After long debate, Allahabad has been renamed as ‘Prayagraj’. Today, Uttar Pradesh government has approved the proposal to rename Allahabad. This move was announced by UP Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh. Railways, Allahabad Court and Allahabad University etc have been asked to change the name to Prayagraj from Allahabad soon after the decision came out. Know more.
On this decision, Singh expressed his ecstasy as the renaming has been done prior to Kumbh fair. With ‘Prayagraj’ name, it would be a great help to promote Indian culture on global scales. He said that he had taken the matter to governor and other authorities to revert Allahabad to its original name ‘Prayagraj’.
Why does the decision of restoring to original name come?
In May, the delegation of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad met with UP CM. They demanded that Allahabad should be renamed as Prayag. After the consideration, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth announced that Allahabad would be renamed as Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Kumbh Mela at the cabinet meeting today.
History of Prayag to Allahabad
Tracing back to the history, the city was named Allahabad by Emperor Akbar reportedly in 16th century. It was once called ‘Kaushambi’ and served as the provincial capital during the Mughal Empire. Akbar was so fond of city that he renamed it to Ilahasbas or Ilahabad. And gradually, it changed to Allahabad.
Meaning to Prayag
Prayag means confluence of two rivers. But, in the city, the confluence of three rivers i.e. Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati take place. As there are 14 Prayags in the country, in which Allahabad is supreme. Hence, it has been termed as Prayagraj.
