivers meet) is the meeting place of Ganges, the Yamuna and mythical Saraswati River, which according to Hindu legends, wells up from underground.[At the Three Rivers](_blank)
''TIME
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', 23 February 1948. A place of religious importance and the site for historic Prayag Kumbh Mela held every 12 years, over the years it has also been the site of immersion of ashes of several national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
in 1948.
The main ghat
Ghat (), a term used in the Indian subcontinent, to refer to the series of steps leading down to a body of water or wharf, such as a bathing or cremation place along the banks of a river or pond, the Ghats in Varanasi, Dhobi Ghat or the Aap ...
in Prayagraj is Saraswati Ghat, on the banks of Yamuna. Stairs from three sides descend to the green water of the Yamuna. Above it is a park which is always covered with green grass. There are also facilities for boating here. There are also routes to reach Triveni Sangam by boat from here. Apart from this, there are more than 100 raw ghats in Prayagraj.
Topography
Prayagraj is in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh, at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna. The region was known in antiquity first as the Kuru, then as the Vats country. To the southwest is Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...
, to the east and southeast is Baghelkhand, to the north and northeast is Awadh
Awadh (), known in British Raj historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a historical region in northern India and southern Nepal, now constituting the North-central portion of Uttar Pradesh. It is roughly synonymous with the ancient Kosala Regio ...
and to the west is the lower doab (of which Prayagraj is part). The city is divided by a railway line running east–west. South of the railway is the Old Chowk area, and the British-built Civil Lines is north of it. Prayagraj is well placed geographically and culturally. Geographically part of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab (at the mouth of the Yamuna), culturally it is the terminus of the Indian west.
The Indian Standard Time
Indian Standard Time (IST), sometimes also called India Standard Time, is the time zone observed throughout the Republic of India, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments. I ...
longitude (25.15°N 82.58°E) is near the city. According to a United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
report, Prayagraj is in a "low damage risk" wind and cyclone zone. In common with the rest of the doab, its soil and water are primarily alluvial
Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
. Pratapgarh is north of the city, Bhadohi is east, Rewa is south, Chitrakoot (earlier Banda) is west, and Kaushambi, which was until recently a part of Allahabad (Prayagraj), is North-West.
Climate
Prayagraj has a humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
common to cities in the plains of North India, designated ''Cwa'' in the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
. The annual mean temperature is ; monthly mean temperatures are . Prayagraj has three seasons: a hot, dry summer, a cool, dry winter and a hot, humid monsoon. Summer lasts from March to September with daily highs reaching up to 48 °C in the dry summer (from March to May) and up to 40 °C in the hot and extremely humid monsoon season (from June to September). The monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
begins in June, and lasts until August; high humidity levels prevail well into September. Winter runs from December to February, with temperatures rarely dropping to the freezing point. The daily average maximum temperature is about and the minimum about . Prayagraj never receives snow, but, experiences dense winter fog due to numerous wood fires, coal fires, and open burning of rubbish—resulting in substantial traffic and travel delays. Its highest recorded temperature is on 9 June 2019, and its lowest is on 26 December 1961.
Rain from the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea branches of the southwest monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
falls on Allahabad from June to September, supplying the city with most of its annual rainfall of . The highest monthly rainfall total, , occurs in August. The city receives 2,961 hours of sunshine per year, with maximum sunlight
Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...
in May.
Allahabad has been ranked 20th best "National Clean Air City" (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'
Biodiversity
The Ganga-Jamuna Doab, of which Prayagraj is a part, is on the western Indus-Gangetic Plain region. The doab (including the Terai
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in parts of southern Nepal and northern India that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
This lowland belt is characterised by ...
) is responsible for the city's unique flora and fauna. Since the arrival of humans, nearly half of the city's vertebrate
Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain.
The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...
s have become extinct. Others are endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
or have had their range severely reduced. Associated changes in habitat and the introduction of reptiles
Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...
, snakes
Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of ...
and other mammals
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...
led to the extinction of bird species, including large birds such as eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
s. The Allahabad Museum, one of four national museums in India, is documenting the flora and fauna of the Ganges and the Yamuna.
