Thirtharaja -- Allahabad

Located at the confluence of two mighty rivers and an invisible one....Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi respectively, Allhabad is considered to be the holiest of holy places. It is personified as a man -Prayagraj whose idol is still worshipped in the Patalpuri temple of the city. The other 8 pilgrim centres like Dwarka, Khashi, Haridwar, Ujjain, Ayodya, Puri,Mathura and Kanchi are only the queens. The punya that one gets visiting Allahabad is much more than the mokshas attained while visiting the other centres, says the Padma Purana which has devoted 100 verses to Prayag.
Prayag is Pra=best, superlative ; yajna== yaga referring to the ten Ashwamedha yagas that Brahma conducted here which lured Vishnu to make it his sthal as Veni Madhav and Shiva follwed him to stay here as Shulkanteshwara. The presence of the Trinity and the three rivers makes it very special.
It was inhabited in the 8th millenium BC and all the stories that we hear are either documented or by word of mouth.
Rama stayed at the Akshaya vat ( now within the Fort) on his way to his Vanavas. Adi Shankara established the Shakti peeth at at the Alopi temple where her finger fell -(When Daksha did not invite her husband to his yaga, his daughter Dakshyani comitted Sati . Her husband,Lord Shiva enraged with grief, danced with her body; this Thandavam was threatening to destroy the world that Vishnu divided the body into eighteen pieces with his disc and they fell in different places in India). Eighteen Shakthi peeths were established in these locations and are still worshipped with great fervour.
The neck part fell in Vindyavasini near Mirzapur and the Necklace in Meihar , MP about which I shall write in my later blogs.
Allhabad's claim to fame are : the Maha Kumbmela that occurs once in Twelve years , Akbar's fort, Anand Bhavan, the High Court, The University and the buildings with a medley of architectural styles.
The distinct colour distinction of the two rivers are very apparent to the naked eye. Yamuna is green and Ganga is whitish yellow to brown. At the Triveni Sangam one can make out the difference in colour and after the sangam the colour changes to an amorphous brownish green.
At the actual Sangam there are many platforms of wood built and Pandas are waiting to perform the poojas to appease the souls of one's ancestors.
The Agra fort was converted to an Ordinance depot by the Britishers and is now with the Indian Army. We went in their boat to the sangam where another boat was kept moored. There are two showers on this boat in a well furnished shower room attached to a dressing room. These showers are marked : Ganga pani and Normal Pani. You could have your sins washed away with the Ganga pani first and wash the E.coli and other organisms with the Normal water. Kya Baath hai. Two birds in one stone. Presrved tradition and accrued punya and .. protected oneself too!