Allahabad Fort

Allahabad Fort (Hindi: इलाहाबाद क़िला, Urdu: الہ آباد قلعہ Ilāhābād Qila) is a fort built by the Mughal emperor Akbar at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1583. The fort stands on the banks of the Yamuna near its confluence with the river Ganges. It is recognised by the Archaeological Survey of India as a monument of national importance.

The Allahabad Fort was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1580s. Abu'l-Fazl, in his Akbarnama writes:

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.

Akbar named the fort Illahabas ("blessed by God"), which later became "Allahabad". Besides the strategic location of Allahabad, Akbar is also thought to have been motivated by the ability to collect taxes from the large number of pilgrims visiting the Triveni Sangam. However, this seems unlikely, considering the fact that Akbar abolished the existing pilgrim taxes in 1563.

Akbar's fort was constructed in such a way that it enclosed the famous Akshayavat tree, where people would commit suicide in order to achieve salvation. The reason for this is not known, although some sources claim that he did it to prevent people from committing suicides. According to a local legend, Akbar was a Hindu ascetic named Mukunda Brahmachari in his previous birth. Once, by mistake, he consumed a cow's hair while drinking milk. Horrified at this sin (cow being a holy animal), he committed suicide. He was born a mlechchha (non-Hindu) as a result of this sin, and was driven to build a fort at the holy Sangam.

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