Prayagraj, Triveni Sangam

01Where Brahma sacrificed

Prayag means the place of sacrifice: the Puranas say Bhagwan Brahma performed his first yajna here after creation. The Matsya Purana’s Prayaga Mahatmya calls it Tirtharaj and says a dip at the Sangam in Magh washes away the sins of lifetimes. The muddy Ganga and the green-blue Yamuna can be seen meeting side by side; the Sarasvati is said to join them from below. In the Ramayana, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana stayed at Bharadwaja’s ashram here on their way to the forest. The Akshayavat, the undying banyan, stands in the Patalpuri temple inside the fort.

02Harsha’s gift, Akbar’s fort

In 643 the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang watched King Harsha hold his great assembly on the sands at the confluence, where every five years he gave away all his treasure, down to his own robes, to monks, Brahmins and the poor. In 1583 Akbar built a fort at the confluence and renamed the city Ilahabas; the Akshayavat ended up inside its walls, and the Ashokan pillar carrying Samudragupta’s prashasti was set up within it. The Kumbh has been held for centuries. UNESCO inscribed the Kumbh Mela on its list of intangible heritage in 2017, and in October 2018 the city’s old name, Prayagraj, was restored. The Patalpuri temple and the Akshayavat were opened to pilgrims in January 2019.

03Kalpavas and the Maha Kumbh

Every year in Magh the Magh Mela fills the floodplain, and kalpavasis live in tents on the sand for the month, bathing three times a day and eating once. Every twelve years comes the Kumbh, and every sixth year the Ardh Kumbh. The akharas of sadhus lead the Amrit Snan processions, the Naga sannyasis first. The Maha Kumbh of 13 January to 26 February 2025 drew, by the Uttar Pradesh government’s count, more than 66 crore pilgrims.

The life of this place