ALLAHABAD (PRAYAG)

   Prayag is the traditional name for the city of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Prayaga in SANSKRIT means “confluence,” and it is the place where the holy YAMUNA and the most sacred GANGES meet. It is also understood that an ancient sacred river mentioned in the VEDAS, the Sarasvati, invisibly joins these two. Thus, this city is considered most holy because these three rivers join there.

   Prayag is one of the seven holy pilgrimage cities of India. It is said that BRAHMA did the first ashva medha or HORSE SACRIFICE there. Every 12 years during the month of Magha (January–Feb-ruary), the great KUMBHA MELA festival is held in Prayag, attracting millions of pilgrims and devo-tees.

   Further reading: S. K. Dubey, Kumbh City Prayag (New Delhi: Centre for Cultural Resources and Train-ing, 2001); Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage and Geographical Imagination in India (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); Baidyanath Saraswati, Traditions of Tirthas in India: the Anthropology of Hindu Pilgrimage (Varanasi: N. K. Bose Memorial Foundation, 1983).