Allahabad

“ This arrangement has been carried out, and now there is no city in the interior of the country which bears so close a resemblance as Allahabad to the great Presidency cities, in its churches, European shops, hotels, and roads so lined with houses that they may be called streets. As might be expected, the native population has greatly increased.
From Allahabad we went by train to Cawnpore, one hundred and thirty miles to the north-west. This place was for many years a large military station, as the kingdom of Oude lay on the other side of the Ganges. ”

“ No native would ever take the Ganges water from near the Chundun; no Brahmin living in Calcutta would ever use it. Allahabad is held in such reverence that a public tax was paid both to the Mahomedan government of the Nawab of Oude, and to the British government, by pilgrims at certain seasons of the year. There are different degrees of sanctity ascribed to the sacred cities of India; all places are not of equal sanctity, Benares is not so sacred as Kanoge, and neither is so sacred as Allahabad. ”

“ A gathering like this at Allahabad is always embraced for evangelistic purposes. Missionaries and native brethren are thankful for the opportunity afforded them of preaching the Gospel to many who have come from places to which no missionary has ever gone. The missionaries at Allahabad gladly welcome and hospitably entertain the brethren of other missions who join them at these annual gatherings. Large tents are put up, with the front open towards the road, and there the preachers from morning till evening, preacher succeeding preacher, address the people, while hearers succeed hearers. ”

“ The fort was held by a little garrison of Europeans and loyal Sikhs, until it was relieved by General Neill on June 11th of that year.
The modern buildings of Allahabad include Government House, the High Court, 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. The Jumna is crossed by a railway bridge and there are two bridges of boats over the Ganges. ”

“ The ruler of Allahabad was a very selfish and hot-tempered Raja named Surya Pratap, signifying “Powerful as the Sun,” who expected everybody to obey him without a moment’s delay, and was ready to punish in a very cruel manner those who hesitated to do so. He would never listen to a word of explanation, or own that he had been mistaken, even when he knew full well that he was in the wrong. He had a mantri, that is to say, a chief vizier or officer, whom he greatly trusted, and really seemed to be fond of, for he liked to have him always near him. ”

“ But Allahabad, besides being situated at the junction of the two great water-ways of India—for here the Jumna unites with the Ganges—is also equally distant from the great extremes of Bombay, Calcutta, and Lahore, and here centres the railway system which unites these widely-separated points. Add to this singular union of commercial advantages the circumstance—so important in an India controlled by Englishmen—that the climate, though warm, is perfectly wholesome, and you will see that Allahabad must soon be a great emporium of trade. ”

“ Allahabad is the center of learning, the Athens in India, the seat of a native university, the residence of many prominent men, the headquarters of Protestant missionary work, the residence of the governor of the United Provinces, Sir James La Touche, one of the ablest and most progressive of the British officials in India. ”

“ Men were deceivers ever; the promised idols were never added to my collection. The Lieut.-Governor’s parties, which were very agreeable, rendered Allahabad a very pleasant station.
Aug. 2nd.—I went to the melā (fair) held within the grounds [24] at Papamhow. To this place we had sent the pinnace, the Seagull; and on the 10th of the month my husband accompanied me two days’ sail on my voyage, to revisit my relations at Fathīghar, after which, he returned to Allahabad, leaving me and the great spaniel Nero to proceed together. ”

“ Allahabad, from its position at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna, had always been deemed a place of great importance in both a military and civil aspect. It rose to new importance by being made the seat of government for the North-West instead [Pg 215] of Agra, and also by becoming the central railway-station, from which it was arranged railways should ramify to Lahore and Peshawur in the north-west, to Calcutta in the east and south, to Jubbulpore and Bombay in the west, forming in Central India a connection with the railways in Southern India. ”

“ Out of the immense population of India, one hundred and ninety millions profess the above faith. Being a very religious people in their way, and testifying to their faith by their works, it is no great wonder that Allahabad in the course of four weeks was visited by nearly two million pilgrims, who came there only for the purpose of bathing in the sacred river. ”

