Allahabad (),
officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a
metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
.
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 New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
, Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrative headquarters of the
Allahabad district
Allahabad district, officially known as Prayagraj district, is the most populous district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The district headquarters is Allahabad which was renamed Prayagraj at the same time as the district was renamed. The Di ...
—the most populous district in the state and 13th most populous district in India—and the
Allahabad division
Allahabad division, officially known as Prayagraj division, is an administrative unit of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
In 2000, when Uttar Pradesh was reorganised by forming Uttaranchal out of its northern areas, Allahabad division and the d ...
. The city is the judicial capital of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
with the
Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...
being the highest judicial body in the state. As of 2011, Allahabad 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 interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octa ...
in
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
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.
Allahabad, in 2016, was also ranked the third most liveable
urban agglomeration
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
in the state (after
Noida
Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...
and
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
) and sixteenth in the country.
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
is the most widely spoken language in the city.
Allahabad lies close to
Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
, 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 river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
,
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
and
Sarasvati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a god ...
rivers.
It plays a central role in
Hindu scriptures
Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...
. The city finds its earliest reference as one of the world's oldest known cities in Hindu mythological texts and has been venerated as the holy city of Prayaga in the ancient
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
. Allahabad was also known as
Kosambi
Kosambi (Pali) or Kaushambi (Sanskrit) was an important city in ancient India. It was the capital of the Vatsa kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was located on the Yamuna River about southwest of its confluence with the Ganges at ...
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 (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...
, named by the
Kuru
Kuru may refer to:
Anthropology and history
* Kuru (disease), a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy associated with the cannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore people
* Kuru (mythology), part of Meithei mythology
* Kuru Kingdom, ...
rulers of
Hastinapur
Hastinapur is a city in the Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ''Hastinapura'', described in Hindu texts such as the ''Mahabharata'' and the Puranas as the capital of the Kuru Kingdom, is also mentioned in ancient Jain tex ...
, who developed it as their capital. Kosambi was one of the greatest cities in India from the late Vedic period until the end of the
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...
, with occupation continuing until the
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gol ...
. Since then, the city has been a political, cultural and administrative centre of the
Doab
''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...
region. In the early 17th century, Allahabad was a provincial capital in the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
under the reign of
Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
.
''
Akbarnama
The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
'' mentions that the
Mughal emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
founded a great city in Allahabad.
ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni
ʽAbdul Qadir Badayuni (1540–1615) was the first Grand Mufti of India, Grand Mufti of India. He was also a historian and translator and lived in the Mughal Empire.
He translated the Hinduism, Hindu works, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata ( ...
and
Nizamuddin Ahmad
Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad Bakshi (also spelled as Nizam ad-Din Ahmad and Nizam al-Din Ahmad) (born 1551, died 1621/1030 AH) was a Muslim historian of late medieval India. He was son of Muhammad Muqim-i-Harawi. He was Akbar's ''Mir Bakhshi''. His wo ...
mention that Akbar laid the foundations of an imperial city there which was called ''Ilahabas'' or ''Ilahabad''.
He was said to be impressed by its strategic location and built a fort there, later renaming it ''Ilahabas'' by 1584, which was changed to Allahabad by
Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
.
In 1580, Akbar created the "
Subah
A Subah was the term for a province (State) in the Mughal Empire. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a ''Subah'' was known as a '' subahdar'' (sometimes also referred to as a "''Subeh''"), which later became ''subed ...
of Ilahabas" with Allahabad as its capital.
In mid-1600,
Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
made an abortive attempt to seize
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 New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
's treasury and came to Allahabad, seizing its treasury and setting himself up as a virtually independent ruler.
He was, however, reconciled with Akbar and returned to Allahabad where he stayed before returning to the royal court in 1604.
In 1833 it became the seat of the
Ceded and Conquered Provinces
The Ceded and Conquered Provinces constituted a region in northern India that was ruled by the British East India Company from 1805 to 1834; it corresponded approximately—in present-day India—to all regions in Uttar Pradesh state ...
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 New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
in 1835.
Allahabad became the capital of the
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...
in 1858 and was the
capital of India
This is a list of locations which have served as the capital city of India. The current capital city is New Delhi, which replaced Calcutta in 1911.
Early period
* Rajgir : Initial capital of the Magadha Empire from 6th century BCE to 460 BCE, ...
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.
Located in southern Uttar Pradesh, the city covers .
Although the city and its surrounding area are governed by several municipalities, a large portion of Allahabad district is governed by the Allahabad City Council. The city is home to colleges, research institutions and many
central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
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 autonomy, or ...
offices. Allahabad has hosted cultural and sporting events, including the
Prayag Kumbh Mela
The Allahabad Kumbh Mela or Prayag Kumbh Mela, is a mela, or religious gathering, associated with Hinduism and held in the city of Allahabad India, at Prayag, the locality of Allahabad with the Triveni Sangam—which represents the conflue ...
and the
Indira Marathon
The Indira Marathon is a national annual full marathon held in Allahabad, India. It commemorates the birth anniversary of India's former prime minister, Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 No ...
. 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 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 ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
performed the very first sacrifice (''yāga,
yajna
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
'') 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
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 river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
and
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
in the city. An ancient tradition has it that a third river, invisible
Sarasvati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a god ...
, also meets there with the two. Today,
Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
(or simply Sangam) is a more frequently used name for the confluence.
Prayagraj (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: ''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 confluencies in India.
It is said that the
Mughal emperor
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
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
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
. 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
Alha (देवनागरी: आल्हा ; ISO: Ālhā ) was a legendary general of the Chandel king Paramardideva (also known as Parmal), who fought Prithviraj Chauhan in 1182 CE. He is one of the main characters of the '' Alha-Khand'' ...
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 (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
after he failed to destroy the
Akshayavat
Akshayavata (), also rendered Akshayavat, is a sacred fig tree mentioned in the Hindu mythology. It is also the name of a sacred lake mentioned in the Puranas.
Legend
The Padma Purana states that those who venerate the Akshayavata with devoti ...
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 (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
but ''ilaha'' (the gods). Shaligram Shrivastav claimed in ''Prayag Pradip'' that the name was deliberately given by Akbar to be construed as both
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
("ilaha") and
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
("
Allah
Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
").
Over the years, a number of attempts were made by the
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
-led governments of Uttar Pradesh to rename Allahabad to Prayagraj. In 1992, the planned rename was shelved when the chief minister,
Kalyan Singh
Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utt ...
, was forced to resign following the
Babri Masjid demolition
The demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegally carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, had ...
. 2001 saw another attempt led by the government of
Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is currently the Deputy Leader of the House Lok Sabha. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as t ...
which remained unfulfilled.
The rename finally succeeded in October 2018 when the
-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 ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
Pariśiṣṭa'' (supplement to the ''Rigveda'', c. 1200–1000 BCE). It is also mentioned in the
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
canons of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, 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'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' (–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'', ( sa, अग्नि पुराण, ) 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 co ...
'' and other
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
with various legends, including being one of the places where
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
attended a
yajna
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
(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 Purana-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 ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'', a place with the legendary ''Ashram'' of sage
Bharadwaj
Bharadwaj ( hi, भारद्वाज) is a surname mostly used by Brahmins. Notable people with the surname include:
*Abhay Bharadwaj (1954–2020), Indian advocate turned politician
*Anasuya Bharadwaj (born 1982), Indian television presenter a ...
