Allahabad

:This article is about the Indian city. For other uses, see Allahabad (disambiguation).

History

In the times that the Ramayana refers to, the site of Allahabad was a few Rishis' huts at a river-meeting in the middle of a huge forest called Dandaka that covered much of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Prince Rama Ramayana, during the first days of his exile, spent some time here at the Ashram of Sage Bharadwaj.

Related Topics:
Ramayana - Rishi - Dandaka - Uttar Pradesh - Ashram

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The city was previously known as Prayag (a name that is still in use) Akbar realized the strategic importance of the city, built a magnificent fort on the banks of the holy Sangam and re-christened it as Illahabad.

Related Topics:
Akbar - Sangam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Under the British rule, Allahabad was the capital of the United Provinces till the 1920s. It was a well-known centre of education (dating to the time of the Buddha), and in the first few decades of the 20th century, the Allahabad University had earned for itself the epithet of 'Oxford of the East'. It is also a major literary centre for Hindi, with many literateurs being connected to it in some way or the other.

Related Topics:
British - Buddha - Allahabad University

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allahabad was the birthplace of Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Nehru family estate, called the Anand Bhavan, is now a museum. It was also the birthplace of his daughter Indira Gandhi, and the home of Lal Bahadur Shastri, both later Prime Ministers of India. Thus Allahabad has the distinction of producing the majority of PMs in India's national history.

Related Topics:
Jawaharlal Nehru - Indira Gandhi - Lal Bahadur Shastri - Prime Ministers - India

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the movement for independence, Allahabad was at the forefront of all political activities. Alfred Park in Allahabad was the site where, in 1931, the revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad killed himself when surrounded by the British Police. Anand Bhavan, and an adjacent Nehru family home, Swaraj Bhavan, were the center of Indian National Congress activities and attention, magnets for revolutionaries, student activists and crowds.

Related Topics:
Chandrashekhar Azad - Indian National Congress

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first seeds of Pakistan were also sown in Allahabad. In 1930, Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) in his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League proposed a separate Muslim state in the Muslim majority regions of India.

Related Topics:
Pakistan - 1930 - Allama Muhammad Iqbal - Muslim League

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~