To protect the rich aquatic biodiversity of river Ganges from escalating anthropogenic pressures, development of a Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...
sanctuary in Prayagraj along with a River Biodiversity Park at Sangam have been approved under Namami Gange programme.
The most common birds found in the city are doves, peacocks, junglefowl
Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus ''Gallus'' in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. One of the species in this genus, the red junglefowl, is of historical importance as the ...
, black partridge, house sparrow
The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the Old World sparrow, sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pa ...
s, songbirds
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passerine, Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes co ...
, blue jays, parakeets, quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
s, bulbul
The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...
s, and comb ducks. Large numbers of Deer are found in the Trans Yamuna area of Prayagraj. India's first conservation reserve for blackbuck
The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is a medium-sized antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources.
It stands up to high at the sh ...
is being created in Prayagraj's Meja Forest Division. Other animals in the state include reptiles such as lizard
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
s, cobra
COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...
s, kraits, and gharial
The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family (biology), family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males ...
s. During winter, large numbers of Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
n birds are reported in the sangam and nearby wetlands.
Demographics
The 2011 census reported a population of 1,112,544 in the area governed by Prayagraj Municipal Corporation, corresponding to a density of .[ In January 2020, the boundaries of Prayagraj Municipal Corporation were expanded to ; according to the 2011 census, 1,536,218 people lived within those boundaries; this corresponds to a population density of .]
Natives of Uttar Pradesh form the majority of Prayagraj's population. With regards to Houseless Census in Prayagraj, total 5,672 families live on footpaths or without any roof cover, this is approximately 0.38 per cent of the total population of Prayagraj district. The sex ratio of Prayagraj is 901 females per 1000 males and child sex ratio is 893 girls per 1000 boys, lower than the national average.
Prayagraj's literacy rate
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
at 86.50 per cent is the highest in the region. Male literacy is 90.21 per cent and female literacy 82.17 per cent. For 2001 census same figure stood at 75.81 and 46.38. As per census 2011, total 1,080,808 people are literate in Prayagraj of which males and females are 612,257 and 468,551 respectively. Among 35 major Indian cities, Prayagraj reported the highest rate of violations of special and local laws to the National Crime Records Bureau
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data, as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL). NCRB is headquartered in New Delhi and is ...
.
Hindi, the official state language, is the dominant language in Prayagraj. Urdu and other languages are spoken by a sizeable minority. Hindus form the majority of Prayagraj's population; Muslims compose a large minority. According to provisional results of the 2011 national census, Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
is majority religion in Prayagraj city with 76.03 per cent followers. Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
is the second most practised religion in the city with approximately 21.94 per cent following it. Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
is followed by 0.68 per cent, Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...
by 0.10 per cent, Sikhism
Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
by 0.28 per cent and Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
by 0.28 per cent. Around 0.02 per cent stated 'Other Religion', approximately 0.90 per cent stated 'No Particular Religion'.
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 90.51% of the population in Prayagraj spoke Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
and 7.69% Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
as their first language.
Administration and politics
General administration
Prayagraj division, comprising four districts, is headed by the divisional commissioner
A Divisional Commissioner, also known as Commissioner of division, is an Indian Administrative Service officer who serves as the administrator of a division of a state in India. The post is referred to as regional commissioner in Karnataka
...
of Prayagraj, who is an Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...
(IAS) officer of high seniority, the commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...
is the head of local government institutions (including municipal corporations
Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ow ...
) in the division, is in charge of infrastructure development in his division, and is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the division. The district magistrate and collector of Prayagraj reports to the divisional commissioner
A Divisional Commissioner, also known as Commissioner of division, is an Indian Administrative Service officer who serves as the administrator of a division of a state in India. The post is referred to as regional commissioner in Karnataka
...
. The current commissioner is Ashish Kumar Goel.
Prayagraj district administration is headed by the district magistrate and collector (DM) of Prayagraj, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
held in the district. The DM is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the district. The DM is assisted by a chief development officer; five additional district magistrates for finance/revenue, city, rural administration, land acquisition and civil supply; one chief revenue officer; one city magistrate; and three additional city magistrates. The district has eight tehsil
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...
s viz. Sadar, Soraon, Phulpur, Handia, Karchhana, Bara, Meja and Kuraon, each headed by a sub-divisional magistrate
A sub-divisional magistrate, also known as assistant collector, sub collector, revenue divisional officer, or assistant commissioner, is the administrative head of a sub-division in an Indian district, exercising executive, revenue, and magist ...