.
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 c. 700–200 BCE (proto NBPW between 1200 and 700 BCE), succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture and Blac ...
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 i ...
, there is nothing to suggest that "modern Prayag (modern Allahabad) was an ancient city", but it is also inconceivable that there was no city at the holiest pilgrimage site in Hinduism. Chakrabarti suggests that the city of Jhusi
Jhusi or Jhunsi is a town and a part of Allahabad municipal corporation in Allahabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was formerly called Pratishthan Pur or Puri.
The place is also noted for being one of the Neolithic sites ...
, 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 3rd-century BCE, the pillar has a Samudragupta inscription, as well as a Magha Mela inscription of ]Birbal
Birbal (; born Mahesh Das; 1528 16 February 1586), or Raja Birbal, was a Saraswat Hindu Bhatt Brahmin advisor and main commander (''Mukhya Senapati'') of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcon ...
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
Magh mela, also spelled Magha mela, is an annual festival with fairs held in the month of ''Magha'' (January/February) near river banks and sacred tanks near Hindu temples. About every twelve years, ''Magha melas'' coincide with what is believed by ...
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
Magh mela, also spelled Magha mela, is an annual festival with fairs held in the month of ''Magha'' (January/February) near river banks and sacred tanks near Hindu temples. About every twelve years, ''Magha melas'' coincide with what is believed by ...
", 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 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 small ...
– 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.
Early medieval period
The 7th-century Buddhist Chinese traveller Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
(Hiuen Tsang) in Fascicle V of ''Dà Táng Xīyù Jì'' (''Great Tang Records on the Western Regions
The ''Great Tang Records on the Western Regions'' is a narrative of Xuanzang's nineteen-year journey from Chang'an in central China to the Western Regions of Chinese historiography. The Buddhist scholar traveled through the Silk Road regions of ...
'') 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:
Entertainment
* ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film
* ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film
* ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film
* Deva (2007 Telugu film)
* ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film
* Deva ...
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 Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly ...
believed the tree described by Xuanzang was the Akshayavat
Akshayavata (), also rendered Akshayavat, is a sacred fig tree mentioned in the Hindu mythology. It is also the name of a sacred lake mentioned in the Puranas.
Legend
The Padma Purana states that those who venerate the Akshayavata with devoti ...
tree. It still existed at the time of Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
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
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
use the term Prayag, and never use the term Allahabad or its variants. Its history before the Mughal Emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
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
Sir Henry Miers Elliot (1 March 1808 – 20 December 1853) was an English civil servant and historian who worked with the East India Company in India for 26 years. He is most known for ''The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians'' based ...
believed that a town existed before Allahabad was founded. He adds that after Mahmud of Ghazni
Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...
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 & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...
without visiting Allahabad had there been a city worth plundering. He further adds that its capture should have been heard when Muhammad of Ghor
Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam ( fa, معز الدین محمد بن سام), also Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri ( fa, معز الدین محمد غوری) (1144 – March 15, 1206), commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor, also Gh ...
captured Benares. however, Ghori's historians never noticed it. ''Akbarnama
The ''Akbarnama'', which translates to ''Book of Akbar'', the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (), commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his court historian and biographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It was ...
'' mentions that the Mughal emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
Akbar founded a great city in Allahabad. 'Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni and Nizamuddin Ahmad
Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad Bakshi (also spelled as Nizam ad-Din Ahmad and Nizam al-Din Ahmad) (born 1551, died 1621/1030 AH) was a Muslim historian of late medieval India. He was son of Muhammad Muqim-i-Harawi. He was Akbar's ''Mir Bakhshi''. His wo ...
mention that Akbar laid the foundations of an Imperial City there which he called ''Ilahabas''.
Mughal rule
Abul Fazal Abul is an Arabic masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Abul Kalam Azad
* Abul A'la Maududi
* Abul Khair (disambiguation), several people
* Abul Abbas (disambiguation), several people
* Abul Hasan
* Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi
* Abu'l-Fazl ibn ...
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
Azar ( fa, آذر, ) is the ninth month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Azar has thirty days. It begins in November and ends in December by the Gregorian calendar. Azar corresponds to the Tropical Astro ...
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 kbar
The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as exactly equal to 100,000 Pa (100 kPa), or slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea lev ...
by the former name". The role of Akbar in founding the Ilahabad – later called Allahabad – fort and city is mentioned by ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni
ʽAbdul Qadir Badayuni (1540–1615) was the first Grand Mufti of India, Grand Mufti of India. He was also a historian and translator and lived in the Mughal Empire.
He translated the Hinduism, Hindu works, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata ( ...
as well.[
]Nizamuddin Ahmad
Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad Bakshi (also spelled as Nizam ad-Din Ahmad and Nizam al-Din Ahmad) (born 1551, died 1621/1030 AH) was a Muslim historian of late medieval India. He was son of Muhammad Muqim-i-Harawi. He was Akbar's ''Mir Bakhshi''. His wo ...
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.
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
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
.[ 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
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
'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
In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...
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, Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
ordered the siege of Allahabad. The siege was however, lifted after Parviz and Mahabat Khan
Mahabat Khan ( ur, مهابت خان) (full title ''Mahabat Khan Khan-e-Khanan Sipah-Salar Zamana Beg Kabuli)'', born Zamana Beg (died 1634), was a prominent Mughal general and statesman, perhaps best known for his coup against the Mughal Empero ...
came to assist the garrison. During the Mughal war of succession, the commandant of the fort who had joined Shah Shuja Shāh Shujā' ( fa, شاه شجاع, meaning: ''brave king'') may refer to the following:
*Shah Shoja Mozaffari, the 14th-century Muzaffarid ruler of Southern Iran
*Shah Shuja (Mughal prince) (1616-1661), the second son of Shah Jahan
*Shah Shujah D ...
made an agreement with Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
'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 founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
for the same reasons Akbar built it. British troops were first stationed at Allahabad fort in 1765 as part of the Treaty of Allahabad
The Treaty of Allahabad was signed on 12 August 1765, between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, son of the late Emperor Alamgir II, and Robert Clive, of the East India Company, in the aftermath of the Battle of Buxar of 23 October 1764. The tre ...
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 Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...
, 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 powe ...
, and Awadh's Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula
Shuja-ud-Daula (b. – d. ) was the Subedar and Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775.
Early life
Shuja-ud-Daula was the son of the Mughal Grand Vizier Safdarjung chosen by Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Unlike ...
. The combined forces of Bengal's Nawab Mir Qasim
Mir Qasim ( bn, মীর কাশিম; died 8 May 1777) was the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1763. He was installed as Nawab with the support of the British East India Company, replacing Mir Jafar, his father-in-law, who had himself been su ...
, 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 Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tr ...
and Chunar
Chunar is a city located in Mirzapur district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is nearby Mirzapur city. The railway tracks passing through Chunar Junction railway station leads to major destinations of India, including Howrah, Delhi, T ...