“ He was now stationed at Allahabad, and occupied himself with science, sending home to the Royal Society, of which he had been elected a fellow, ‘Thermometrical Observations at Allahabad in 1767,’ published in the sixty-fifth volume of the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ While at Allahabad he was promoted brigadier-general in 1770, and received the command of one of three brigades which then composed the Bengal army ”

“ By this time we were glad of rest, and willingly exchanged our railway carriage for a hotel, where we found the luxury of baths, which refreshed us so that in an hour or two we were able to come forth "clad in fine linen, white and clean," and ride about to see the sights of the town. 135
Allahabad is not a city of so much historical interest as many others, but it has grown very much within a few years. The railroads have given such an impulse to its business, and increase to its population, that it has now 130,000 inhabitants. ”

“ Returning from thence to Benares, he assumed for his greater safety the name of a Georgian, and on the 12th of December set out for Allahabad. On this road, and indeed on almost every other in India, the traveller seldom fails meeting with a public lodging or a reservoir of water, where he may perform his ablutions and quench his thirst. In every respectable village there is a caravansary, of which the stationary tenants are frequently women, some of whom are very pretty. ”

“ ALLAHABAD, n.p. This name, which was given in the time of Akbar to the old Hindu Prayāg or Prāg (PRAAG) has been subjected to a variety of corrupt pronunciations, both European and native. Illahābāz is a not uncommon native form, converted by Europeans into Halabas, and further by English soldiers formerly into Isle o' bats. And the Illiabad, which we find in the Hastings charges, survives in the Elleeabad still heard occasionally.
{13a}
c. ”

“ Outside the fort the places of most importance are the sarai and gardens of Khasru, the son of the Emperor Jehangir, and the Jama Masjid or Great Mosque. When the town first came into the hands of the English this mosque was used as a residence by the military officer commanding the station, and afterwards as an assembly room. Ultimately it was returned to its former owners, but the Mahommedans considered it desecrated, and it has never since been used as a place of worship. Allahabad (Illahabad) was the name given to the city when Akbar built the great fort. ”

“ Our cantonments, which sometimes grow into cities, are generally stuck down in a plain as a kind of petrified encampment. Even when founding, as in Rangoon, it is with the utmost difficulty we can compel successive governors to care whether the original plan be not set aside.’ A problem arose whether Allahabad might not be an exception to this rule. Standing at the extreme end of the Doab, and bounded by two fine rivers on the north, south, and east, it is susceptible of any degree of enlargement by including additional ground on the west; it might be made one of the strongest forts in India ”

“ In the days before the Revolt, the European troops of the garrison were accommodated in well-constructed barracks within the fort; while the military cantonment for the native troops lay northwest of it.
The city of Allahabad, westward of the fort, and on the Jumna shore, is scarcely worthy of its magnificent situation. It contains seventy thousand inhabitants; but its streets and houses are poor; nor do the mosques and temples equal those in many other parts of Hindostan, though the gardens and tomb of Sultan Khosroo and his serai are almost unequalled in India. ”

“ From Agra, he proceeded to Allahabad, and appropriated the revenues of Behar to make his preparations. He then secretly visited this palace, ostensibly to see his mother, and my guards had orders to let him come and go. Perhaps he had a darker object, for he posted his horsemen near the river and brought armed eunuchs into the fort. I care not to pry too minutely into his designs, for no harm was done, and this morning I honoured him in open Darbar before he left Agra. To Allahabad he has gone ”

“ The debates in the East India house regarding the tax levied at Juggernauth led to a change in the system; and it has since been abolished.
Allahabad and Hurdwar are the two most noted places of pilgrimage. At the latter city a fair is held annually where thousands of people go to bathe, and although the river Ganges, is very shallow there, many lose their lives. The great fair is held every twelfth year, when several companies of sepoys are generally present both to keep the peace and to prevent accidents. ”