.
Police administration
City comes under the Prayagraj Police Zone and Prayagraj Police Range, Prayagraj Zone is headed by an additional director general-rank Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire.
Along with the Indian Admini ...
(IPS) officer, and the Prayagraj Range is headed inspector general-rank IPS officer. The district police is headed by a senior superintendent of police (SSP), who is an IPS officer, and is assisted by eight superintendents of police or additional superintendents of police for city, either from the IPS or the Provincial Police Service. Each of the several police circles is headed by a circle officer (CO) in the rank of deputy superintendent of police.
Infrastructure and civic administration
The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA), which comes under the Department of Housing and Urban Planning of Uttar Pradesh government. The divisional commissioner of Prayagraj acts as the ''ex-officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''List of Latin phrases (E)#ex officio, ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the off ...
'' chairperson of PDA, whereas a vice chairperson, a government-appointed IAS officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority. The current chairperson of PDA is Bhanu Chandra Goswami.
The Prayagraj Nagar Nigam, also called Prayagraj Municipal Corporation, oversees the city's civic infrastructure. The corporation originated in 1864 as the Municipal Board of Allahabad, when the Lucknow Municipal Act was passed by the Government of India
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
.
This book says that the Municipal Board of Allahabad was founded in 1863. In 1867, the Civil Lines and the city were amalgamated for municipal purposes.[ The Municipal Board became Municipal Corporation in 1959.] Allahabad Cantonment has a cantonment board. The city of Prayagraj is currently divided into 80 wards, with one member (or corporator) elected from each ward to form the municipal committee. The head of the corporation is the mayor, but, the executive and administration of the corporation are the responsibility of the municipal commissioner, who is an Uttar Pradesh government-appointed Provincial Civil Service officer of high seniority. The current mayor of Prayagraj is Abhilasha Gupta, whereas the current municipal commissioner is Avinash Singh.
Prayagraj was declared to have metropolitan status in October 2006. The metropolitan area is referred to in the 2011 Indian census and other official documents as Allhabad Urban Agglomeration. It consists of Prayagraj Municipal Corporation, three census towns (the cantonment, Arail Uparhar, and Chak Babura Alimabad), and 17 Outer Growth (OG) areas listed in the table below.
Allahabad cantonment
Allahabad has a cantonment, which was set up in 1857, as part of a chain of cantonments setup across north and central India to consolidate British rule. At that time, it comprised covering a total area of 4464.6939 acres including civil area of 142.7129 acres.
This was in line with Allahabad being made the centre of the newly -created North-west Provinces, that year, with Delhi transferred to the Punjab province and the truncated province being ruled from Allahabad for the next 20 years. Allahabad cantonment came under the new Cantonments Act of 1924, and post-independence under the Cantonments Act of 2006. The cantonment was counted as part of the city in censuses until the 1931 Indian census, when it was started to be counted as a separate census town
In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics.
India
In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...
.
The 4th Infantry Division, also known as the Red Eagle Division, is headquartered at Allahabad cantonment.
Politics
Prayagraj is the seat of Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established o ...
, the highest judicial body in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Prayagraj is known as the "Prime Minister Capital of India", since, seven of fifteen Indian prime ministers of India since independence have connections with the city (Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...
, Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...
, Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
, Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...
, Gulzarilal Nanda
Gulzarilal Nanda (4 July 1898 – 15 January 1998) was an Indian politician and economist who specialised in labour issues. He was the Acting Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and L ...
, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar
Chandra Shekhar (17 April 1927 – 8 July 2007), also known as Jananayak, was an Indian politician and the prime minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata ...
). All seven leaders were either born in Allahabad, were alumni of Allahabad University
The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...
or were elected from an Allahabad constituency. Prayagraj is administered by several government agencies
A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, ...
. As the seat of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj is home to local governing agencies and the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (housed in the Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established o ...
building). The Prayagraj district
Prayagraj district, formerly known as Allahabad district, is the most populous Districts of Uttar Pradesh, district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Prayagraj city is the district headquarters of this district. The District is divided in ...
has two parliamentary constituency, namely, Prayagraj
Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...
and Phulpur and elects 12 members of the legislative assembly ( MLAs) to the state legislature.
