Elizabeth Dean: The Allahabad Triveni as a Sacred Place.

The Allahabad Triveni as a Sacred Place
Upon learning more about sacred place, and their charactersitics I became intrigued by the Allahabad Triveni, a sacred location that is very briefly touched on in Lane's book.
The Allahabd Triveni, also referred to as the Triveni Sangam is a confluence of three rivers in Allahabad. The three rivers are the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati. While the Ganges, and Yamuna and tangible rivers that exist in this location, the third-the Saraswati is a mythical river seen only by those who enter in faith. The Kumbh Mela is a mass hHindu pilgrimage, and one of the location is the Allahabad Triveni. The Saraswati river is made sacred by Hindu stories and religius history making it a "storied place." The rivers have purificatory signifcance upon submergence, in addition to freeing ones karmic burden, and washing away sins. This sacred location is a perfect exemplification of the idea of "storied place." The story in this location in particular involves the nectar of immortality, and its creation by the demigods and demons 1,000 years ago. Beleives of the Hindu faith think that drops of the nectar of immortality were dropped in this location, making this location sacred, and causing submergence in the rivers to have purifcatory effects.