GUWAHATI, Sept 23: Singer Zubeen Garg’s body was cremated with full state honours in the sylvan surroundings of Kamarkuchi on the outskirts of Assam’s Guwahati on Tuesday amid chanting of Vedic hymns as thousands of mourners gathered to bid farewell to the popular crooner.
His sister Palme Borthakur and music composer Rahul Gautam, a protege of the singer, lit the pyre, amid gun salutes.
They went around the pyre seven times as priests guided them, and all present at the site, most with moist eyes, stood up to pay their last respect to the singer who mesmerised people with his more than 38,000 songs over three decades.
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Zubeen’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, was sitting on the side of the platform where his last rites were performed, and was seen sobbing all through the rituals as the singer’s friend and Union Minister Pabitra Margherita consoled her.
Garg’s 85-year-old ailing father, Mohini Mohan Borthakur, was sitting at a distance surrounded by family members.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also a Zubeen fan, was seen standing near the platform where the pyre was lit.
As the smoke from the flames flared up, slogans like ‘Zubeen, Zubeen’ and ‘Jai Zubeen da’ reverberated in the air, and people were heard singing his song ‘Mayabini Ratir buku’.
This continued all through the rituals held in an emotionally charged atmosphere.
After the tributes were paid to the popular singer, the Assam Police gave him the gun salute and sounded the bugle.
Earlier, the mortal remains of Garg were taken to a platform and placed on the pyre amid chanting of Vedic hymns and blowing of conch shells.
The family performed certain Vedic rituals while Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju and the chief minister placed wood on the pyre.
A branch of the sandalwood tree, which Zubeen had planted on his birthday in 2017, was placed on the pyre.
Earlier, the popular singer’s body was brought on Sunday and kept at Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex for fans to pay homage.
After being brought to Kamarkuchi, his body was placed on a podium, next to the platform where his last rites were performed.
The funeral pyre, constructed on the platform, was covered in a white canopy and decorated with flowers all around it.
A team of Assam Police personnel were the pallbearers of the casket carrying Zubeen’s mortal remains.
A large number of people gathered around the cremation site since Monday night, and the entire area reverberated with slogans like ‘Long Live Zubeen’, ‘Jai Zubeen da’.
People were heard humming his song ‘Mayabini Ratir buku’, which the singer had once said should be sung at his funeral.
Members of the family, including his wife Garima, paid tributes to the singer at the cremation site.
Sonowal, Rijiju and Margherita, along with Sarma, assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary and several cabinet ministers and senior government officials, laid floral wreaths on the singer’s coffin.
Sonowal, Margherita, the chief minister and leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia went down on their knees to pay tributes to the singer.
Representatives of the Arunachal Pradesh government, Assam Sahitya Sabha (ASS), various students’ unions, Hatimura Karbi Samaj, Artists Forum, Zubeen Garg Fan Club and others also paid their last respects to Garg.
Meanwhile, the second post-mortem examination of Garg’s body was conducted at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital on Tuesday morning.
The first autopsy was conducted in Singapore, where he died on September 19 while swimming in the sea.
Earlier in the day, Garg’s body, placed inside the cold glass coffin, draped in the traditional Assamese ‘gamosa’, was taken in a flower-bedecked ambulance from the sports complex to the cremation site.
A huge black and white portrait of the singer was placed in front of the vehicle.
Zubeen’s last journey passed through Sarusajai, Beltola, Khanapara and Jorabat to reach Kamarkuchi. The singer’s family, close relatives and a few friends followed him in separate vehicles. (PTI)
