Allahabad - Places To Visit

Anand Bhawan

    The Anand Bhawan is well kept and it stands graciously amidst a huge garden. After taking the tickets, we entered the former ancestral home of the Nehru family. Donated to the Indian government in 1970 by Indira Gandhi, it is now turned into a museum.

    It houses various rooms used by Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi at various stages of their lives. The spiral steps led us to the first floor where the first room we entered was the Relic room which contained various personal items of Jawaharlal Nehru such as electric toaster, electric shaving kit, his gramophone, clothes, editorials, etc. I read some hand written conversational letters between Nehruji and his daughter, a little Indira. In one letter addressed to her father, a small Indira very innocently persuades her father to come back from jail soon by saying that she will never ever trouble him again. Very touching indeed!

[ This house is more than a structure of brick and mortar. It is intimately connected with our national struggle for freedom and within its walls great decisions were taken and great events happened ]

    Another prominent room on the floor was one that didn’t need any introduction. The presence of the Charkha and the sheer simplicity that the room exuded was enough to indicate that it belonged to Mahatma Gandhi. Other rooms on the floor included Jawaharlal Nehru’s workplace cum living room, Indira Gandhi’s living room and the Congress Committee member’s meeting room. The exhibits in the two storied building can be seen through glass panels.

    The ground floor housed a room that of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, her husband, where the two got married. A beautiful photograph of their wedding ceremony adorned the room’s entrance.

    The entire tour of Anand Bhawan transported us back in time and is definitely worth a visit.

Shri Hanuman Niketan Temple

    We visited this temple while leaving for Varanasi. 

 

[ Shri Hanuman Niketan ] 

    We were unable to visit the following temples, some due to lack of time and some due to the heavy rush near the Sangam but will look forward to visit them the next time.

The Akshaya Vata Tree (The Undying Banyan Tree)

     Located near the Sangam, it is one of the oldest trees in the country and is said to never die, even when the entire world is destroyed. It has religious significance as it is believed that Lord Rama himself visited this tree.

Lete Hanuman ka Mandir (Temple of the reclined Hanuman)
 

    Located near the Sangam, Lord Hanuman is in a reclining posture, a few feet below the ground, instead of his usual standing posture. It is said that every year the Ganges floods until it touches the sleeping Hanuman’s feet and then it starts receding. Another temple worth a visit is the ‘Bada Hanuman Mandir’ (Big Temple of Hanuman) in Civil Lines.

Bharadwaja Ashram
 
    This ashram is mentioned in the Ramayana. Allahabad University now occupies the place where the ashram of Bharadwaja Rishi and his 10,000 disciples is said to have been located. There are temples here dedicated to Bharadwajeswara Mahadeva Siva, Rishi Bharadwaja, and Kali. It is said that Lord Rama and Sita visited this place when they began their 14-year exile.