Mumbai: At 8:12 am Lata Mangeshkar, the soul of Indian music, battling Coronavirus and related complications for 29 days, breathed her last at Breach Candy Hospital at age 92 at 8. 12 am on Sunday.

Her passing came a day after Saraswati Puja, which is dedicated to the goddess of music. While PM Narendra Modi flew down to Mumbai for the state funeral which was held at Shivaji Park, thousands of Mumbaikars lined the route from Lata’s Prabhu Kunj, Pedder Road, residence to Shivaji Park when the body, draped in a tricolour, was carried in an open, flower-bedecked army truck to bid farewell to their favourite singer.

CM Uddhav Thackeray awarded the singer a state funeral at the maidan, where such a singular honour was last given to his father, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

The Centre declared two days of national mourning, while the state government announced a public holiday on Monday. The national flag atop Mantralaya was lowered to half-staff as a mark of respect.

Guardian minister Aaditya Thackeray took stock of funeral arrangements on site. BMC received special permission from the state to perform the cremation at Shivaji Park. Arrangements were made on a 2,000 sq ft area. Traffic was regulated en route and 2,700 police personnel deployed for bandobast from Breach Candy and Prabhu Kunj to Shivaji Park.

Earlier, Lata Mangeshkar’s body was escorted by the Thackerays, including MNS leader Raj Thackeray, from hospital to her nearby residence at 1 pm. Here the body was draped in the tricolour. Lata’s siblings Asha Bhosle and Meena, Usha and Hridaynath Mangeshkar boarded the bedecked truck bearing the body, and nephews and nieces walked beside the cortege.

Luminaries led by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, actor Amitabh Bachchan, lyricist Javed Akhtar and film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali visited the house to commiserate, while scores of music celebrities, apart from actor Shah Rukh Khan and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, arrived for the cremation. The Dadar Vyapari Sangh too shut shops in the area after 5:30 pm.

Modi’s cavalcade entered Shivaji Park around 6:25 pm. He placed a wreath, circumambulated the body and met with the family before leaving. CM Thackeray, who is recovering from a surgery, made an exit shortly after. Around 6:45 pm, Lata’s body was placed upon a bed of sandalwood. The tricolour drape was folded back from her person. At 7:00 pm, the chanting of mantras began as firewood and ghee was placed upon the pyre. At 7:16 pm, her sibling Hridaynath lit the pyre, supported by his older son Adinath. The moment marked the end of an era in the history of modern India.

(Inputs by Mateen Hafeez &Richa Pinto)

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Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar was cremated with full state honours on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, several other politicians and celebrities joined a huge crowd of her fans for the funeral at Shivaji Park in Dadar. Mangeshkar, the nation’s most beloved vocalist and an artiste who inspired many across the subcontinent, passed away on Sunday morning at Breach Candy hospital, at the age of 92.

The CM has declared Monday, February 7, a state holiday to mourn the demise of the singer who is fondly known as Lata Didi. Mangeshkar’s career in the Indian music industry has spanned over 70 years, during which she remained on top as several of her peers entered and exited the industry. Her contribution remains unmatched.

She spent the last few months of her life recovering from health problems and complications. She had contracted the novel Coronavirus, and suffered from severe symptoms of pneumonia last month. Mangeshkar was laid to rest with full state honours along with a gun salute, at Shivaji Park Maidan in Dadar, where Bal Thackeray’s last rites were also conducted.

Security was beefed up at the hospital where she breathed her last, her house Prabhu Kunj in Peddar Road where she was taken before being brought to Shivaji Park. At the residence, close friends and family members were allowed to pay their last respects. Approximately 2,300 security personnel guarded the park, owing to the presence of the PM, CM and other senior political dignitaries. Local armed force, police force, units of Quick Reaction Team, riot control police, the state reserve police force, the delta force, a bomb squad and a dog squad were deployed.

The personnel of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force gave a 21-gun salute to Mangeshkar whose body was wrapped in the Tricolour. Full state honours were accorded to her, as several dignitaries, family members and guests laid wreaths on her body, with the bugle playing in the background. Her younger brother, Hridaynath and his son Aadinath, and her sister Asha Bhosle conducted the last rites at 7:16 pm. A makeshift funeral pyre made out of concrete slabs on a raised platform was built for the funeral.

Before Mangeshkar’s body was kept aboard the truck, which was decorated with flowers and had a huge photograph of the singer, the police and military personnel gave a ceremonial salute and a band played the national anthem.

Several Bollywood celebrities had arrived at her residence, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Anupam Kher, Shraddha Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Bhagyashree, Bhushan Kumar, Javed Akhtar, Anuradha Paudwal, Govinda, Javed Akhtar, directors Madhur Bhandarkar, Ashutosh Gowariker and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and music composer Shankar Mahadevan.

Among the politicians who paid their last respect to the ‘Nightingale of India, were CM’s wife Rashmi Thackeray and son Aaditya Thackeray, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar, Dilip Waise Patil, Vinod Tawde, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal, Goa CM Pramod Sawant and MNS leader Raj Thackeray.

About half-a-dozen priests performed a religious ceremony as per Hindu rituals. The smiling and soft-spoken angel has departed and her memories remain etched in our minds, through her inspiring songs.

Asha Bhosle and sister Usha Mangeshkar at Shivaji Park

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Union minister Piyush Goyal, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sachin Tendulkar, his wife Anjali Tendulkar, actor Shah Rukh Khan were among the dignitaries who attended the funeral