Calcutta - Burning Ghat - a photo on Flickriver

Calcutta - Burning Ghat

            The Postcard

A postally unused postcard that was published by A. H. Perris of Calcutta. The card, which was printed in Great Britain, has a divided back.

Nimtala Crematorium

Nimtala Crematorium is located on Beadon Street, Kolkata, India. The crematorium is also historically known as Nimtala Burning Ghat.  It is one of the largest burning ghats in the country.

A ghat in India consists of steps leading down to a river, and a burning ghat is a ghat where bodies are cremated waterside, allowing ashes to be washed away by the river. 

Located on the banks of Hoogly (Ganga) River just like the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, Nimtala burning ghat is considered to be one of the holiest burning ghats in the country, where the soul is said to attain moksha, i.e. breaking the cycle of birth and death. 

Accordingly people across the country come to the ghat for the cremation of their loved ones.

The Nimtala burning ghat was first built in 1717, although cremation was done on the site for 2000 years before then. In 2010 the central government of India upgraded the crematorium at a cost of US$2.0 million. 

The Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore was cremated at the ghat in 1941. The Rabindranath Tagore Memorial in the crematorium compound was upgraded as part of the 2010 project.

The Nimtala ghat has also been represented in popular literature. It plays a significant part in the plot of the 2013 award-winning Malayalam novel, Aarachaar, by K. R. Meera.

Taken on: May 29, 2023

Tags:

postcard

old

nostalgia

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Calcutta

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Perris

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divided

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Nimtala

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Beadon

Street

Kolkata

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ashed

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Hoogly

Ganga

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2010

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1941

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Sets appears in: • India

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