PRAYAGA, the modern Allahabad, also called Pratishthana and Triveni. It is described in ancient Hindu writings as at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges, on the bank of the latter ; it would seem, therefore, so late as the composition of the drama of the Hero and the Nymph, that that ancient city still stood opposite to its present site. The ruins, according to Hamilton, were still to be seen at Jhusi, on the left bank of the Ganges. Prayaga was a holy place, having been the seat of Bharadhwaja's hermitage ; but Allah abad never was city until Akbar made it one. Akbar called his fort Ilahabad, and it was after wards called by Shah Jahan, Allahabad. The name of Prayaga is recorded by Hiwen Thsang in the 7th century, and is in all probability as old as the reign of Asoka, who set up the stone pillar about B.C. 235, while the fort was not built until the end of the 16th century. Hiwen Thsang makes the district of Prayaga about 5000 li, or 833 miles, in circuit ; but as it was closely surrounded on all sides by other, districts, General Cunningham re duced it to 500 li, or 83 miles, and limits the dis trict to the small tract in the fork of the doab, immediately above the junction of the Ganges and Jumna. There still is-the famous tree called
Akshay Bat, or undecaying banyan tree. This tree is now underground, at one side of a pillared court, which would appear to have been open formerly, and which is supposed to be the remains of the temple described by Hiwen Thsang. The temple is situated inside the fort of Allahabad, and due north from the stone pillar of Asoka and Samudra Gupta. According to the common tradition of the people, the name of Prayaga was derived from a Brahman who lived during the reign of Akbar. The story is, that when the emperor was building the fort, the walls on the river-face repeatedly fell down, in spite of all the precaution taken by the architect. The old city of Prayaga has totally disappeared, and we can scarcely expect to find any traces of the various Buddhist monuments which were seen and de scribed by the Chinese Pilgrims in the 7th century. —Cunningham's Ancient Geo. of Ind. p. 388 ; Tr. Hind. i. pp. 207, 317 ; Hindu Theatre, i. p. 207 ; The Hero and the Nymph; Hamilton's Genealogies of the Hindus. See Lat.