Emotions ran high as a sea of fans bid a tearful farewell to legendary Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, who was cremated with full state honours at Kamarkuchi NC village on the outskirts of Guwahati on Tuesday.
His wife, Garima Saikia Garg, broke down during the rituals, unable to hold back her grief as family members, fans, and dignitaries gathered to pay their final respects.
Zubeen Garg’s body, brought to the cremation site after a second post-mortem at Gauhati Medical College Hospital, was placed on a podium next to the platform where the funeral pyre had been constructed under a white canopy, adorned with flowers. Priests chanted Vedic hymns since morning, and Assam Police personnel carried his casket, giving him a ceremonial gun salute before the last rites.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju, Pabitra Margherita, Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, and several senior leaders attended the funeral. Many of them went down on their knees to offer floral tributes to the late singer, who was regarded as one of Assam’s most influential cultural icons.
Thousands of fans thronged the cremation site, with many climbing nearby hills to catch a glimpse of the proceedings. Slogans of “Long Live Zubeen” and “Jai Zubeen Da” reverberated across the area, as admirers sang “Mayabini Ratir Buku,” a song Garg had often wished to be sung at his funeral.
Zubeen Garg’s final journey began from the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex in Guwahati, where his body was kept for public homage before being taken to Kamarkuchi.
The singer’s demise has left Assam in mourning, with fans across the region remembering him as the voice of their generation and a symbol of Assamese identity.