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 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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
by the Marathas, left for his capital
in 1771 under their protection. He was escorted by Mahadaji Shinde
Mahadaji Shinde (b. 23 December 1730 – 12 February 1794), later known as Mahadji Scindia or Madhava Rao Sindhia, was a Maratha statesman and ruler of Ujjain in Central India. He was the fifth and the youngest son of Ranoji Rao Scindia, the f ...
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
Tukoji Rao Holkar (26 June 1723 – 15 August 1797), belonging to the Holkar clan of the Marathas was the feudatory of Indore (r. 1795–1797). Tukoji Holkar was the adopted son of Malhar Rao Holkar, he was the second son of Shrimant Tan ...
and Visaji Krushna Biniwale
Visaji Krushna Chinchalkar, popularly known as Visaji Pant Biniwale, was one of the leading generals of Peshwas in Northern India during 1759 to 1772. Peshwa Madhavrao I mainly sought his assistance in his attempt to restore Maratha Empire in the N ...
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-Genera ...
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
Yameen-ud Daula Saadat Ali Khan II Bahadur ( fa, سعادت علی خان, hi, सआदत अली ख़ान, ur, ) (bf. 1752 – c. 11 July 1814) was the sixth Nawab wazir of Oudh, Nawab of Oudh from 21 January 1798 to 11 July 1814 ...
, 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
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of M ...
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 (previously Rampur State) is a region in the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, India, that is centered on the Rampur, Bareilly and Moradabad divisions. It is part of the upper Ganges Plain, and is named after the Rohilla tribe. Th ...
, Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...
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
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...
. It also potentially offered sizeable revenues to the company. Initial revenue settlements began in 1803. Allahabad was a participant in the 1857 Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
, when Maulvi Liaquat Ali
Maulvi Liaquat Ali (1817-1892) was a Muslim religious leader from Allahabad (Prayagraj), in the state of Uttar Pradesh in present-day India. He was one of the leaders in the revolt against the British in 1857, in what is now known as the First ...
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 (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and moving the capital of the North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...
to Allahabad (where it remained for 20 years). In January 1858, Earl Canning
Earl Canning was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1859 for the Conservative politician and then Viceroy of India, Charles Canning, 2nd Viscount Canning. He was the third and youngest son of the noted politician G ...
departed Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, 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 founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
to the British Crown
The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...
(beginning the British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
), in Minto Park
Minto Park is a park in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It occupies a full city block, meeting Elgin Street on the park's west side, Gilmour Street on the north, Cartier Street on the east, and Lewis Street on the south. It contains picnic ...
. 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 but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
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
Chandrashekhar Azad Park (also known by its 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 Prince Alfred's visit to the city, with an area of 133 ...
in 1931, Chandrashekhar Azad
Chandra Shekhar Tiwari ( (23 July 1906 – 27 February 1931), popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad, was an Indian revolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under its new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican ...
died when surrounded by British police. The Nehru family
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India du ...
homes, Anand Bhavan
The Anand Bhavan is a historic house museum in Prayagraj, India, focusing on the Nehru family. It was bought by Indian political leader Motilal Nehru in the 1930s to serve as the residence of the Nehru family when the original mansion Swaraj Bh ...
and Swaraj Bhavan
Swaraj Bhavan (formerly Anand Bhavan, meaning ''Abode of Bliss'') is a large mansion located in Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad) India, best known for once being owned by the Indian political leader Motilal Nehru and being home to the ...
, were centres of Indian National Congress activity. During the years before independence, Allahabad was home to thousands of satyagrahis led by Purushottam Das Tandon
Purushottam Das Tandon (; 1 August 1882 – 1 July 1962) was a freedom fighter from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is widely remembered for his opposition to the partition of India, as well as efforts in achieving the ''Official Langu ...
, 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
Narayan Datt Tiwari (18 October 1925 – 18 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 9th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and 3rd Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2002 to 2007. He was first Indian Chief Minister who served for ...
and others. The first seeds of the Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
i nation were sown in Allahabad: on 29 December 1930, Allama Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
's presidential address to the All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...
proposed a separate Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
state for the Muslim-majority regions of India.
Post-independence
Allahabad is known as the City of Prime Ministers because seven out of 15 prime ministers of India since independence have connections to Allahabad (Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
, Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri (; 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966 and 6th Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. He promoted the White Re ...
, Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
, Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
, Gulzarilal Nanda
Gulzarilal Nanda (4 July 1898 – 15 January 1998) was an Indian politician and economist who specialized in labour issues. He was the Interim Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and L ...
, Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister to ...
and Chandra Shekhar
Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...
). All seven leaders were either born in Allahabad, were alumni of Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
or were elected from an Allahabad constituency.
Geography
Cityscape
Allahabad's elevation is over 90 m (295 ft) above sea level. The old part of the city, at the south of Allahabad Junction Railway Station, consists of neighbourhoods like Chowk, Johnstongunj, Dariyabad, Khuldabad
Khuldabad () is a city (municipal council) and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside h ...
and many more. In the north of the Railway Station, the new city consists of neighbourhoods like Lukergunj, Civil Lines
Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...
, Georgetown, Tagoretown
Tagore Town is a neighborhood in Allahabad, India. It was built in 1909. It was predominantly populated by Bengali's. The place is named in the memory of Rabindranath Tagore.It is also the home of the former Cabinet Minister of India and curren ...
, Allahpur
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Allahpur
, native_name =
, native_name_lang =
, other_name =
, nickname =
, settlement_type = Town
, image_skyline =
, ...
, Ashok Nagar, Mumfordgunj
Mumfordgunj or Mumfordganj, built in late 1930s, is a neighborhood in Allahabad, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous c ...
, Bharadwaj Puram
Bharadwaj Puram is a neighborhood of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is sandwiched between Tagore Town and Daraganj, close to the bank of the River Ganga. Nearby are George Town, Allahabad University, Katra, and Civil Lines, as well as t ...
and others which are relatively new and were built during the British rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. Civil Lines
Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...
is the central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre 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 with the "city ...
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 right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogo ...
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 (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
. Allahabad has many buildings featuring Indo-Islamic and Indo-Saracenic architecture
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
. Although several buildings from the colonial period have been declared "heritage structures", others are deteriorating. Famous landmarks of the city are Allahabad Museum
The Allahabad Museum is a national-level museum in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1931, it is known for its rich collection and unique objects of art, and is funded by Ministry of Culture. Moreover, it is a premier research centre for ...
, New Yamuna Bridge
The New Yamuna Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge located in Allahabad (Prayagraj). The bridge was constructed by the end of 2004 with the aim of minimizing the traffic over the Old Naini Bridge. The bridge runs north–south across the Yamuna riv ...
, Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
, Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
, All Saints Cathedral, Anand Bhavan
The Anand Bhavan is a historic house museum in Prayagraj, India, focusing on the Nehru family. It was bought by Indian political leader Motilal Nehru in the 1930s to serve as the residence of the Nehru family when the original mansion Swaraj Bh ...
