Singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, who enthralled millions with her divine voice for eight decades, was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai.
Lata received a state funeral and Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in Mumbai from New Delhi. He visited the Shivaji Park to pay his last respects to the singer and met the Mangeshkar family members and consoled them. Modi left the venue before the funeral.
Just before the last rites, the national flag in which Lata's body was draped, was handed over to the family members. Lata Mangeshkar's brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the funeral pyre of the singing legend.
Modi laid a wreath next to Lata's body, as thousands, including Bollywood stars and politicians, thronged Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park where she was cremated amid the chanting of vedic hymns and a special gun salute.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, megastar Shah Rukh Khan, lyricist Javed Akhtar, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, among others, were also in attendance to pay their last respects.
India’s public broadcaster, Doordarshan, transmitted live scenes of the cremation to a grieving nation while Mangeshkar's songs played in the background.
India declared two days of national mourning and lowered the country’s flags through Monday.