Central government offices/organisations
Prayagraj houses various central government offices and organisations, such as-
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the i ...
* Headquarters of Central Zonal Council
* Rapid Action Force (101 Battalion).
* Indo-Tibetan Border Police
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a Central Armed Police Forces, central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding Border guard, India’s border with ...
(Training Institute).
Ministry of Minority Affairs
The Ministry of Minority Affairs is the ministry in the Government of India which was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and created on 29 January 2006. It is the apex body for the central government's regulatory and ...
* Special officer for Linguistic Minorities (Regional Headquarters).
Ministry of Defence (India)
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) or Raksha Mantralay is charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian Armed Forces.
The President of India is the cerem ...
* Headquarters of Central Air Command.
* Services Selection Board
Services Selection Board (SSB) is an organization that assesses candidates for becoming officers in the Indian Armed Forces. The board evaluates the suitability of the candidate for becoming an officer using a standardized protocol of evaluatio ...
(East Centre).
Ministry of Civil Aviation (India)
The Ministry of Civil Aviation () in India is the nodal ministry responsible for the formulation of national policies and programmes for the development and regulation of civil aviation. It devises and implements schemes for the orderly growth ...
* Civil Aviation Training College.
Ministry of Railways (India)
The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the rail transport in India, country's rail transport. The Indian Railways is the rail network operated and administered by the Railway Board constituted by t ...
* Headquarters of North Central Railway Zone
The North Central Railway (abbreviated NCR) is one of the 19 Indian Railways, railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Prayagraj Junction & Kanpur Central as busiest. It is headquartered at Prayagraj Junction railway stat ...
.
* Headquarters of Central Organisation for Railway Electrification
The Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) is the unit of Indian Railways responsible for railway electrification, electrification of the network. The organisation, founded in 1979, is headquartered in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh ...
.
* Railway Recruitment Control Board (Selection Centre).
Ministry of Finance (India)
The Ministry of Finance (IAST: ''Vitta Maṃtrālaya'') is a ministry within the Government of the Republic of India concerned with the economy of India, serving as the Treasury of India. In particular, it concerns itself with taxation, finan ...
* Headquarters of Accountants General, Uttar Pradesh.
Ministry of Human Resource Development
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
* Central Board of Secondary Education
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...
(Regional office).
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry. The ministry Portfolio (government), portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union ...
* Botanical Survey of India
Botanical Survey of India (BSI) is a governmental research institution in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was founded on 13 February 1890 during British Raj in India and now is under the Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest an ...
(Central Regional Centre, Allahabad).
* Centre for Social Forestry and Eco-Rehabilitation.
Ministry of Science and Technology (India)
* Harish Chandra Research Institute.
* Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (Regional Center).
* National Academy of Sciences, India.
Economy
Overall Prayagraj has a stable and diverse economy comprising various sectors such as State and Central government offices, education and research institutions, real estate, retail, banking, tourism and hospitality, agriculture-based industries, railways, transport and logistics, miscellaneous service sectors, and manufacturing. Average household income of the city is US$2,299.
The construction sector is a major part of Prayagraj's economy. Secondary manufacturers and services may be registered or unregistered; according to the third All India Census for Small Scale Industries, there are more than 10,000 unregistered small-scale industries in the city. An integrated industrial township has been proposed for in Prayagraj by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India.
The city is also home to glass and wire
file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...
-based industry. The main industrial areas of Prayagraj are Naini and Phulpur, where several public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
and private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The private sector employs most of the workfo ...
companies have offices and factories. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, India's largest oil company (which is state-owned), is constructing a seven-million-tonnes-per-annum (MTPA) capacity refinery in Lohgara with an investment estimated at ₹62 billion. Allahabad Bank, which began operations in 1865, Bharat Pumps & Compressors and A. H. Wheeler and Company have their headquarters in the city. Major companies in the city are Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is the ...
, ITI Limited, BPCL, Dey's Medical, Food Corporation of India
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a public sector company. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its t ...
