Prayagraj (प्रयागराज)

What makes Prayagraj a temple town

Prayagraj is a temple town whose principal site is water. The Sangam — the meeting of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Saraswati the tradition holds to be present unseen — is where the rites are kept, and the temples around it are stations rather than destinations: the Akshayavat in the fort, and Bade Hanuman at Daraganj, where the image lies rather than stands.

The town's scale is set by the mela. The annual Magh mela puts a city of tents on the sands for a month; the Kumbh, at its own interval, draws the largest gatherings of people anywhere on earth. Between them, the ghats are quiet and the same rites are kept without any of it.