Allahabad
(“City of Allah”) City at the junction of
the Gangesand Yamuna rivers. The city
was named Allahabad by the Moghul
emperor Akbar, who built a fort there in
1583 to signify Moghul control of the
region. Traditionally, the place where the
rivers meet is considered a sacred
bathing (snana) place, and the city was
called Prayaga (“place of sacrifice”) by
the Hindus. This name is still used to
distinguish the sacred site (tirtha) from
the city surrounding it. Another name
for the junction is Triveni (“triple
stream”), reflecting the traditional belief
that the two visible rivers are joined at
the confluence by a third underground
river, the Saraswati. Near the bathing
place is a banyan tree believed to be the
akshaya vata(“indestructible banyan
tree”), which despite its powerful name
is at present very small.
As with all places where the Ganges
makes some natural transition—here
its confluence with another sacred
river—Prayaga is considered especially
holy, and bathing there is believed to
confer even greater religious merit
than a normal Ganges bath. This sanc-
tity can be further amplified by
bathing during particularly auspi-
cious times in the calendar. For
example, the annual Magh Melais a
bathing festival held during the lunar
monthof Magh( January–February).
The holiest time for bathing is during
a festival called Kumbha Mela, which
is held approximately every twelve
years when Jupiteris in Taurus. The
Kumbha Mela is followed six years
later by the Ardha(“half”)Kumbha
Mela, which carries less sanctity than
the “full” Kumbha Mela but is still
considered a highly propitious event.
Allahabad’s Kumbha Mela in 1989 was
the largest religious festival on earth,
attended by an estimated fifteen mil-
lion people on a single day.
Allama Prabhu
(12th c. C.E.) Poet-saint and religious
leader in the Lingayatcommunity, a
bhakti(devotional) community that
worships Shivaas the single supreme
god and rejects all casteregulations.
The Lingayats formed in the southern
Indian state of Karnataka, where they
still have a considerable presence,
and the collections of poetry that
form their most important religious
texts are composed in the Kannada
language. According to legend,
Allama was Shiva himself on earth,
and the honorific title “Master”
(Prabhu) indicates the respect that
his Lingayat contemporaries granted
him. In his poetry, Allama spoke from
the perspective of one who had
gained final liberation and had com-
pletely transcended all ritual and
worldly ties. For further information
see A. K. Ramanujan (trans.), Speaking
of Siva, 1973.Alvar
Collective name for twelve poet-saints
devoted to the god Vishnuwho lived
in southern India between the seventh
and tenth centuries. In conjunction
with the Nayanars, who were devoted
to the god Shiva, the Alvars spear-
headed the revitalization of Hindu
religion vis-à-vis the Buddhists and
the Jains. Both the Alvars and the
Nayanars stressed passionate devo-
tion (bhakti) to a personal god and
conveyed this devotion through
hymns sung in the Tamil language.
The earliest Alvars were a group of
three seventh-century contempo-
raries: Poygai, Pey, and Bhutam,
whose propitious meeting on a rainy
night is described as sparking the
devotional flame. The next group:
Tiruppan, Tirumalisai, Tondaradippodi,
Kulashekhara, Periyalvar, Andal, and
Tirumangai, are believed to have lived
in the ninth century. They were followed
by Nammalvar and his disciple
Mathurakavi, who can be reasonably
placed in the beginning of the tenth
century, as can Nathamuni, who col-
lected all of the Alvars’ hymns in the
Nalayira Prabandham. Although theAlvar