Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.616

c6.616

Prayāga (Chinese Po-lo-ye-kia) is modern Allahabad. It is a Kṣetra according to the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (VII. 14, 30; X. 79, 10). In the early Buddhist texts Payāga or Prayāga is mentioned as a tīrtha or ghaṭ on the Ganges (Majjhima, I, 39). Here the palace occupied by Mahāpanāda was submerged. (Papañcasūdanī, I, p. 178). There is the confluence (saṅgama) of the three rivers: Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī at Prayāga. The saṅgama is considered by the Hindus as very holy. The Saurapurāṇa (Chap. 67, V. 16). refers to Gaṅgā-Yamunā saṅgama. (cf. Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyākāṇḍa, 54 sarga, vs. 2-5). Kālidāsa refers to this confluence in his Raghuvamśa (XIII, 54-57). The Sarasvatī saṅgama is, according to the Mahābhārata (Chap. 82. 125-128), universally considered as holy. By bathing at this saṅgama one accumulates much merit. Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā noticed at the confluence of the Gaṅgā-Yamunā two kinds of colour of the water (Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyākāṇḍa, sarga 54, v. 6).