, Raymond Synthetics, Triveni Sheet Glass, Triveni Electroplast, EMC Power Ltd, Steel Authority of India, HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies Limited ( d/b/a HCLTech) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) consulting company headquartered in Noida. Founded by Shiv Nadar, it was spun out in 1991 when HCL entered into the software services business. ...
, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, also known as IFFCO, is a multi-state cooperative society engaged in the manufacture and marketing of fertiliser. IFFCO is headquartered in New Delhi, India. Started in 1967 with 57 member cooper ...
(IFFCO), Vibgyor Laboratories, Geep Industries, Hindustan Cable, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Baidyanath Ayurved, Hindustan Laboratories.
The primary economic sectors of the district are tourism, fishing and agriculture, and the city is a hub for India's agricultural industry. In the case of agriculture crops, paddy has the largest share followed by bajra, arhar, urd and moong, in declining order during the Kharif season. In Rabi, wheat is predominant followed by pulses and oilseed. Among oilseed crops, mustard has very little area under pure farming and is grown mainly as a mixed crop. Linseed dominates the oilseed production of the district and is mainly grown in Jamunapar area. In the case of pulses, gram has the largest area followed by pea and lentil (''masoor''). There is fairly good acreage under barley.
Transportation and utilities
Air
The main international and domestic airport serving Prayagraj is Prayagraj Airport , which began operations in February 1966. The airport is from the city centre and lies in Bamrauli, Prayagraj. As of now, Prayagraj is connected to eleven cities by flight, where Air India
Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...
's regional arm Alliance Air connects Prayagraj to Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
and Bilaspur, while IndiGo
InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...
connects it to Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
, Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, Raipur, Bhopal
Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...
and Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...
. The nearest international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...
s are in Varanasi and Lucknow
Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
.
The world's first airmail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...
flight took place from Allahabad (Prayagraj) to Naini in February 1911, when 6,000 cards and letters where flown by French pilot Henri Pequet.
Railways
Prayagraj Junction is one of the main railway junctions in northern India and headquarters of the North Central Railway Zone
The North Central Railway (abbreviated NCR) is one of the 19 Indian Railways, railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Prayagraj Junction & Kanpur Central as busiest. It is headquartered at Prayagraj Junction railway stat ...
.
Prayagraj has following nine railway stations in its city limits :
The city is connected to most other Uttar Pradesh cities and major Indian cities such as Kolkata, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Patna
Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...
, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...
, Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
, Bangalore, Guwahati
Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...
, Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...
, Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
, Bhopal
Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
, Kanpur
Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
, Lucknow and Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
.
Roads
Buses operated by Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation
The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) is a public sector passenger road transport corporation which services Uttar Pradesh, India, and adjoining states of North India. It operates as a state and interstate bus service and ...
and Prayagraj City Transport Service are an important means of public transport for travelling to various parts of the city, state and outskirts. Auto Rickshaws have been a popular mode of transportation. Cycle rickshaw
The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a vehicle for hire, for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bi ...
s are the most economical means of transportation in Prayagraj along with e-rickshaws.
There are several important National Highways that pass through Prayagraj:
Cable-stayed
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...
, New Yamuna Bridge (built 2001–04), is in Prayagraj and connects the city to the suburb of Naini across the Yamuna. The Old Naini Bridge now accommodates railway and auto traffic. A road bridge across the Ganges also connects Prayagraj and Jhusi. National Waterway 1, the longest Waterway in India, connects Prayagraj and Haldia.
The city generates 5,34,760 kg of domestic solid wastes daily, while the per capita generation of waste is 0.40 kg per day. The sewer service areas are divided into nine zones in the city. Prayagraj Municipal Corporation oversees the solid waste management project. Prayagraj was the first city to get pre-paid meters for electricity bill in Uttar Pradesh. The city is equipped with over 40 CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
s at major crossings and markets.
Public health
Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh oversees the healthcare system of Prayagraj. Its healthcare system comprises hospitals, medical facilities, private clinics and diagnostic centers. These facilities are either privately owned or owned and facilitated by the government. Prayagraj has a total of twenty four hospitals run by the administration. Founded in memory of Pandit Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch ...
in 1961, Motilal Nehru Medical College (MLN Medical College and associated hospitals) is a government medical college in Prayagraj, with Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital, Sarojini Naidu Children's Hospital and Manohar Das Eye Hospital serving under its affiliation. Some of the known multispecialty hospitals in and around Prayagraj are Alka Hospital, Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, Amardeep Hospital, Asha Hospital, Ashutosh Hospital and Trauma Centre, Bhola Hospital, Dwarka Hospital, D R S Hospital, Jain Hospital, Parvati Hospital Pvt. Ltd., Phoenix Hospitals Pvt. Ltd., Priya Hospital, Sangam Multispeciality Hospital, Vatsalya Hospital, Yashlok Hospital and Research Centre, etc.