, Alfred Park
Chandrashekhar Azad Park (also known by its 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 Prince Alfred's visit to the city, with an area of 133 ...
etc. The city experiences one of the highest levels of air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
worldwide, with the 2016 update of the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
's ''Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database'' finding Allahabad to have the third highest mean concentration of "PM2.5" (<2.5 μm diameter) particulate matter
Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
in the ambient air among all the 2972 cities tested (after Zabol
Zabol ( fa, , also transliterated as Zâbol or Zābul) is a city and capital of Zabol County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. Zabol is near the border with Afghanistan. Referred to as Sistan until the late 1920s, the city was renamed Zabo ...
and Gwalior
Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
).
Triveni Sangam and Ghats
The Allahabad Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
(place where three rivers meet) is the meeting place of 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 river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, the Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...
and invisible Saraswati River
The Sarasvati River () is a deified river first mentioned in the Rigveda and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.
As a physical river, i ...
, which according to Hindu legends, wells up from underground.[At the Three Rivers](_blank)
''TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', 23 February 1948. A place of religious importance and the site for historic Prayag Kumbh Mela
The Allahabad Kumbh Mela or Prayag Kumbh Mela, is a mela, or religious gathering, associated with Hinduism and held in the city of Allahabad India, at Prayag, the locality of Allahabad with the Triveni Sangam—which represents the conflue ...
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 (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
in 1948.
The main ghat
Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body of ...
in Allahabad 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 Allahabad.
Topography
Allahabad is in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh, at the 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 river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
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 & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...
, to the east and southeast is Baghelkhand
Bagelkhand or Baghelkhand is a proposed state and a mountain range in central India that covers the northeastern regions of Madhya Pradesh and a small area of southeastern Uttar Pradesh.
History
Dahala
Baghelkhand was known as Dahala 6th–1 ...
, to the north and northeast is Awadh
Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...
and to the west is the lower doab
''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...
(of which Allahabad 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
Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...
is north of it. Allahabad 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 India, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments. In military and avia ...
longitude (25.15°N 82.58°E) is near the city. According to a United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
report, Allahabad is in a "low damage risk" wind and cyclone zone. In common with the rest of the doab
''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...
, its soil and water are primarily alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') 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. Alluv ...
. Pratapgarh is north of the city, Bhadohi
Bhadohi is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is home to the largest hand-knotted carpet weaving industry hub in South Asia. The city is 45 km west of Varanasi and 82 km east of Allahabad.
Demographics
As of 2011 Indi ...
is east, Rewa
Rewa may refer to:
Places Fiji
* Rewa (Fijian Communal Constituency, Fiji), a former electoral division of Fiji
* Rewa Plateau, between the Kaimur and Vindhya Ranges in Madhya Pradesh
* Rewa Province, Fiji
* Rewa River, the widest river in Fiji
...
is south, Chitrakoot (earlier Banda) is west, and Kaushambi, which was until recently a part of Allahabad, is North-West.
Climate
Allahabad has a humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
common to cities in the plains of North India, designated ''Cwa'' in the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
. The annual mean temperature is ; monthly mean temperatures are . Allahabad 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 atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
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 . Allahabad 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 oscill ...
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 a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...
in May.
Biodiversity
The Ganga-Jamuna Doab, of which Allahabad 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 northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...
) is responsible for the city's unique flora and fauna. Since the arrival of humans, nearly half of the city's vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
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 and inva ...
or have had their range severely reduced. Associated changes in habitat and the introduction of reptiles
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...
, snakes
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joi ...
and other mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
led to the extinction of bird species, including large birds such as eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
s. The Allahabad Museum
The Allahabad Museum is a national-level museum in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1931, it is known for its rich collection and unique objects of art, and is funded by Ministry of Culture. Moreover, it is a premier research centre for ...
, 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 an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
sanctuary in Allahabad 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
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
, peacocks
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are refe ...
, 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. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4–6 million years ago.
Although origin ...
, black partridge
The black partridge (''Melanoperdix niger''), also known as the black wood partridge, is a small (up to 27 cm long) partridge with a thick bill, grey legs and dark brown iris. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Melanoperdix''.
...
, house sparrow
The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the 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 pale brown and grey, a ...
s, songbirds
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...
, blue jay
The blue jay (''Cyanocitta cristata'') is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are a ...
s, parakeet
A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple Genus, genera, that generally has long tail feathers.
Etymology and naming
The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflec ...
s, 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 Wor ...
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, tropical As ...
s, and comb ducks. Large numbers of Deer are found in the Trans Yamuna area of Allahabad. India's first conservation reserve for blackbuck
The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is an 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 shoulder. Mal ...
is being created in Allahabad's Meja
Meja Anna Pernilla Kullersten (formerly Beckman; born Anna Pernilla Torndahl, 12 February 1969) is a Swedish composer, artist and singer. Among her best known songs are "Private Emotion", a duet with Ricky Martin from his multi-Platinum album ' ...
Forest Division. Other animals in the state include reptiles such as lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
s, cobras, kraits
''Bungarus'' is a genus of venomous elapid snakes, the kraits ("krait" is pronounced , rhyming with "kite"), found in South and Southeast Asia. The genus ''Bungarus'' has 16 species.
Distribution
Kraits are found in tropical Asia, from near Ir ...
, and gharial
The gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct b ...
s. During winter, large numbers of Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
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 Allahabad Municipal Corporation, corresponding to a density of .[ In January 2020, the boundaries of Allahabad 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 Allahabad's population. With regards to Houseless Census in Allahabad, total 5,672 families live on footpaths or without any roof cover, this is approximately 0.38% of the total population of Allahabad district. The sex ratio of Allahabad is 901 females per 1000 males and child sex ratio of is 893 girls per 1000 boys, lower than the national average.
Hindi, the official state language, is the dominant language in Allahabad. Urdu and other languages are spoken by a sizeable minority. Hindus form the majority of Allahabad's population; Muslims compose a large minority. According to provisional results of the 2011 national census, Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
is majority religion in Allahabad city with 76.03% followers. Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the second most practised religion in the city with approximately 21.94% following it. Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
is followed by 0.68%, Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
by 0.10%, Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
by 0.28% and Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
by 0.28%. Around 0.02% stated 'Other Religion', approximately 0.90% stated 'No Particular Religion'.
Allahabad's literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
at 86.50% is the highest in the region. Male literacy is 90.21% and female literacy 82.17%. For 2001 census same figure stood at 75.81 and 46.38. As per census 2011, total 1,080,808 people are literate in Allahabad of which males and females are 612,257 and 468,551 respectively. Among 35 major Indian cities, Allahabad reported the highest rate of violations of special and local laws to the National Crime Records Bureau
The National Crime Records Bureau, abbreviated to 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 ...
.
Administration and politics
General administration
Allahabad division
Allahabad division, officially known as Prayagraj division, is an administrative unit of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
In 2000, when Uttar Pradesh was reorganised by forming Uttaranchal out of its northern areas, Allahabad division and the d ...
, comprising four districts, is headed by the divisional commissioner of Allahabad, who is an Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with 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 in ...
is the head of local government institutions (including municipal corporations
A 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 owned ...
) 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
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
of Allahabad reports to the divisional commissioner. The current commissioner is Ashish Kumar Goel.
