The Allahabad Fort is now an army Ordinance Depot so photography is not allowed, so you have to rely on my descriptions from my various visits to it.
Name:
llahabad or Prayagraj, as it has been recently renamed, has a long and glorious history. It is one of the holiest cities of India and the site of the confluence of the
two sacred rivers, Ganga and Yamuna. The annual Kumbh Mela on the banks of the Ganges sees lakhs of devotees, who visit for taking a holy dip in the river.
It was also the site of Akbar’s largest fort and the capital of his 16 subahs. Akbar’s administrative reforms are very famous and glimpses of many of his revenue and administrative reforms can still be seen in our structures today. One of them was to create 16 subahs of Ilahbas, with Ilahbas as its capital. In 1583, he laid the foundation stone and the Ilahbas fort came up. According to contemporary chroniclers like Badauni, when Akbar was informed about the devotion of the Hindus for the sacred site of Sangam (the confluence of the two holy rivers) and their wish to die there (as death there would mingle their soul with the spirit of God), he instantly decided to rename the place as Ilahbas-the abode of God!
“For a long time [Akbar’s] desire was to found a great city in the town of Piyag [Prayag], where the rivers Ganges and Jamna join, and which is regarded by the people of India with much reverence, and which is a place of pilgrimage for the ascetics of that country, and to build a choice fort there.”
— Abu’l Fazl, Akbarnama
Another reason given for the name Ilahbas is that Ila is actually the mother of Pururavas, the progenitor of the Aila tribe. The Mahabharata mentions the name also as a river (variously identified) or as a king. Vas means abode, so the new city was named Abode of Ila.
Prayag was the name of the area where yagna or pooja was done at the Sangam. Prayag was not renamed, instead, a new city was created.
During the reign of Shahjahan, it became popular as Ilahabad. The British started referring to it as Allahabad, the city of Allah. It became an administrative capital of the British and prospered under them.
Most of the original buildings of the fort have been destroyed as in the case of Red Fort because of its association with the Uprising of 1857, the British disregard for Mughal buildings and desire to make military HQ in the Mughal Forts.
Entrance Gateway:
The gateway was painted by Sitaram in 1815 and has been repainted or restored. it’s still grand but the paint is a bit garish.
There were a few other Gates, the Delhi Gate opening on to the River Yamuna was probably so called because it would have been the river route to Delhi.
According to William Finch, it took 5,000 to 20,000 workers of different denomination over a period of forty years to build the fort.
image 1 : The West Gate of Allahabad Fort by Sitaram 1814, British library.
Image 2: A view of the Allahabad Fort by William Hodges 1787 , British library.
Image 3: A view of the fort of Allahabad, from the Illustrated London News, 1857
