Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/293

 to the holy city of Prāg (Allahabad); but this is not perfect, unless they visit three different places on that spot:

1st. The junction of the Ganges and Jumna.

2nd. The holy Achibut, or Akhivut.

3rd. The temples of Bhardoajmun.

One of the holiest spots of the Ganges is where it joins the Jumna (Yamuna), just below the fort. The Saraswati is supposed to unite with them underground, whence the junction is called Triveni or Tribeni. This spot is deemed so holy that a person dying there is certain of immediate moskh or beatitude, without risk of further transmigration.

There is a mythological representation of the Triveni, or mystical union of the three divine rivers personified,—"Gunga, Yamuna, Saraswati." The drawing represents a female with three heads and six arms, riding astride upon a fish. The Hindoos say the Ganges and Jumna unite above ground; the Saraswati joins them below; this they see with the eye of faith. In reality, the Saraswati falls into the Jumna a little below Delhi; and, therefore, they all three unite below the fort at Prāg. Saraswati, the wife of Vishnoo, by the curse of a Brahman was turned into the river which bears her name.

The Purānas declare that the sight, the name, or the touch of Gunga takes away all sin, however heinous; that thinking of Gunga when at a distance is sufficient to remove the taint of sin; but that bathing in Gunga has blessings in it, of which no imagination can conceive. At the Tribeni they bathe and make pooja.

THE HOLY ACHIBUT.

This tree grows in, or is enclosed within the walls of the fort, in such a manner that you cannot see it from any place. They take you into a room, which was formerly one of an hummām, or steam bath. This room is called the Achibut chamber, and there, with the eye of faith, the pilgrims behold the everlasting tree; which they believe has been there from the beginning of time, and will remain there to all eternity. They showed me a crack in the roof, and said, "Do you not see the branch of the