Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar Cremated In Mumbai with State Honours

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who died early today after weeks of hospitalisation, was cremated with full state honours at Mumbai's iconic Shivaji Park this evening bringing an end to a splendid and decorated career. She was 92.

Just before the last rites, the national flag in which the body was draped, was handed over to the family members. Lata Mangeshkar's brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the funeral pyre of the singing legend.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Shivaji Park to pay his last respects to the singer and met the Mangeshkar family members and consoled them. He left the venue before the funeral.

“She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled,” Mr. Modi said on Twitter. Ms. Mangeshkar was an early supporter of Mr. Modi.

Lata Mangeshkar was born on Sept. 28, 1929, in the city of Indore, in what is now the state of Madhya Pradesh. She was the oldest of five children born to Shuddhamati Mangeshkar and her husband, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a well-known classical musician active in Marathi-language theater. Her sisters Meena, Asha and Usha and her brother, Hridaynath, all of whom survive her, are also musicians.

Lata Mangeshkar, who enthralled generations of Bollywood audiences as the singing voice behind many actresses’ performances, died on Sunday at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, India. She was 92.

The cause was complications of Covid-19, said Pratit Samdani, a doctor at the hospital, according to Indian news outlets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he was “anguished beyond words.”

Ms. Mangeshkar leaves a legacy of tens of thousands of songs, mostly in Hindi but also in several other Indian languages. Most of her work was as a playback singer — a vocalist who does not appear onscreen, but records a character’s songs, which are later dubbed in.

In India, though, she was far from anonymous. She received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest honor, in 2001. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that she would be given a state funeral and that flags at government buildings would be flown at half-staff for two days.

Lata Mangeshkar was born on Sept. 28, 1929, in the city of Indore, in what is now the state of Madhya Pradesh. She was the oldest of five children born to Shuddhamati Mangeshkar and her husband, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a well-known classical musician active in Marathi-language theater. Her sisters Meena, Asha and Usha and her brother, Hridaynath, all of whom survive her, are also musicians.

The family was prosperous, living in a large house in the city of Sangli, in what is now the state of Maharashtra. Her father was her first music teacher, and she acted in plays as a child, though her father was reluctant to let his daughters appear onstage. Ms. Mangeshkar spent much of her childhood on the road, as the family accompanied her father’s theater company on tour across the region.

Ms. Mangeshkar never married. For years, she supported her mother as well as her siblings, until they began their own careers. Her sister Asha Bhosle, 88, is also a well-known playback singer.

“Music is my life and God,” Ms. Mangeshkar said in Ms. Kabir’s book. “My prayer is music — it is like a father and mother to me.”