Sangam at Allahabad - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

tradition Triveni Sangam is the "confluence

Confluence (geography)

In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...

" of three rivers. Sangama is the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

word for confluence. The point of confluence is a sacred place for Hindus

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

. A bath here is said to wash away all of one's sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth.

Allahabad

One such Triveni Sangam, in Allahabad has two physical rivers Ganges, Yamuna

Yamuna

The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

, and the invisible or mythic Saraswati River

Sarasvati River

The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata...

. The site is in Prayag, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. A place of religious importance and the site for historic Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river.The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain,...

held every 12 years, over the years it has also been the site of immersion of ashes of several national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi in 1948

The Triveni Sangam in Allahabad is a confluence of 3 rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati. Of these three, the river Saraswati is invisible and is said to flow underground and join the other two rivers from below. Here the muddy and pale-yellow waters of the Ganges merge with the blue waters of Yamuna. While the Ganges is only 4 feet deep, the Yamuna is 40 feet deep near the point of their nexus. The river Yamuna merges into the Ganges at this point and the Ganges continues on until it meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...

. At the confluence of these two great Indian rivers, where the invisible Saraswati

Sarasvati River

conjoins them, many tirtha yatris take boats to bathe from platforms erected in the Sangam. This, together with the migratory birds give a picturesque look to the river during the Kumbha Mela, in the month of January. It is believed that all the gods come in human form to take a dip at the sangam and expiate their sins.

This was the river where an earlier Prime minister of India

India

, Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...

used to come for a holy dip. On the bank of the Ganges at Daraganj

Daraganj

Daraganj is a prominent suburb and a landmark in the city of Allahabad, India. It is the oldest suburb of Prayag at the bank of celestial river Ganges and not far from Triveni Sangam - the confluence of three sacred rivers: Ganges and Yamuna, and the third invisible river...

, just before the confluence of ganga and Yamuna, the well known statistician Ravindra Khattree

Ravindra Khattree

Ravindra Khattree is an Indian born statistician and professor of statistics at Oakland University. His contribution to the Fountain-Khattree-Peddada Theorem in Pitman measure of closeness is one of the important results of his work. Khattree is the coauthor of two books and has coedited two...

spent his early years when he attended Ewing Christian College

Ewing Christian College

Ewing Christian College was established in 1902, as Allahabad Christian College on the banks of river Jamuna in Allahabad, U.P. by the American Presbyterian Mission....

, situated on the bank of Yamuna few miles before the confluence. On the other bank of the river Ganges at Arail is located the Maharshi Institute of Management, named for Maharshi Mahesh Yogi who was a student at the University of Allahabad. The Harish Chandra Research Institute, named after the famous mathematician Harish Chandra from Allahabad, is also located on the same side - in the village of Jhusi

Jhusi

Jhusi is a town and a nagar panchayat in Allahabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was formerly called Andhernagri and Pratishthan Pur or Puri.-Geography:...

Erode

The Triveni Sangam in Erode

Erode

Erode is a city, a municipal corporation and the headquarters of Erode district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.It is situated at the center of the South Indian Peninsula, about southwest from the state capital Chennai and on the banks of the rivers Cauvery and Bhavani, between 11° 19.5"...

is a confluence of 3 rivers, the Cauvery, Bhavani and Amudha. Of these three, the river Amudha is invisible and is said to flow underground and join the other two rivers from below. It is also called as Kooduthurai

Kooduthurai

Kooduthurai, or Mukkoodal is a holy place situated in Bhavani urban area near the Agglomeration of Erode, Tamil Nadu, India.It is located at a distance of 11km from Erode Central Bus Terminus and 15km from Erode Junction Railway Station...

, where the famous Sangameswarar Temple

Sangameswarar Temple

Sangameswarar alayam known as Kooduthurai by locals, the temple of Lord Shiva in Bhavani, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India. The temple was built at the confluence of Kaveri river, Bhavani river and ‘agaya gangai’, an invisible underground water source....

is located. It is the well-known Tiriveni Sangama of South India.

Religious significance

The Triveni Sangam is believed to be the same place where drops of Nectar fell from the pitcher, from the hands of the Gods. So it is believed that a bath in the Sangam will wash away all one's sins and will clear the way to heaven. Devout Hindus from all over India come to this sacred pilgrimage point to offer prayers and take a dip in the holy waters. The sacred Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela

is held every 12 years on the banks of the Sangam. According to myth, the Prakrista Yajna was performed here by Lord Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...

. That is why Allahbad was known as Prayag in ancient times. Allahabad (Prayag) is also called Tirtha-Raja (Prayag Raj), king of all holy places. It is said that Lord Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

visited Allahabad when he was in exile.

Allahabad

Erode

Religious significance

See also