Nigambodh Ghat: Delhi's oldest, busiest crematorium and a bird watcher's paradise

New Delhi: In the news for being the location of former prime minister Manmohan Singh's State funeral, Nigambodh Ghat on the banks of the Yamuna is not only Delhi's oldest, largest and busiest crematorium but also a haven for bird watchers and photographers.

Believed to have been established by Yudhishthira, the king of Indraprastha, the crematorium has witnessed the last rites of several political heavyweights -- from former Union minister Arun Jaitley to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Sunder Singh Bhandari.

On Saturday, the mortal remains of Singh -- who led India on the path of economic liberalisation in the 1990s -- were consigned to flames at the ghat.

The Congress had demanded the funeral take place at a location where a memorial to Singh could be built but the government said he would be accorded a State funeral at Nigambodh Ghat. The Congress called the decision a "deliberate insult to India's first Sikh prime minister".

Among the top political heavyweights to be cremated at Nigambodh Ghat are Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyaya, former vice-president Krishan Kant and Delhi ex-chief minister Sheila Dikshit, whose official residence was converted to Singh's post-retirement home.

Singh was accorded a State funeral at the ghat, whose last rites were performed with military honours.

The ghat consists of a series of bathing and ceremonial-stepped piers leading to the river. The electric crematorium was built in the 1950s. A CNG-powered crematorium was added in the early 2000s.

According to legends, the ghat was blessed by the presence of Hindu gods.

One such legend mentioned in a scripture says that more than 5,500 years ago, in the times of Mahabharata, when gods walked on Earth, Brahma bathed at the ghat and regained his divine memory -- leading to the ghat acquiring its "Nigambodh" name, which means regaining knowledge.

Another legend mentions that Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers of the Bharat dynasty and the king of Indraprastha, constructed the ghat.

These days, the ghat serves two purposes -- being the largest and busiest cremation ground, and as a haven of sorts for bird watchers and photographers.

Author Swapna Liddle, in her book Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi, says ancient tradition associated Delhi with Indra-prastha -- the holy place where Indra, the king of the gods, performed sacrifices and worshipped Vishnu.

"This spot on the bank of the Yamuna was then blessed by Vishnu, who called it 'Nigambodhak' where knowledge of the Vedas could be gained simply by taking a dip in the waters. The name Nigambodhak literally meant 'that which makes known the knowledge of the Vedas'," she says in the book.

The ghat was officially established by the Bari Panchayat Vaish Bisa Aggarwal, which was instituted in 1898 when Delhi was known as Shahjanabad.

The crematorium is currently operated by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

"At that time, major business and trade activities were conducted by Vaish Agarwals. The entire society was scattered and used to perform birth and death ceremonies as per their wish and status which affected the lower strata of people," according to the description on Nigambodh Ghat's website.

"The Vaish Bisa society then took a pledge to stop the over expenditure made on marriages, son's birth and death rituals and standardise the rituals so that even the poor could perform them with much less expense. Since then, Vaish Beese Agarwal Badi Panchayat has been diligently managing these important phases of life," it added.