Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad [key], city (1991 pop. 844,546), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India. It is a district administrative headquarters and trading center and has an airport and a university. Prayagraj is located at the junction of two sacred rivers, the Yamuna and the Ganges, on the site of Prayag, an ancient Indo-Aryan holy city. The confluence is known as Sangam and is visited by thousands of Hindu pilgrims every 12 years. The oldest monument is a pillar (c.242 b.c.) with inscriptions from the reign of Aśoka. The Mughal emperor Akbar founded (late 16th cent.) the fortress and city of Ilahabas or Ilahabad there, which was later renamed Allahbad. The city was the scene of much fighting in the Indian Mutiny (1857). Allahabad was the capital of the United Provinces from 1901 to 1949 and the center of the Indian independence movement. Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj by the state government in 2018, and the change was formally approved by the national government in 2019. There is a museum on the estate of the Nehru family.
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