Mumbai: Last Rites Of Ratan Tata Conducted At Worli Prayer Hall Built By Parsis; See Photos Inside

The funeral of Ratan Tata, patriarch of the Tata business empire who passed away on Wednesday, was held on Thursday evening at Worli crematorium.

Before that, the mortal remains were brought after 10.30am to an enclosure in the NCPA lawns, Nariman Point where members of the public paid their last respects and homage. An all-religion prayer was organised at the lawns where leaders from various faiths, including Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism, and other groups were present. Later in the afternoon, the body left in a convoy for the crematorium. As the convoy travelled along Marine Drive on its way to Worli, hundreds of people stood on the footpath to watch it pass by.

Among those who visited the NCPA lawns and the cemetery were Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Member of Parliament from Mumbai North and Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and family, industrialists Mukesh Ambani and wife Nita Ambani, and Kumarmangalam Birla.

Ratan Tata, 86, who was the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, had rebuilt the sprawling business group. He was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai for age-related ailments a few days ago. A statement signed by him had dismissed reports of his deteriorating health and had explained the hospitalisation to a routine health check.

It is not known whether Tata had made a request that he wanted his body to be cremated and not consigned to the Tower of Silence at Malabar Hill according to Parsi-Zoroastrian custom. Homi Khusrokhan, former Managing Director of Tata Group and a trustee of The Prayer Hall attached to the Worli crematorium, who had led the arrangements for the funeral said that he did not know of any such request from Tata. The Prayer Hall was built by a group of Parsis who wanted an alternate system of funeral.

However, it is possible that the Worli cemetery was chosen as the place for the last rites considering that dignitaries, including business leaders, friends, and politicians were expected to take part in it, said Jehangir Patel, editor of the Parsi community magazine Parsiana. The Tower of Silence, where mortal remains are consigned to the elements in the traditional Zoroastrian funeral system, could have been inaccessible to non-Zoroastrian mourners as only Zoroastrians are allowed entry into the prayer halls of the cemetery. "It would be embarrassing if dignitaries are turned away. Ratan Tata would not have wanted this," said Patel.