View source for Allahabad Fort

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Allahabad Fort
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| location = [[Prayagraj]], [[Uttar Pradesh]]
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| image = Akbar Fort Allahabad.jpg
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| caption = Allahabad Fort (On the banks of the Yamuna River)
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'''Allahabad Fort''' is a fort built by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Akbar]] at [[Allahabad]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]] in 1583. A stone inscription inside fort describe 1583 as a foundation year. 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alphabetical List of Monuments - Uttar Pradesh|url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_alphalist_uttarpradesh_lucknow.asp|publisher=Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India|access-date=13 November 2014}}</ref>

==History==

=== Construction by Akbar ===

The Allahabad Fort was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1583. [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abu'l-Fazl]], in his ''[[Akbarnama]]'' writes:<ref name="Willaim2006">{{cite book |author=William R. Pinch |title=Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrkEGOOxvecC&pg=PA46 |date=17 March 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85168-8 |pages=46 }}</ref>

{{quotation|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.|Abu'l Fazl|Akbarnama}}

Akbar named the fort ''Illahabas'' ("blessed by [[Allah]]"), which later became "Allahabad".<ref name="Willaim2006"/> According to Catherine Asher, the construction of the fort was a response to several uprisings that had been taking place in eastern India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Asher|first=Catherine B.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521267281|title=Architecture of Mughal India|date=1992-09-24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26728-1|pages=48}}</ref> 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.<ref name="KM_2008">{{cite book |author=Kama Maclean |title=Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765-1954 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MALacgnsroMC&pg=PA5 |date=28 August 2008 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-533894-2 |pages=62–69 }}</ref>

[[File:The Chalis Satun, or Hall of Forty Pillars, at Allahabad, Ut Wellcome V0050465.jpg|left|thumb|''The Chalees Satoon, in the Fort of Allahabad, on the River Jumna'' (1796) - painted by [[Thomas Daniell]]]]

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 suicide. 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 [[cow in Hinduism|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.<ref name="KM_2008"/>
[[File:William Hodges - A View of the Fort of Allahbad - B1978.43.1747 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg|thumb|''A View of the Fort of Allahabad'', 1783, [[William Hodges]], [[Yale Center for British Art]]]]
The local Prayagwal [[Brahmin]]s claim that Akbar repeatedly failed to construct the fort, because its foundation would sink in the sand each time. The emperor was told that a [[Purushamedha|human sacrifice]] was required to proceed. A local Brahmin voluntarily sacrificed himself, and in return, Akbar granted his descendants — the Prayagwals — the exclusive rights of servicing the pilgrims at the Sangam.<ref name="KM_2008"/>

The Allahabad Fort is the largest fort built by Akbar.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Alfieri|first=Bianca Maria|title=Islamic Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent|publisher=Lawrence King Publishing|year=2000|isbn=9781856691895|pages=205}}</ref> This fort has three galleries flanked by high towers. As per historian William Finch, it took 5,000 to 20,000 workers of different denomination over a period of forty years to build the fort.<ref name=fort>{{cite book|title=Forts of India|last=Verma|first=Amrit|year=1985|publisher=The Director of Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|location=New Delhi|page=72-4|isbn=81-230-1002-8}}</ref>

=== Revolt by Salim ===
In 1600, Mughal prince Salim (future emperor [[Jahangir]]) revolted against his father Akbar and established his own court in the Allahabad fort. He commanded very little territory and was reconciled with his father shortly after.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Asher|first=Catherine B.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521267281|title=Architecture of Mughal India|date=1992-09-24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26728-1|pages=100-101}}</ref>

===British East India Company Rule===

[[File:Fort of Akbar, Allahabad, 1850s.jpg|left|thumb|Fort of [[Akbar]], Allahabad, 1850s]]

The fort was first garrisoned by [[British East India Company]] troops in 1765 as part of the [[Treaty of Allahabad]], signed after the [[Battle of Buxar]] by Commander-in-Chief of British India [[Robert Clive]], Mughal Emperor [[Shah Alam II]], and the ruler of Awadh, Nawab [[Shuja-ud-Daula]]. According to this treaty, the British garrison in the fort was to defend and protect Shah Alam, however, Shah Alam, finding this arrangement restrictive, slipped away to [[Delhi]] in 1772, where he attempted to cede Allahabad to the [[Marathas|Maratha Empire]]. The British intervened and contrived to nullify Alam's claim to the fort, proclaiming Shuja-ud-Daula its sole owner. Shuja-ud-Daula died and was succeeded as Nawab of Awad by [[Asaf-ud-Daula]] in 1775; despite persistent attempts of the Company to formally acquire the fort, it remained in the Nawab's hands. Asaf-ud-Daula died in 1787, leaving large debts to the Company and an heir of disputed parentage, who was promptly deposed by [[Saadat Ali Khan I]]. Finally, in February 1798, a financially strapped Saadat Ali ceded the fort to the Company. Three years later, in 1801, Saadat Ali finally ceded the district of Allahabad to the British. Once Allahabad became a functional part of the East India Company's territories, its fort was established as the grand depot for military stores.<ref name="maclean">Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765-1954 by Kama Maclean; Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008; page 62–64.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bhattacherje |first=S. B. |date=1 May 2009 |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGVSvXuCsyUC&q=Allahabad&pg=SL1-PA63 |publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd |pages=A-110 |isbn= 9788120740747|access-date=24 March 2014 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of tourist attractions in Allahabad]]
* [[List of forts in India]]
* [[List of forts in Uttar Pradesh]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Allahabad Fort}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512234324/http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?uid=019PHO000000027U00106000 Ashoka Pillar at Allahanbad Fort, British Library]
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{{Allahabad landmarks}}
{{Forts in India}}
{{Forts in Uttar Pradesh}}

[[Category:Infrastructure completed in 1583]]
[[Category:Forts in Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Mughal architecture]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Allahabad]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Allahabad]]