Prayagraj healthcare also comprises many medical research institutes. The city also has diagnostic labs, clinics, consultation providers and pathological institutes like Kriti Scanning Centre, Prayag Scan & Diagnostic Centre, and Sprint Medical.
Smart city project
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
selected Prayagraj among 16 other global cities for its smart cities programme to help it address challenges like waste management, disaster management, water management and citizen services. The company commenced working on solid waste management and power sector in generating renewable energy.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on 25 January 2015 between the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Government of Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (International Organization for Standardization, ISO: ''Uttara Pradēśa Sarakāra''; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appoin ...
for developing Prayagraj as a smart city
A smart city is an urban area that uses digital technology to collect data and operate services. Data is collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras. Applications include traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities ...
. The pact came into existence after the bilateral meeting between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
and the US President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
in October 2014, wherein it was announced that the US would assist India in developing three smart cities, Prayagraj, Ajmer
Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...
and Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...
, in a boost to India's 100 smart city programme. On 27 August 2015 the official list of 98 cities to be developed as smart cities, including Prayagraj, was announced by the Government of India
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
. Prayagraj Task Force was set up by the Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu
Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He has also served as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, minister of Housing and Urban Pover ...
which consists of the divisional commissioner
A Divisional Commissioner, also known as Commissioner of division, is an Indian Administrative Service officer who serves as the administrator of a division of a state in India. The post is referred to as regional commissioner in Karnataka
...
as chairperson, secretaries of housing and urban planning and urban development in Government of Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (International Organization for Standardization, ISO: ''Uttara Pradēśa Sarakāra''; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appoin ...
, the district magistrate and collector, the vice-chairperson of Prayagraj Development Authority and the mayor in addition to the Additional Secretary (Urban Development
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of peop ...
) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a ministry of the Government of India with executive authority over the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in In ...
and representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs and the USTDA. The project is being assisted by the U.S.-India Business Council.
As a part of Smart City Project, Civil Lines is being developed on the lines of Lucknow's Hazratganj. A sum of ₹20 crore
Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...
(US$3,024,000) has been sanctioned to beautify all prominent crossings of the city. As per the plan, the administration proposed uniformity in signage and colour of buildings and a parking lot to be set up to solve traffic congestion. A 1.35 km long riverfront along Yamuna river would be developed by the Prayagraj Development Authority, irrigation and power departments at a cost of ₹147.36 crore. The riverfront would be developed in two phases. In the first phase, around 650 metres at Arail would be developed along with the Yamuna, while in the second phase 700 metres of the stretch between New Yamuna Bridge and Boat Club in Kydganj would be taken up.
Improving city libraries is part of the Smart City Mission. ₹6.6 crore is being spent improving and restoring Allahabad Government Public Library, which is in Chandra Shekhar Azad Park. The granite and sandstone building was founded in 1864 and was designed by Richard Roskell Bayne in the Scottish baronial style. Chandra Mohan Garg, CEO of Prayagraj Smart City, said: "we are undertaking the restoration of the building, for which we have engaged conservation architects; and preservation of manuscripts dating back over 400 years, and digitisation of all library services".
Plans were announced in 2024 to set up "digital smart classrooms" in 48 government-ran primary schools within the city limits.
Education
The Prayagraj educational system is distinct from Uttar Pradesh's other cities, with an emphasis on broad education. Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh, the world's biggest examining body, is headquartered in the city. Although English is the language of instruction in most private schools, government schools and colleges offer Hindi and English-medium education
An English-medium education system is one that uses English language, English as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of students.
Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from ...
. Schools in Prayagraj follow the 10+2+3 plan. After completing their secondary education, students typically enrol in higher secondary schools affiliated with the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education, the ICSE or the CBSE. and focus on liberal arts, business or science. Vocational programs are also available.
