Daraganj

Daraganj is one of prominant suburb and a landmark in the city of Allahabad. It is an important religious center with hundreds of important Hindu temples, such as Dashaswamedh Temple, Veni-Madhav Temple, Naag-Vasuki Temple, Chhote Hanumaanji Temple, and Sri Jagannath Temple. Hindu scriptures provide reference that the Lord Brahma did penance at the Dashaswamedh Temple before creating the entire world. Thus, it is considered inappropriate to skip the visit to Dashaswamedh tempel after bathing in hte holy river of ganges at the Daraganj Ghat. Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshamana visited the Veni Madhav temple during their fourteen year long exile and it was at Daraghanj where "Nishad", the king of boatsmen, help them cross the Ganges river. Next to Daraganj is the "Alipi Devi Temple", It is a temple dedicated to "Mother Sati", the wife of Lord Shiva. The story as told in Puranas suggests that the Alopi Temple was the place where the last remains of Mother Sati fell, when Shiva was sadly carrying them around the word and to bring Lord Shiva out of his mourning, Lord Vishnu threw his "Chakra' at the remains causing the remains to drop at various places on the earth. The last piece of the remains dropped at that place. Hence the place came to be known as "Alopi" meaning disappearance (of remains).

Situated on the bank of the river Ganges, Daraganj is very comopolitan in the sense that a significant Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannad and Gujrathi communities thrive within a small area. Set up in a small village setting, Daraganj is a mesh of narrow lanes without any road signs. However, all of these lanes inevitably lead to the main road. This is the last bathing Ghat on the river Ganges before it joins the river Yamuna. The name "Daraganj" is presumably derived from the word "Dharaganj" meaning the place of the stream or current of water. Legend also has an alternative explanation that it is named after "Dara Shikoh", the son of Mughal king Aurangjeb. Dara Shikoh was known to have studied Hindu Scriptures and translated many Upanishads and Puranas into Persian. Presumably, that translation work had taken place at Daraganj.

Daraganj is the home of the well known Hindi poet and writer, Mahakavi Suryakant Tripathi" often known by his pen name "Niraala". As a memorial to his contribution to Hindi literature, Niraala's staue has been installed at the main market square in Daraganj and serves as a landmark for visitors and travellers. Daraganj is the reference point for "Magh" fairs, held every year during winter and for "Kumbh" fairs held every twelve years. On these occasions, an entirely new temparary town is created in the vicinity of Daraganj to serve the needs of the millions of pilgrims, with its own postoffice, bridges, police station and public services. During the "Kumbh" fairs Daraganj argueably becomes one of the most densly populated place on earth, when millions of pilgrims live witin its small borders in the makeshift tents.

Daraganj has its own railways station with the same name and has another temparary train station known as "Prayagraj" which is functional during "Magh" and "Kumbh" fairs.