A confluence, reached by boat
Triveni Sangam
The Sangam, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Two rivers you can see, and a third held in faith
Tirtharaj, the king of tirthas, where the Ganga and the Yamuna run side by side before they mix.
- River
- Triveni Sangam
- Ghat
- The Sangam
- Place
- Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
- Form of the water
- A confluence, reached by boat
- Local time
- Asia/Kolkata
The place
At Prayagraj the Ganga arrives from the north and the Yamuna from the west. For a stretch the two run side by side without mixing, and the line is visible from a boat: the Yamuna darker and slower, the Ganga paler and quicker. Tradition holds that the Sarasvati joins them here unseen, and the three give the place its name, Triveni, three braids.
Prayag means the place of sacrifice, and the tradition is that Brahma performed a yajna here. The city is called Tirtharaj, king of tirthas. The Magh Mela is held on the sands each year through Magha, and the Kumbh at its twelve-year turn. Some pilgrims keep kalpavas, a month of residence on the sangam sands.
The mela is possible because of what the rivers do in winter. When the flood falls back it leaves a plain of sand between the two channels, and a city is put up on it for a month and taken down again. The calendar of the mela is the calendar of the river, and a late or heavy season moves the ground it stands on. Above the sands the fort holds the Akshayavat, the undying banyan, and an Ashokan pillar.
Shraddha and pind daan at Prayagraj are conducted by the Prayagwal purohits, families who hold the right to officiate by descent and keep pilgrim registers going back generations. The family is present, at the water.
Where the figures come from
One number, taken the same way at all six waters.
The cell this site reads for the Sangam sits on the Ganga main stem below the confluence, so the figure carries the Ganga and the Yamuna together. It is modelled discharge, ranked against that same cell's record for this week of the year from 1997 to 2025. When the winter figure falls, the sands are coming back, and that is the ground the Magh Mela is built on.
Where the figures come from
Flow is modelled river discharge from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service global flood model, read at the grid cell covering this reach and published once a day. It is a model rather than a gauge reading, and this site writes modelled beside every number it prints.
Each value is ranked against every daily value that same cell has produced in this same week of the year from 1997 to 2025. That is what the percentile means: one water compared with its own past.
Sunrise, sunset, air temperature and rainfall are read at the ghat's own coordinates rather than at the grid cell. The muhurat windows are the panchang's rules worked out from that sunrise.
Every figure comes from a public source named beside it, and each can be checked against that source.
Attribution
- River discharge: Copernicus Emergency Management Service, GloFAS, served by Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
- Sun and weather: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
What you find here
The same four things at every water on this site.
- The river's flowModelled discharge for this reach, in cubic metres a second, ranked against 1997 to 2025 for this same week of the year.
- The sunriseSunrise and sunset at this ghat's own coordinates, which is why they differ from every other ghat's.
- The muhurat windowsBrahma, pratah, abhijit and godhuli, worked out from that sunrise rather than copied from a national table.
- The snanThree minutes with this water at the state it is in, at an hour the panchang names, with your own sankalp in your own words.
What this water is kept for
What people do when they stand at this water. Some of it is centuries older than any of the words on this site.
The dip at the meeting point
Taken out in the stream rather than from a step, because the point where the two waters meet is reached by boat.
Done by the person at the water
Pind daan and tarpan
Conducted at Prayagraj by the Prayagwal purohits, with the family there. The right to officiate for a pilgrim is held by descent, and eligibility for the rite varies by community and by region.
Done by the person at the water
Kalpavas
A month of residence on the sands through Magha, with one meal a day, restraint, and a bath at first light every day. It is a month of a person's life, spent in a tent on a riverbed.
Done by the person at the water
The Magh Mela
A city of canvas laid out on the sands each Magha by the district administration and the akharas, and dismantled when the river returns.
Kept by the place itself
Deep daan
A lamp set on the water at the confluence, usually from the boat that brought you.
Done by the person at the water
Days this ghat is known for
Each is reckoned by tithi or by the sun, as noted beside it. Dates are not printed yet: the parva day depends on a panchang, and the site has still to choose the one it will follow.
Timing to be confirmed against the panchang
The Magha bathing month
The Magh Mela occupies the sands for the whole month; kalpavasis stay for its duration.
Through the month of Magha
Mauni Amavasya
The principal bathing day of the Magh Mela, kept in silence by those observing it.
Amavasya of Magha
Makar Sankranti
The opening bath of the mela, reckoned by the sun and not by a tithi.
The sun's entry into Makara
Sarva Pitru Amavasya
The closing day of Pitru Paksha, and the day kept for ancestors whose tithi is not known.
Amavasya of the dark fortnight of Bhadrapada-Ashvin
Who looks after this water
The sangam and the mela grounds are held by the Prayagraj district administration together with the Mela Authority, while the ritual right to officiate for pilgrims sits with the Prayagwal purohits. Access at Kumbh is settled months in advance.