Prayagraj attracts students from throughout India. As of 2017, the city has one central university, two State Universities and an open university
The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
. Allahabad University
The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...
, founded in 1876, is the oldest university in the state. Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Prayagraj is a noted technical institution. Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, founded in 1910, as "Agricultural Institute", is an autonomous Christian minority university in Prayagraj. Other notable institutions in Allahabad include the Indian Institute of Information Technology – Allahabad; Motilal Nehru Medical College; Ewing Christian College; Harish-Chandra Research Institute; Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute; and Allahabad State University
Culture
Although Hindu women have traditionally worn sari
A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...
s, the shalwar kameez
Shalwar kameez (also salwar kameez and less commonly shalwar qameez) is a traditional combination dress worn by men and women in South Asia, and Central Asia.
'' Shalwars'' are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist and narrow to a ...
and Western attire are gaining acceptance among younger women. Western dress is worn more by men, although the dhoti
The dhoti is an ankle-length breechcloth, wrapped around the waist and the legs, in resemblance to the shape of trousers. The dhoti is a garment of ethnic wear for men in the Indian subcontinent. The dhoti is fashioned out of a rectangular p ...
and kurta
A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...
are seen during festivals. The formal male sherwani
A sherwani is a long-sleeved outer coat worn by men in South Asia. Like the Western frock coat, it is fitted, with some waist suppression; it falls to below the knees and is buttoned down the front. It can be collarless, have a shirt-style col ...
is often worn with chooridar on festive occasions. Diwali
Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...
, Holi
Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...
, Kumbh Mela, Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide becaus ...
and Vijayadasami are the most popular festivals in Prayagraj.
Literature
Prayagraj has a literary and artistic heritage; the former capital of the United Provinces, it was known as Prayag in the Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
, the ''Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...
'' and the ''Mahabharata''. Allahabad has been called the "literary capital of Uttar Pradesh", attracting visitors from East Asia; the Chinese travellers Faxian
Faxian (337–), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Fa-hien and Fa-hsien, was a Han Chinese, Chinese Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist bhikkhu, monk and translator who traveled on foot from Eastern Jin dynasty, Jin China to medieval India t ...
and Xuanzang found a flourishing city in the fifth and seventh centuries, respectively. The number of foreign tourists, which mostly consisted of Asians, visiting the city was 98,167 in 2010 which subsequently increased to 1,07,141 in 2014. The city has a tradition of political graffiti which includes limericks and caricatures. In 1900, ''Saraswati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the godde ...
'', the first Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language monthly magazine in India, was started by Chintamani Ghosh. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, the doyen of modern Hindi literature, remained its editors from 1903 to 1920. The Anand Bhavan, built during the 1930s as a new home for the Nehru family when the Swaraj Bhavan became the local Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
headquarters, has memorabilia from the Gandhi-Nehru family.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Hindi literature
Hindi literature () includes literature in the various Central Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Hindi, some of which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa such as Awad ...
was modernised by authors such as Mahadevi Varma, Sumitranandan Pant
Sumitranandan Pant (20 May 1900 – 28 December 1977) was an Indian poet. He was one of the most celebrated 20th century poets of the Hindi language and was known for romanticism in his poems which were inspired by nature, people and beauty wi ...
, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' and Harivansh Rai Bachchan. A noted poet was Raghupati Sahay, better known as Firaq Gorakhpuri. Gorakhpuri and Varma have received Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian ...
s. Prayagraj is a publication centre for Hindi literature, including the Lok Bharti, Rajkamal and Neelabh. Persian and Urdu literature
Urdu literature (, ) comprises the literary works, written in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal'' () and '' nazm'' (), it has expanded into other styles of writing, includin ...
are also studied in the city. Akbar Allahabadi
Syed Akbar Hussain, popularly known as Akbar Allahabadi (16 November 1846 – 9 September 1921) was an Indian poet, regarded as one of the greatest satirist in Urdu literature. The most popular of Akbar's verse poked fun at the cultural dilemma ...
is a noted modern Urdu poet, and Nooh Narwi, Tegh Allahabadi, Shabnam Naqvi and Rashid Allahabadi hail from Prayagraj. English author and 1907 Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
was an assistant editor and overseas correspondent for '' The Pioneer''.