Allahabad district
Allahabad district, officially known as Prayagraj district, is the most populous district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The district headquarters is Allahabad which was renamed Prayagraj at the same time as the district was renamed. The Di ...
administration is headed by the district magistrate and collector
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
(DM) of Allahabad, who is an IAS officer
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
. 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 by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
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, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
s viz. Sadar, Soraon, Phulpur, Handia, Karchhana, Bara, Meja and Kuraon, each headed by a sub-divisional magistrate.
Police administration
City comes under the Allahabad Police Zone and Allahabad Police Range, Allahabad Zone is headed by an additional director general
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and Exclusive economic zone of India, exclusive economic zone. The Indi ...
-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 independent from the British Raj.
Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...
(IPS) officer, and the Allahabad Range is headed inspector general
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
Australia
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
-rank IPS officer. The district police is headed by a senior superintendent of police
Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...
(SSP), who is an IPS
IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to:
Science and technology Biology and medicine
* ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle
* Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells
* Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique
* Intraparietal sulcus, ...
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 Allahabad Development Authority (ADA), which comes under the Department of Housing and Urban Planning
The Department of Housing and Urban Planning ( IAST: ''Āvāsa Evaṃ Śaharī Niyojana Vibhāga''), often abbreviated as DoHUP, is a department of Government of Uttar Pradesh responsible for coordinated and planned development with a comprehens ...
of Uttar Pradesh government
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...
. The divisional commissioner of Allahabad acts as the ''ex-officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
'' chairperson of ADA, whereas a vice chairperson, a government-appointed IAS officer
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
, looks after the daily matters of the authority. The current chairperson of ADA is Bhanu Chandra Goswami.
The Allahabad Nagar Nigam, also called Allahabad Municipal Corporation
Allahabad Municipal Corporation (officially known as Prayagraj Municipal Corporation) is the governing civic body of Allahabad (Prayagraj) city in Uttar Pradesh. It is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city. It wa ...
, 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: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
.
This book says that the Municipal Board of Allahabad was founded in 1863. In 1867, the Civil Lines
Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...
and the city were amalgamated for municipal purposes.[ The Cantonment was counted as part of the city in censuses until the ]1931 Indian census
The Census of India prior to independence was conducted periodically from 1865 to 1941. The censuses were primarily concerned with administration and faced numerous problems in their design and conduct ranging from the absence of house numbering ...
, 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 Municipal Board became Allahabad Municipal Corporation
Allahabad Municipal Corporation (officially known as Prayagraj Municipal Corporation) is the governing civic body of Allahabad (Prayagraj) city in Uttar Pradesh. It is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city. It wa ...
in 1959. Allahabad Cantonment has a cantonment board. The city of Allahabad 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
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...
-appointed Provincial Civil Service officer of high seniority. The current mayor of Allahabad is Abhilasha Gupta
Abhilasha Gupta Nandi is a politician from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. She is present mayor of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation.
She was elected mayor on 7 July 2012, becoming the youngest person to have been elected to the post. In the ...
, whereas the current municipal commissioner is Avinash Singh.
Allahabad was declared to have metropolitan status in October 2006. The metropolitan area is referred to in the 2011 Indian census
The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...
and other official documents as Allahabad Urban Agglomeration. It consists of Allahabad Municipal Corporation, three census towns (the cantonment, Arail Uparhar, and Chak Babura Alimabad), and 17 Outer Growth (OG) areas listed in the table below.[
]
Politics
Allahabad is the seat of Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...
, the highest judicial body in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The city is known as the "Prime Minister Capital of India", since, seven of fifteen Indian prime ministers have been from the district. Allahabad is administered by several government agencies
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
. As the seat of the Government of Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...
, Allahabad is home to local governing agencies and the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the-p ...
(housed in the Allahabad High Court
Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...
building). The Allahabad district has two parliamentary constituency, namely, Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
and Phul pur and elects 12 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs
The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...
) to the state legislature.
Central government offices/organisations
Allahabad houses various central government offices and organisations, such as-
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
* Headquarters of Central Zonal Council
Central Zonal Council is a zonal council that comprises the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The States have been grouped into six zones having an Advisory Council to foster cooperation among these State ...
* Rapid Action Force
The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is a specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force of India to deal with riot and crowd control situations.
History
RAF was raised on 11 December 1991 with headquarters in New Delhi. It became fully opera ...
(101 Battalion).
* Indo-Tibetan Border Police
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a border patrol organization of India deployed along its borders with Tibet Autonomous Region. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the Sino-Indian ...
(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) ( IAST: ''Rakshā Mantrālaya'') 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 ...
* Headquarters of Central Air Command
''Nigrahya Rasava shastrava''
, colors =
, colors_label =
, battles = 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999
, anniversaries =
, commander1 = Air Marshal Amar Preet Sin ...
.
* Services Selection Board
Services Selection Board (SSB) is an organization that assesses the candidates for becoming officers into the Indian Armed Forces. The board evaluates the suitability of the candidate for becoming an officer using a standardized protocol of eval ...
(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 an ...
* Civil Aviation Training College.
Ministry of Railways (India)
The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the country's rail transport. The ministry operates the statutory body Indian Railways, an organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport and is ...
* Headquarters of North Central Railway Zone
The North Central Railway (abbreviated NCR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central. It is headquartered at Prayagraj and comprises three divisions: Allahabad division, Jhansi division, A ...
.
* Headquarters of Central Organisation for Railway Electrification
The Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) is an organizational unit of Indian Railways responsible for railway electrification of the Indian Railways network. The organisation, founded in 1979, is headquartered in Prayagraj, ...
.
* Railway Recruitment Control Board
Railway Recruitment Control Board is a government recruitment agency for Group C and Group D non-gazetted civil service and engineering posts in Indian Railways under Ministry of Railways , Government of India . It was set up in 1998 in the M ...
(Selection Centre).
Ministry of Finance (India)
The Ministry of Finance (IAST: ''Vitta Maṃtrālaya'') is a ministry within the Government of India concerned with the economy of India, serving as the Treasury of India. In particular, it concerns itself with taxation, financial legislation, ...
* Headquarters of Accountants General, Uttar Pradesh.
Ministry of Human Resource Development
The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further di ...
* 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 Indian government ministry. This ministry is headed by Secretary Rank senior most IAS officer. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of ...
* Botanical Survey of India
Botanical Survey of India (BSI) located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was founded on 13 February 1890, is Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's organization for survey, research and conservation of plan ...
(Central Regional Centre, Allahabad).
* Centre for Social Forestry and Eco-Rehabilitation
Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation (FRCER) Prayagraj (Allahabad) was established in 1992 as an advanced centre under the umbrella of ICFRE, Dehradun. The centre aims to nurture and cultivate professional excellence in the field of soc ...
.
Ministry of Science and Technology (India)
The Ministry of Science and Technology is the Indian government ministry charged with formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and technology in India.
Organisation
The ministry includes the fo ...
* Harish Chandra Research Institute
The Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) is an institution dedicated to research in mathematics and theoretical physics, located in Allahabad (officially Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh in India. Established in 1975, HRI offers masters and doctora ...
.
* Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism is an autonomous research institution established by the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology. The facility is engaged in basic and applied research in geomagnetism, as well as allie ...
(Regional Center).
* National Academy of Sciences, India
The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president.
