Guwahati: Thousands of people turned up at the Guwahati University to attend the last rites of iconic singer Bhupen Hazarika, here on Wednesday.
Hazarika was cremated with full state honour with the Assam Police giving the legend a 21-gun salute.
Hazarika, who breathed his last at a Mumbai hospital on Saturday, began his final journey from Judges Field to his final resting place at the Gauhati University on Wednesday morning.
Before the journey began family members spent some time with the noted vocalists body, inside the historic Judges Field, where his body was kept inside a glass casket and draped in traditional Assamese ’gamosa’.
Hazarika’s son Tez Bhupen Hazarika, the singer's companion of nearly 40 years, Indian filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, and other family members performed religious rituals before the casket was placed on a flower-bedecked vehicle.
It was around 10:20am in the morning when Tez Bhupen Hazarika lit the pyre and the final rituals were thus performed.
Tez Bhupen Hazarika had arrived at Guwahati on Tuesday afternoon from the U.S to be part of the event.
Assam Governor J B Patnaik, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Union DONER Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, who is representing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj are among the thousands of mourners who are attending the last rites of the maestro.
Both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments have announced a state holiday on Tuesday in honour of the iconic singer who passed away at a Mumbai hospital on Saturday.
Hazarika, best known for bringing Assamese folk songs into the limelight, will be cremated at the Gauhati University campus, on the banks of the Brahmaputra.
Since Monday, more than 2 million people from all over India, gathered at Guwahati to participate in last journey of the singer who was called the cultural icon of North-East India.
On Tuesday, actors Raveena Tandon and Seema Biswas reached Guwahati to pay their last tribute to the singer, local media reported.
Hazarika, suffering from respiratory and kidney failure, passed away on Saturday at a Mumbai Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, where he was admitted on June 29, after both his kidneys failed. He was 85.
As a singer, Hazarika was known for his deep baritone voice and crisp diction; as a lyricist, he was known for poetic compositions and parables that touch on a wide range of themes ranging from the erotic to social and political commentary; and as a composer for his use of folk music with a touch of the contemporary.
In addition to his native Assamese, Hazarika sang in many other Indian languages, including Bengali and Hindi, many of these the translations of originally Assamese-composed songs.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said Hazarika had been one of India's "most gifted artists".
"Hazarika's extraordinary talent encompassed not only music and literature but also cinema acting and direction," Singh said in a statement.
"His contribution greatly enriched our cultural landscape and his influence on Assamese art and culture was particularly profound."