ALLAHABAD
n.p. This name, which was given in the time of Akbar to the old Hindu Prayāg or Prāg ( PRAAG ) has been subjected to a variety of corrupt pronunciations, both European and native. Illahābāz is a not uncommon native form, converted by Europeans into Halabas , and further by English soldiers formerly into Isle o' bats . And the Illiabad , which we find in the Hastings charges, survives in the Elleeabad still heard occasionally.
Historical Citations (4)
"La Province de Halabas s'appelloit autrefois Purop (Poorub)."—Thevenot, v. 197. [ " "Elabas (where the Gemna (Jumna) falls into the Ganges.)"—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 36.]
"This exceptionally great river (Ganges) ... comes so far from the N. to the S. ... and so further to the city Halabas."—Valentijn.
"Mais ce qui interesse davantage dans la position de Helabas, c'est d'y retrouver celle de l'ancienne Palibothra. Aucune ville de l'Inde ne paroit égaler Palibothra ou Palimbothra, dans l'Antiquité.... C'est satisfaire une curiosité géographique bien placée, que de retrouver l'emplacement d'une ville de cette considération: mais j'ai lieu de croire qu'il faut employer quelque critique, dans l'examen des circonstances que l'Antiquité a fourni sur ce point.... Je suis donc persuadé, qu'il ne faut point chercher d'autre emplacement à Palibothra que celui de la ville d'Helabas...."—D'Anville, Eclaircissemens, pp. 53-55. (Here D'Anville is in error. But see Rennell's Memoir, pp. 50-54, which clearly identifies Palibothra with Patna.)
"... an attack and invasion of the Rohillas ... which nevertheless the said Warren Hastings undertook at the very time when, under the pretence of the difficulty of defending Corah and Illiabad, he sold these provinces to Sujah Dowla."—Articles of Charge, &c., in Burke, vi. 577. " "You will see in the letters from the Board ... a plan for obtaining Illabad from the Vizier, to which he had spirit enough to make a successful resistance."—Cornwallis, i. 238.
From Hobson-Jobson by Yule & Burnell, 1886.