Fellows
*Suddhasatwa Basu
* Sudha Bhattacharya
* Ch ...
.
Economy
Overall Allahabad 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 Allahabad'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 Allahabad by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is a public sector undertaking which undertakes planning, development, and mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the ''"Dedicated ...
.
The city is also home to glass and wire
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 diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
-based industry. The main industrial areas of Allahabad are Naini
Naini (also known as Naini Industrial Area) is a satellite neighborhood and a twin city of Prayagraj in Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. By the 1950s Naini was established as the chief industrial area of the city.
History
Naini had a ...
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 sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
and private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, 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 ...
companies have offices and factories. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It operates three refineries in Bina, Kochi and Mumbai. BPCL is I ...
, 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
Allahabad Bank was an Indian nationalised bank with its headquarters in Kolkata, India. Founded in Allahabad in 1865 and nationalized by the government of India in 1969, the bank provided banking and financial services for 155 years until it wa ...
, which began operations in 1865, Bharat Pumps & Compressors
Bharat Pumps & Compressors Limited (BPC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. The psu manufactures Reciprocating pumps, Centrifugal pumps, Reciprocating compressors, an ...
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 company, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is ...
, ITI Limited
ITI Limited, earlier known as Indian Telephone Industries Limited, is a central public sector undertaking in India. It is under the ownership of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications , Government of India. It was founded ...
, BPCL
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It operates three refineries in Bina, Kochi and Mumbai. BPCL is In ...
, Dey's Medical, Food Corporation of India
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingest ...
, Raymond Synthetics, Triveni Sheet Glass, Triveni Electroplast, EMC Power Ltd, Steel Authority of India
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fisc ...
, HCL Technologies
HCLTech (formerly Hindustan Computers Limited or HCL Technologies) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Noida.It emerged as an independent company in 1991 when HCL entered into ...
, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, also known as IFFCO, is a multi-state cooperative society. IFFCO is wholly owned by Cooperative Societies of India. The society is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of fertilize ...
(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 predominantally followed by pulses and oilseed. Among oilseed crops, Mustard has very less area under pure farming and is grown mainly as a mixed crop. Linseed dominates the oilseed scenario 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 Allahabad is Allahabad Airport
Allahabad Airport , officially known as Deendayal Upadhyay Airport, is a military airbase and public airport serving the city of Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in Bamrauli Prayagraj, from Prayagraj city and s ...
, which began operations in February 1966. The airport is from the city centre and lies in Bamrauli, Allahabad. As of now, Allahabad is connected to eleven cities by flight, where Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
's regional arm Alliance Air connects Allahabad 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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and Bilaspur, while IndiGo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
connects it to Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, Raipur
Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...
, Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the 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 its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...
and Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...
. The nearest international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
s are in Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
and Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
.
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 the ...
flight took place from Allahabad to Naini
Naini (also known as Naini Industrial Area) is a satellite neighborhood and a twin city of Prayagraj in Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. By the 1950s Naini was established as the chief industrial area of the city.
History
Naini had a ...
in February 1911, when 6,000 cards and letters where flown by French pilot Henri Pequet
Henri Pequet (1 February 1888 – 13 March 1974) was a pilot in the first official airmail flight on February 18, 1911. The 23-year-old Frenchman, in India for an airshow, delivered about 6,500 letters when he flew from an Allahabad polo field ...
.
Railways
Allahabad Junction
Prayagraj Junction (station code: PRYJ), is a railway station on the Howrah–Delhi main line, Prayagraj–Mau–Gorakhpur main line and Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line. It is the headquarters of the North Central Railway zone. It is locat ...
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 railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central. It is headquartered at Prayagraj and comprises three divisions: Allahabad division, Jhansi division, A ...
.
Allahabad 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
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Visakhapatnam
, image_alt =
, image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...
, Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, Guwahati
Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest 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 ...
, Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
, Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
, Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the 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 its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
, Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
, Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
and Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
.
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 Allahabad 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 hatchback tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab ...
s are the most economical means of transportation in Allahabad along with e-rickshaw
Electric rickshaws (also known as electric tuk-tuks or e-rickshaws or toto or e-tricycles) are small 3-wheeled vehicles powered by an electric motor and battery ranging from 650 to 1400 Watts. They save on fuel costs compared to auto rickshaws ...
s.
There are several important National Highways that pass through Allahabad:
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 ...
, New Yamuna Bridge
The New Yamuna Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge located in Allahabad (Prayagraj). The bridge was constructed by the end of 2004 with the aim of minimizing the traffic over the Old Naini Bridge. The bridge runs north–south across the Yamuna riv ...
(built 2001–04), is in Allahabad and connects the city to the suburb of Naini
Naini (also known as Naini Industrial Area) is a satellite neighborhood and a twin city of Prayagraj in Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. By the 1950s Naini was established as the chief industrial area of the city.
History
Naini had a ...
across the Yamuna. The Old Naini Bridge
The Old Naini Bridge is one of the longest and oldest bridges in India, located in Prayagraj. It is a double-decked steel truss bridge which runs across the Yamuna river in the southern part of the city. The bridge runs north-south across the ...
now accommodates railway and auto traffic. A road bridge across the Ganges also connects Allahabad and Jhusi
Jhusi or Jhunsi is a town and a part of Allahabad municipal corporation in Allahabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was formerly called Pratishthan Pur or Puri.
The place is also noted for being one of the Neolithic sites ...
. National Waterway 1
The National Waterway 1 (NW-1) or Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system is located in India and runs from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal via Patna and Bhagalpur in Bihar across the Ganges river. It is long, making it the lo ...
, the longest Waterway in India, connects Allahabad 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. Allahabad Municipal Corporation oversees the solid waste management project. Allahabad 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 video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
s at major crossings and markets.
Human resources
Public health
Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh oversees the healthcare system of Allahabad. 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. Allahabad 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 belonging to the Indian National Congress. He also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehr ...
in 1961, Motilal Nehru Medical College (MLN Medical College and associated hospitals) is a government medical college in Allahabad, with Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital
Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital (KNMH) is a not-for-profit hospital in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. The hospital had its beginnings in 1931 as a dispensary founded by Smt. Kamala Nehru in her ancestral house Swaraj Bhawan. Gandhiji laid t ...
, Sarojini Naidu Children's Hospital and Manohar Das Eye Hospital serving under its affiliation. Some of the known multispecialty hospitals in and around Allahabad 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.
Allahabad 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.
Projects
IBM selected Allahabad 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
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is an independent agency of the United States government, formed in 1992 to advance economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle income countries.
Structure
The U.S. ...
(USTDA) and the Government of Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...
for developing Allahabad as a smart city
A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return ...
. 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 serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
and the US President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
in October 2014, wherein it was announced that the US would assist India in developing three smart cities, Allahabad, Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...
and Visakhapatnam
, image_alt =
, image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...
, 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 Allahabad, was announced by the Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
. Allahabad 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 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Housi ...
which consists of the divisional commissioner as chairperson, secretaries of housing and urban planning and urban development in Government of Uttar Pradesh
The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...
, the district magistrate and collector
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
, the vice-chairperson of Allahabad 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 people ...
) 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 Ind ...
