- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
ICONIC Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away early on Sunday (6) in a hospital in the western Indian city of Mumbai after almost a month’s treatment, was cremated with full state honours at the city’s Shivaji Park in the evening.
The death of India’s ‘Nightingale’ at the age of 92 marked the end of a glorious career that spanned for over seven decades.
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Just ahead of the last rites, the country’s Tricolour in which Mangeshkar’s mortal remains were draped, was handed over to her family. She is survived by her four siblings and brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the legend’s funeral pyre.
Lata Mangeshkar passes away at 92
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited the crematorium venue to pay his final tributes to Mangeshkar. He met her family and consoled them and left the venue before the funeral.
Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the governor of the state of Maharashtra; Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister of the state and his deputy Ajit Pawar; Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar; actors Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan; lyricist Javed Akhtar, former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, were in attendance to pay their last respects among others.
Mangeshkar was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
One of the famous episodes of Mangeshkar’s life is when her music moved India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears. On January 27, 1963, during the backdrop of the India-China war, Mangeshkar sang ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ (O my countrymen) in the presence of Nehru, bringing him to tears.
The Indian government has announced a two-day “state mourning” in the honour of the late artiste.
The Tricolour will fly at half mast on February 6 and 7 throughout India and no official entertainment will be held in this period.
