Singer Zubeen Garg`s body was consigned to flames, amid chanting of Vedic hymns in the sylvan surroundings of Kamarkuchi on the outskirts of Assam`s Guwahati. His final journey to the cremation ground had begun from the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex in Guwahati, where his body was brought after the second post-mortem examination at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
Everything happened at Zubeen Garg`s funeral
His sister Palme Borthakur and music composer Rahul Gautam, a protégé 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 stood up. 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. She even brought their dogs to the funeral for Zubeen`s one last glimpse.
Vedic hymns were chanted by priests at the cremation site since early morning. A team of Assam police personnel were the pallbearers of the casket, carrying Zubeen`s body. A gun salute was given to Zubeen by the Assam Police personnel before his body was taken to the platform, where his last rites would be performed.
As the smoke from the flames flared up, slogans like `Zubeen, Zubeen` reverberated in the air, and people were seen singing his song `Mayabini Ratir buku`. After the tributes were paid to the popular singer, the Assam Police gave him the gun salute and sounded the bugle. A large number of people gathered around the cremation site, including those on the hills surrounding the place, and slogans like `Long Live Zubeen`, `Jai Zubeen da` reverberated in the area. People were seen singing a song `Mayabini Ratir buku`, which Garg had said many times that this should be sung at his funeral.
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 funeral pyre has been constructed on the platform, covered in a white canopy and decorated with flowers all around it.
Who all attended the funeral
The family performed certain Vedic rituals while Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma 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.
Members of the Garg`s family, including his wife Garima, paid tributes to the singer at the cremation site.
Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju and Pabitra Margherita, along with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary and several cabinet ministers and senior government officials, also 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.