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
Civil Lines (archaically White Town) are the residential neighbourhoods developed during the British Raj for its senior civilian officers like Divisional commissioner and District magistrate. These townships were built all over the Indian subconti ...
is being developed on the lines of Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
's Hazratganj
Hazratganj is the downtown and the main shopping centre of Lucknow, the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In addition to bazaars, it also contains shopping complexes, restaurants, hotels, theaters, cafés and man ...
. A sum of ₹20 crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
(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
A riverfront is a region along a river. Often in larger cities that are traversed or bordered by one or more rivers, the riverfront is lined with marinas, docks, cafes, museums, parks, or minor attractions. Today many riverfronts are a staple o ...
along Yamuna river
The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, 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 Ban ...
would be developed by the Allahabad 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
The New Yamuna Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge located in Allahabad (Prayagraj). The bridge was constructed by the end of 2004 with the aim of minimizing the traffic over the Old Naini Bridge. The bridge runs north–south across the Yamuna riv ...
and Boat Club in Kydganj would be taken up.
Education
The Allahabad educational system is distinct from Uttar Pradesh's other cities, with an emphasis on broad education. , 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 as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of the students.
Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from its homeland i ...
. Schools in Allahabad follow the 10+2+3 plan
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...
. 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.
Allahabad attracts students from throughout India. As of 2017, the city has one central university, two State Universities
A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, territory or federal district. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country.
State univers ...
and an open university
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
. Allahabad University
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
, founded in 1876, is the oldest university in the state. Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad (MNNIT or NIT Allahabad), formerly Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College (MNREC), is one of the 31 National Institutes of Technology, located in Allahabad (Prayagraj), Uttar Prades ...
is a noted technical institution. , founded in 1910, as "Agricultural Institute", is an autonomous Christian minority university in Allahabad. Other notable institutions in Allahabad include the Indian Institute of Information Technology – Allahabad; Motilal Nehru Medical College; Ewing Christian College
Ewing Christian College (ECC), formerly Allahabad Christian College, is an autonomous constituent college of University of Allahabad, located in Allahabad, India.
The college was established in 1902 by Arthur Henry Ewing, a prominent Presbyter ...
; Harish-Chandra Research Institute
The Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) is an institution dedicated to research in mathematics and theoretical physics, located in Allahabad (officially Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh in India. Established in 1975, HRI offers masters and doctora ...
; Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute
The Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute (GBPSSI) is a research institute located in Jhusi, Allahabad, in India. It is one of the total 14 institutes establishments in all India established by Indian Council of Social Science and Resea ...
; and Allahabad State University
Prof. Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) University (PRSU), formerly Allahabad State University, is a state university located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established in 2016, it has jurisdiciton over the four districts of the Allahabad d ...
Culture
Although Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
women have traditionally worn sari
A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include:
* as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO
* bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO
* gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std= ...
s, the shalwar kameez
Shalwar kameez (also salwar kameez and less commonly shalwar qameez) is a traditional combination dress worn by women, and in some regions by men, in South Asia, and Central Asia.
''Shalwars'' are trousers which are atypically wide at the wa ...
and Western attire are gaining acceptance among younger women. Western dress is worn more by men, although the dhoti
The dhoti, also known as veshti, vetti, dhuti, mardani, chaadra, dhotar, jaiñboh, panchey, is a type of sarong, tied in a manner that outwardly resembles "loose trousers". It is a lower garment forming part of the ethnic costume for men in the I ...
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
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 collar, ...
is often worn with chooridar
Churidars, also churidar pyjamas, are tightly fitting trousers worn by both men and women in Indian Subcontinent. Churidars are a variant of the common shalwar pants. Shalwars are cut wide at the top and narrow at the ankle. Churidars narrow more ...
on festive occasions. Diwali
Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
, Holi
Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
, Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela () is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Allahabad ( ...
, Eid al-Fitr
, nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast
, observedby = Muslims
, type = Islamic
, longtype = Islamic
, significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan
, dat ...
and Vijayadasami are the most popular festivals in Allahabad.
Literature
Allahabad has a literary and artistic heritage; the former capital of the United Provinces, it was known as Prayag in the Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
, the ''Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
'' and the ''Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
''. Allahabad has been called the "literary capital of Uttar Pradesh", attracting visitors from East Asia; the Chinese travellers Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
and Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
found a flourishing city in the fifth and seventh centuries, respectively. The number of foreign tourists, which mostly consisted of Asians
Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...
, 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
A limerick ( ) is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and ...
and caricatures. In 1900, ''Saraswati
Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...
'', the first Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language monthly magazine in India, was started by Chintamani Ghosh
Chintamani Ghosh (1844 – 11 August 1928) was an Indian publisher and printer. He founded The Indian Press, in Allahabad and started ''Saraswati'', the first Hindi magazine in 1900. He was considered as Caxton of the Hindi world.
Life
Chintam ...
. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi
Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (15 May 1864 – 21 December 1938) was an Indian Hindi writer and editor. ''Adhunikkaal'', or the Modern period of the Hindi literature, is divided into four phases, and he represents the second phase, known as the ''Dwiv ...
, the doyen of modern Hindi literature, remained its editors from 1903 to 1920. The Anand Bhavan
The Anand Bhavan is a historic house museum in Prayagraj, India, focusing on the Nehru family. It was bought by Indian political leader Motilal Nehru in the 1930s to serve as the residence of the Nehru family when the original mansion Swaraj Bh ...
, built during the 1930s as a new home for the Nehru family
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India du ...
when the Swaraj Bhavan
Swaraj Bhavan (formerly Anand Bhavan, meaning ''Abode of Bliss'') is a large mansion located in Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahabad) India, best known for once being owned by the Indian political leader Motilal Nehru and being home to the ...
became the local Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
headquarters, has memorabilia from the Gandhi-Nehru family.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Hindi literature
Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃ ...
was modernised by authors such as Mahadevi Varma
Mahadevi Varma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, sketch story writer and an eminent personality of Hindi literature. She is considered one of the four major pillars of the ''Chhayavaad, Chhayawa ...
, 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 wit ...
, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'
Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (21 February 1897 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer who wrote in Hindi. He was also an artist, who drew many contemporary sketches.
Biography
Tripathi was born on 2 ...
and Harivansh Rai Bachchan
Harivansh Rai Bachchan (; 27 November 1907 19 December 2002) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is be ...
. A noted poet was Raghupati Sahay, better known as Firaq Gorakhpuri
Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), also known by his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri, was an Indian writer, critic, and, according to one commentator, one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets from India. He established himself ...
. 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 w ...
s. Allahabad is a publication centre for Hindi literature, including the Lok Bharti, Rajkamal and Neelabh. Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Urdu literature
Urdu literature ( ur, , ) is literature in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal '' غزل and ''nazm '' نظم, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of t ...
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 Urdu poet in the genre of satire.
Life and career
Akbar Allahabadi was born in the town of Bara, eleven miles from Allahabad, to a fa ...
is a noted modern Urdu poet, and Nooh Narwi, Tegh Allahabadi, Shabnam Naqvi and Rashid Allahabadi hail from Allahabad. 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 novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
was an assistant editor and overseas correspondent for '' The Pioneer''.
