Nimtala Crematorium is located on Beadon Street,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The
crematorium
A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...
is also historically known as Nimtala burning ghat, or simply Nimtala ghat.
Located on the banks of
Hoogly (
Ganga) it is considered to be one of the holiest burning ghats in the country where the soul is said to attain
moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
, ie. breaking the cycle of birth and death. So people across the country comes here for the cremation of their loved ones. It is also one of the largest burning ghats in the country, being located in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
.
History
The first building of this burning ghat came up in 1717, but cremation was done almost 2000 years before that time. In 2010 the central government of India upgraded the crematorium at a cost of INR ₹140 million (US$2.0 million). The Bengali polymath
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
was cremated here in 1941. The Rabindranath Tagore Memorial in the crematorium compound was beautified as part of the 2010 project.
The ghat has also been represented in popular literature. It plays a significant part in the plot of the
2013 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winning Malayalam novel,
Aarachaar, by
K. R. Meera
K. R. Meera (born 19 February 1970) is an Indian author and journalist, who writes in Malayalam. She was born in Sasthamkotta, Kollam district in Kerala. She worked as a journalist in ''Malayala Manorama'' but later resigned to concentrate mor ...
.
Notable funerals
*
Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE ( bn, ঈশ্বর চন্দ্র বিদ্যাসাগর; 26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), born Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century ...
*
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
*
Rajendralal Mitra
Raja Rajendralal Mitra (16 February 1822 – 26 July 1891) was among the first Indian cultural researchers and historians writing in English. A polymath and the first Indian president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he was a pioneering figur ...
*
Manik Bandopadhyay
Manik Bandyopadhyay lias Banerjee(; 19 May 1908 – 3 December 1956) is an Indian Litterateur regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years of literary career, battling with ...
See also
*
Kashi Mitra Ghat crematorium
*
Keoratola crematorium
References
External links
*
Crematoria in India
Culture of Kolkata
Death in India
Ghats in Kolkata
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