ALLAHABAD, a city of British India, the capital of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, giving its name to a district and a division. The city (pop. 183,914 in i931) is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna rivers, 564m. from Cal cutta by rail. Its most conspicuous feature is the f ort, at the junc tion of the rivers. It contains one of Asoka's pillars: also the remains of a splendid palace, erected by the Emperor Akbar, and once a favourite residence of his; also an important arsenal. Out side the fort the places of most historic interest are the tomb and gardens of Khasru, the son of the Emperor Jehangir, and the Jama Masjid or Great Mosque. Allahabad (Illahabad) was the name given to the city when Akbar built the fort. To the Hindus it is still known by its ancient name of Prag or Prayag ("place of sacrifice"), and is a noted resort of Hindu pilgrimage. A bathing festival, known as the Magh-mela, is held at the confluence of the rivers during the Hindu month of Magh. It is attended by as many as 25o,000 persons in ordinary years and every twelfth year it becomes the Kumbh-Mela, when as many as a million devotees will crowd to it from all parts of India. Allahabad was taken by the British in 1765 from the wazir of Oudh, restored to him in 177r, and by him finally ceded together with the district to the British in 18o1, in commutation of the subsidy which the wazir had agreed to pay for British protection. During the Mutiny of 1857 (see INDIAN MUTINY) Allahabad became the scene of one of the most serious outbreaks and massacres which occurred in the North-Western Provinces. The fort was held by a little garrison of Europeans and loyal Sikhs, until it was relieved by Gen. Neill on June of that year.
The modern buildings of Allahabad include Government House, the High Court, the University, the Mayo memorial and town hall, the Muir central college, the Thornhill and Mayne memorial library and museum, the Naini central jail and the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals. Both rivers are crossed bv fine rail way bridges; and the place is an important railway centre. The military cantonments contain accommodation for all three arms and are the headquarters of a brigade. At Allahabad is published the Pioneer, perhaps the best known English paper in India. It is the home of the parent university of the provinces, from which most of the others have branched off; and it is a centre of nu merous educational and missionary institutions.
The district of Allahabad has an area of 2,847 sq.m. In shape it is an irregular oblong, and it is very difficult to define its boun daries, as at one extremity it wanders into Oudh, while on the south the villages of the State of Rewa and those of this district are intermingled. The Jumna and the Ganges enclose within their angle a fertile tract well irrigated with tanks and wells. The East Indian railway and the Grank Trunk road afford the principal means of land communication. In 1931 the population was The present division of Allahabad has an area of 10,189 sq.m. The population in 1931 was 5,o16,352. It comprises the five dis tricts of Farrukhabad, Etawah, Cawnpore, Fatehpur and Alla habad.