“ We have now arrived within a very short distance of Allahabad; I shall be quite sorry to end my voyage, and feel the greatest reluctance to returning into society.
15th.—“Sirsya is a large cotton mart on the right bank; it is sixty miles above Mirzapūr and twenty-three miles below Allahabad, to which place there is a good road. There are several pakka (brick) houses here, and two very fine tanks at the back of it, and an old mud fort; thence to Prāg, the river is very [456] intricate and shallow. Iron work in a small way can be done for boats at this place. Turkeys and guinea-fowls abound.” ”

“ Ala-ud-din was at this time governor of the province of which Karra, on the Ganges, 42 miles north-west of Allahabad, was the capital. There he consulted with friends as to how he could best raise an army sufficiently strong to enable him to found a kingdom for himself in some strange land beyond the emperor's dominions, where he could forget his domestic troubles and be secure from the designs of the Malika-i-Jahan. To assemble a large army without the emperor's knowledge was impossible, and as a large army was necessary to the execution of his design, Ala-ud-din had recourse to artifice. ”

“ The next morning, after breakfast, the cornet and I rode back to Sultanpore, and in a few days I bade him adieu, and in a short time found myself sound in wind and limb, but quite out of rootie mackun (“bread and butter”) , and other river stores, in sight of the far-famed fortress of Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges.
The view of this fortress, with its lofty walls and numerous towers, is, as you approach it, very striking; one sees few such imposing masses in England ”

“ SKETCHES ON THE RIVER FROM BINDACHUN TO ALLAHABAD. “IF YOU BELIEVE, IT IS A GOD; IF NOT, PLASTER DETACHED FROM A WALL [51] .”
Bindachun—Devī Ghāt—The Temple of Bhawānī—Bhagwān—The Thug—The Hajjam—The Tashma-baz Thugs—The Pleasure of Wandering—Sirsya—Munyah Ghāt—Arail—Arrival at Allahabad—Native Sugar-cane Mills.
1844, Dec. 11th.—We lugāoed early in the evening four miles above Mirzapūr at the far-famed Bindachun. The first remarkable object on approaching the place is the ghāt of the Devī (goddess) which stands out into the river ”

“ This far-famed city is situated on the river Jumna, about five hundred miles by road above Allahabad, where the Jumna flows into the Ganges, and nine hundred by road from Calcutta. In the opposite direction, Delhi is nearly four hundred miles from Lahore, and six or seven hundred from Peshawur—so great are the distances between the chief towns in India: distances that terribly hamper the operations of a British army during any sudden emergency. ”

“ In the time of the Moguls it was the most strongly fortified place in India, but the ancient citadel has been torn down by the British and the palaces and temples it contained have been converted into barracks, arsenals and storehouses. Nowhere in India have so many beautiful structures been destroyed by official authority, and great regret is frequently expressed. Allahabad was also a religious center in ancient times and the headquarters of the Buddhist faith. ”

“ And no one who has seen the Taj will regard this answer as aught but conclusive.
But we had to leave it finally—it and Agra—and after a railway journey of some twelve hours, as we were nearing Allahabad my companion began, in accordance with his custom, to give me a little preliminary view of the peculiarities of the town.
"We are now approaching," he said, "a city which distinguishes itself from those which you have seen by the fact that besides a very rich past it has also a very bright future. ”

“ Allahabad, and the weather becoming daily cooler, we hired a pinnace budgerow for ourselves, a large olāk for the baggage, and a cook-boat, sent them to Prinsep’s Ghāt, and prepared for the voyage.
That branch of the Ganges that quits the main stream at Gopalgunj, flowing by Sooty to Moorshedabad, is called the Bhagirathī until it reaches Nuddea, at which place it is joined by the Jellinghy, and they flow on, passing Calcutta, to the island of Sāgor, under the name of the Hoogly. ”