Entertainment and recreation
Allahabad is noted for historic, cultural and religious tourism. Historic sites include Alfred Park
Chandrashekhar Azad Park (also known by its 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 Prince Alfred's visit to the city, with an area of 133 ...
, the Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and Thornhill Mayne Memorial
Allahabad Public Library, also known as Thornhill Mayne Memorial, is a public library situated at Chandrashekhar Azad Park in Prayagraj. Established in 1864, it is the biggest library in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The building was designed by ...
s, Minto Park
Minto Park is a park in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It occupies a full city block, meeting Elgin Street on the park's west side, Gilmour Street on the north, Cartier Street on the east, and Lewis Street on the south. It contains picnic ...
, Allahabad Fort
Allahabad Fort is a fort built by the Mughal emperor Akbar at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1583. A stone inscription inside fort describe 1583 as a foundation year. The fort stands on the banks of the Yamuna near its confluence with the r ...
, the Ashoka Pillar
The pillars of Ashoka are a series of monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka during his reign from c. 268 to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expressi ...
and Khusro Bagh
Khusro Bagh is a large walled garden and burial complex located in ''muhalla'' Khuldabad, close to the Allahabad Junction railway station, in Prayagraj, India. It is roughly 6 km from the Akbar fort built-in (r. 1556–1605). It is situated over ...
. Religious attractions include the Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela () is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Allahabad ( ...
, the Triveni Sangam
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
and All Saints Cathedral. The city hosts the ''Maha'' Kumbh Mela
Kumbh Mela or Kumbha Mela () is a major pilgrimage and festival in Hinduism. It is celebrated in a cycle of approximately 12 years, to celebrate every revolution Brihaspati (Jupiter) completes, at four river-bank pilgrimage sites: Allahabad ( ...
, 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
In Hindu tradition, Triveni Sangam is the confluence (Sanskrit: ''sangama'') of three rivers that is also 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 Allaha ...
that typically lasts for one and a half months. Cultural attractions include the Allahabad Museum
The Allahabad Museum is a national-level museum in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1931, it is known for its rich collection and unique objects of art, and is funded by Ministry of Culture. Moreover, it is a premier research centre for ...
, the Jawahar Planetarium
The Jawahar Planetarium is located in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built in 1979 and is situated beside Anand Bhavan the former residence of the Nehru-Gandhi family and now a museum. It is managed by the 'Jawaharlal Neh ...
and the University of Allahabad
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
. North Central Zone Culture 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 of ...
and Prayag Sangeet Samiti
Prayag Sangeet Samiti is an institute imparting education in Hindustani Classical music, in Allahabad, India. It awards diplomas and certificates in vocal music, instrumental music as well as classical dance. It was established in 1926. This ...
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 or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All a ...
, the national, state-owned radio broadcaster, has AM radio stations in the city. Allahabad has seven FM stations, including two AIR stations: Gyan Vani
Gyan Vani is an educational FM radio station in several cities of India.
Description
Gyan Vani is an educational FM radio station in several cities of India. Gyan Vani stations operate as a media cooperative with the day-to-day programmes being ...
and Vividh Bharti
The Vividh Bharati Service (VBS; ) of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1967. Due to the Indian Government stopping its short wave relay centers, VBS is only available on the Internet. Vividh Bharati radio channel wa ...
, four private FM channels: BIG FM 92.7, Red FM 93.5
Red FM (Often stylized as ''Superhits 93.5 RED FM'') is an Indian FM radio network headquartered in Chennai and owned by Chennai-based Sun Group. The network broadcasts content in various Indian languages including Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Telu ...
, Fever 104 FM
Fever FM is an FM radio station in India. It is currently available in 13 cities in India:
Music & Bollywood
Fever plays contemporary hit music in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, while the other cities have a mix of contemporary and retro Bollywoo ...
and Radio Tadka and one educational FM radio channel Radio Adan 90.4 run by Allahabad Agricultural Institute
Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute, is a government-aided Agricultural University in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. It operates as an autonomous Christian min ...
. There is a Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
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. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...
service or Internet-based television.
Sports
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
and field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
are the most popular sports in Allahabad, with kabaddi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
, kho-kho
Kho kho or kho-kho is a traditional Indian sport that dates back to ancient India. It is the second most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connec ...
, gilli danda
Gilli Danda (also spelled Gulli-Danda) also known as Viti Dandu, Kitti-Pul and by other variations, is a sport originating from the Indian subcontinent, played in the rural areas and small towns all over South Asia as well as Cambodia, Iran, ...
and pehlwani
Pehlwani, (पहलवानी) also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in South Asia. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla-yuddha. The words ''pe ...
mostly being played in rural areas near the city. Gully cricket
Backyard cricket, Bat ball, street cricket, beach cricket, corridor cricket, garden cricket, box cricket (if the ground is short) referred to as gully cricket in the Indian subcontinent, is an informal ''ad hoc'' variant of the game of 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 complex A sports complex is a group of sports facilities. For example, there are track and field stadiums, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, swimming pools, and Indoor arenas. This area is a sports complex, for fitness. Olympic Park is also a kind ...
es are used by amateur and professional athletes; these include the Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium
Madan Mohan Malaviya Stadium is a stadium in Allahabad, India.
It is used by Uttar Pradesh cricket team for their domestic matches. Sports like Cricket, Hockey, Javelin throw, Taekwondo, and Judo are played here.
It is named after the famous ...
, the Amitabh Bachchan Sports Complex
Amitabh Bachchan Sports Complex is an indoor arena located in Allahabad (Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh. The 4,000-seat stadium is only indoor stadium in city and was named after famous Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan who was born in the city. It is o ...
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
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
for the Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
. The Indira Marathon
The Indira Marathon is a national annual full marathon held in Allahabad, India. It commemorates the birth anniversary of India's former prime minister, Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 No ...
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 a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
.
See also
* List of people from Allahabad
* Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation
Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation (FRCER) Prayagraj (Allahabad) was established in 1992 as an advanced centre under the umbrella of ICFRE, Dehradun. The centre aims to nurture and cultivate professional excellence in the field of soc ...
Tehsils of Allahabad:
* Handia
* Phulpur
* Soraon
Soraon is a town and one of eight Tehsil of Allahabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Soraon Tehsil consist of 404 villages/Gram Panchayats. Muhammadpur Hathigahan being most populous Gram Panchayat and Pabnah and Uthgi being least ...
* Karchhana
* Koraon
Koraon is a town and a nagar panchayat in Prayagraj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Demographics
India census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a ...
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
Sir Christopher Alan Bayly, FBA, FRSL (18 May 1945 – 18 April 2015) was a British historian specialising in British Imperial, Indian and global history. From 1992 to 2013, he was Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at th ...
. 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.
External links
Allahabad News
Allahabad Municipal Corporation
Prayagraj District
*
*
Allahabad at Wikimapia – Places, geography, terrain and routes in and around Allahabad, with satellite images
{{Uttar Pradesh
Metropolitan cities in India
Cities and towns in Allahabad district
Hindu holy cities
Yamuna River
Tourism in Uttar Pradesh
Former capital cities in India
Places in the Ramayana
Locations in Hindu mythology
Cities in Uttar Pradesh
Holy cities
Smart cities in India