Mahakumbh Nagar, Feb 26 (PTI) During the over six-week-long Kumbh Mela here, the railways displayed some of the rare British-era photographs of its old stations and bridges in the city as well as of Magh Mela held over a century ago in Allahabad.
On the last day of the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, the railway pavillion saw of flurry of pilgrims mostly to enquire about forward journey and book tickets at a temporary booking counter set up in it.
Many also visited the exhibition put up by the railway in its pavillion erected along Triveni Marg near the old Minto Park.
Some very rare photographs of the Allahabad Junction (now Prayagraj Junction), Prayag station of 1908, and of Prayagghat station of 1953 are attracting both spiritually inclined pilgrims and tourists alike at the Kumbh.
The old Allahabad Junction was a colonial-era structure with a European architecture and was heavily remodelled soon after independence to handle the rush of passengers and pilgrims.
The first Kumbh Mela of independent India took place in 1954 during which a stampede had taken place on the day of the Mauni Amavasya snan on February 3, claiming lives of several hundreds of people.
In an eerie coincidence, a stamped also had occurred on the day of Mauni Amavasya in the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela as well in which at least 30 people lost their lives.
Maha Kumbh, the spectacle that takes place once in 12 years, began on January 13 (Paush Purnima) and saw grand processions of Naga Sadhus and three ‘Amrit Snans’. The mega religious gathering has drawn a record over 65 crore pilgrims so far.
The railways, which has connected India since it began its journey in the country in 1853, also has transported lakhs of pilgrims to the city of Maha Kumbh in the past century and a half.
In the exhibition, besides photographs of various stations, some of which are monochrome with a tint, the railways has also displayed some rare images of the Magh Mela of 1912 and 1917, among other pictures.
Annual Magh Mela has been taking place in Allahabad for many centuries, and Kumbh Mela is a magh mela that takes place once in 12 years.
One photograph also depicts a “bridge of boats” at Daraganj in 1917, as per its caption, while another image is captioned, Sujawan Dev Mandir in the middle of Yamuna at Prayagraj, year 1908″.
Rare 1908 photo of the historic Curzon Bridge and its construction are also on display.
The panel is titled ‘Bharatiya Rail: Atit ke Jharokhe Se’ and also displays the old emblems of the erstwhile East Indian Railway (EIR), Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR), besides other entities which ran service on the British period before the nationalisation few years after Independence.
EIR built the railway lines and stations between Howrah and Delhi, including the Allahabad station.
In 2018, the city of Allahabad was renamed to Prayagraj and two years later, four old stations were rechristened to reflect the new nomenclature of the old city.
Prayagghat station was renamed as Prayagraj Sangam.
The railway pavillion thus not only served as a temporary service centre but also as a knowledge hub for these 45 days.
Ganesh Dev, 22, who arrived here from Rajasthan a few days ago, has taken a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam on multiple occasions by now. He performed the bathing ritual on Mahashivratri.
“The pavillion is coming as great boon for us pilgrims, not just for services but also for the wonderful exhibition. Some of the photographs of old stations of Allahabad are really rare,” he told PTI.
Allahabad station and rail section was opened for the passengers in 1859 and the Jamuna Bridge of the railways here was completed in 1865.
Amid chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’, lakhs of pilgrims from different parts of the country on Wednesday took the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam on Mahashivratri as the 45-day Maha Kumbh inched towards its closure.
And, as most of the pilgrims undertake their return journey via rail, memories of these old images will perhaps stay in the minds of those who visited it, as ‘postcards from Kumbh’. PTI KND AS AS
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