Entertainment and recreation
Prayagraj is noted for historic, cultural and religious tourism. Historic sites include Alfred Park
Chandra Shekhar Azad Park (also known by its List of renamed places in India, former name Alfred Park, and Company Bagh during the Company Raj) is a public park in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. Built in 1870 to mark Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Co ...
, the Victoria and Thornhill Mayne Memorials, Minto Park, Allahabad Fort, the Ashoka Pillar and Khusro Bagh. Religious attractions include the Kumbh Mela, the Triveni Sangam and All Saints Cathedral. The city hosts the ''Maha'' Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering in the world, every twelve years and the ''Ardh'' (half) Kumbh Mela every six years. It also hosts a ''Magh Mela'' annually on the banks of the Triveni Sangam that typically lasts for one and a half months. Cultural attractions include the Allahabad Museum, the Jawahar Planetarium and the University of Allahabad. North Central Zone Cultural Centre, under the Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to:
* Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania)
* Ministry of Culture (Algeria)
* Ministry of Culture (Argentina)
* Minister for the Arts (Australia)
* Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...
and Prayag Sangeet Samiti are nationally renowned centres of Arts, Dance, Music, local Folk Dance and Music, Plays/Theatre etc. and nurture upcoming artists. The city has also hosted the International Film Festival of Prayag.
Media
'' The Leader'' and '' The Pioneer'' are two major English-language newspapers that are produced and published from the city. All India Radio
All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...
, the national, state-owned radio broadcaster, has AM radio stations in the city. Prayagraj has seven FM stations, including two AIR stations: Gyan Vani and Vividh Bharti, four private FM channels: BIG FM 92.7, Red FM 93.5, Fever 104 FM
Fever FM is an FM radio station in India. It is currently available in 14 cities in India owned by HT Media. It began airing from 2006.
Music & Bollywood
Fever plays contemporary hit music in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, while the other cities ...
and Radio Tadka and one educational FM radio channel Radio Adan 90.4 run by Allahabad Agricultural Institute. There is a Doordarshan
Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...
Kendra in the city. Regional TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
service or Internet-based television.
Sports
Cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
and field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
are the most popular sports in Prayagraj, with kabaddi
Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...
, kho-kho, gilli danda and pehlwani
Pehlwani, also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in the Indian subcontinent. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals, Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla- ...
mostly being played in rural areas near the city. Gully cricket, also known as street cricket, is popular among city youth. The famous cricket club Allahabad Cricketers has produced many national and international cricket players. Several sports complexes are used by amateur and professional athletes; these include the Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium, the Amitabh Bachchan Sports Complex and the Boys' High School and College Gymnasium. There is an international-level swimming complex in Georgetown. The National Sports Academy in Jhalwa trains gymnasts for the Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...
. The Indira Marathon honours the late prime minister Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
.
Notable people
See also
* Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation
* Korrah Sadat, a village within Prayagraj Mandal
* Akshayavata
* Largest Indian Cities by GDP
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* ''Allahabad: A Study in Urban Geography'', by Ujagir Singh. Published by Banaras Hindu University, 1966.
* ''Employment and Migration in Allahabad City'', by Maheshchand, Mahesh Chand, India Planning Commission. Research Programmes Committee. Published by Oxford & IBH Pub. Co., 1969.
* ''Subah of Allahabad Under the Great Mughals, 1580–1707: 1580–1707'', by Surendra Nath Sinha. Published by Jamia Millia Islamia, 1974.
* ''The Local Roots of Indian Politics: Allahabad, 1880–1920'', by Christopher Alan Bayly. Published by Clarendon Press, 1975.
* ''Triveni: Essays on the Cultural Heritage of Allahabad'', by D. P. Dubey, Neelam Singh, Society of Pilgrimage Studies. Published by Society of Pilgrimage Studies, 1996. .
* ''Magha Inscriptions in the Allahabad Museum'', by Siddheshwari Narain Roy. Published by Raka Prakashana for the Museum, 1999.
* ''The Last Bungalow: Writings on Allahabad'', by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. Published by Penguin Books, 2007. .
Allahabad
''The Imperial Gazetteer of India
''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869.< ...
'', 1909, v. 5, p. 226–242.
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