The End of an Epoch
by G.M.Nandurkar
Originally published in 1974

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel left his mortal coil at Birla House, Bombay at 9.37 am, Friday, the 15th of December 1950. Hardly a month and a half before, the Nation had celebrated his 75th Birthday with a rare sense of affection, profound respect and deep adoration for the man.

Only three days prior to his death, Sardar had come to Bombay for a change in weather. Delhi’s biting cold was getting too severe for him. In spite of persistent advice of the doctors that the change was highly necessary, Sardar moved to Bombay only when he realized that his totally emaciated and worn-out body had incapacitated him to do any purposeful work.

Sardar looked comfortable and at ease on Tuesday and the day next. The hope gathered that we would soon revive. But, alas! It turned out to eb a false hope. From Wednesday night he began to feel restless. This condition continued intermittently for the whole of Thursday resulting in a severe attack of Coronary Thrombosis on Friday morning. Drs. M.D.D. Gilder and Nathubhai Patel were in constant attendance on him. They injected Coramine instantly and kept oxygen pipe close to his nose. That, however, did not serve and Sardar remained unconscious for over six hours. At 7 a.m. he regained consciousness; his pulse marked some improvement and he asked for water. Maniben, his devoted daughter who was close standing by, with a care all her own, put into his mouth drop by drop the sacred water of the holy Ganges. “Is it water?” the Sardar asked in a slow and sunken voice. “Yes, Bapu”, rejoined Maniben. This was the last conversation between father and daughter. Thereafter, life in him began to ebb away slowly and Sardar passed into Eternity at 9.37 a.m.

The Sardar was serene throughout the most torturous fight that he had to face against death. The end came peacefully.

Manibehn, Sardar’s daughter, sentinel, secretary and even vigilant nurse, Dahyabhai, her younger brother, his wife and son, Bhanumati and Bipin, Sardar’s private secretary, V Shankar were at his bedside since his condition grew worse and till he breathed his last.

As this news spread far and wide in the country, the pall of gloom descended all over India. From Kailas to Kanya Kumari and from Kamrup to distant Kathiawad, in all cities and towns, business firms, educational institutions, courts, Government and non-Government offices remained closed. Flags on Government buildings were lowered and flown half-mast. The news of Sardar’s death was immediately conveyed to Delhi.

Breaking this news to the Parliament, Pandit Nehru in a voice choked with sorrow said, “The story of a great life has ended…. It is a great story that all of us know and the whole country knows. History will record it in so many pages and call him the builder and consolidator of the new India and will say many other things about him. But, perhaps, to many of us here, he will be remembered as a great Captain of our forces in the Struggle for Freedom and as one who gave us sound advice in times of troubles as well as in moments of victory; as a friend and colleague and comrade on whom one could invariably rely and as a tower of strength which revived wavering hearts/” Recalling his unique and matchless services at the alter of Motherland, the Deputy Speaker, Ananthasayanam Ayyangar said, “He performed a miracle in this country both in winning the freedom for this country and also, after winning Freedom, in the cause of unification and consolidation of the country. He really performed a miracle. A revolution – a bloodless revolution – which is unknown in the history of the world has been brought about by him. ”

The parliament stood in silence for a while in memory of the great departed and was declared adjourned for the day and next.

The Government of India ordered State mourning for one full week to bereave the most lamentable death of Sardar. All State entertainments were cancelled. Naval and merchant vessels lay anchored in the harbours.

Shortly before noon, Sardar Patel’s body was bathed by his son Dahyabhai with the holy water of the Ganges. Then it was clothed in his usal simple style, i e, dhoti and kurta, in which millions of his country men had seen him during the half century of his most thrilling career. This after, he was laid in state on a flower-bedecked pedestal in a spacious verandah overlooking the Arabian sea. Sardar seemed to be in deep slumber.

Nearly half a million people must have turned to Birla House to pay their last respects to the Sardar. The lawn facing the Birla house looked like an ocean of humanity bowed down in deep sorrow and solemnity. Hundreds of people were weeping, while others were too grief-sticken to shed tears.

The stream of mourners comprised people from all walks of life and situations. Ministers and laymen, millionaires and paupers, high officials and clerks, C-in C s and sepoys, princes and peasants – all gathered to pay their homage to the Sardar. Thousands of women, some of them with babies in arms, waded their way through the milling crowds to have a last glimpse of the Sardar.

Premier Nehru, Sardars closest colleague in the freedom battle and in the governance of Free India, Shri C Rajagopalachari, his oldest colleague and the first and last Indian Viceroy, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, another of his nearest colleagues and President Indian Union, and the newly-elected Congress Chief, Babu Purushottamdas Tandn, flew to Bombay by a special plane. Shri G.V.Mavalankar, Speaker of Indian Parliament, had reached Bombay by an earlier plane.

The death of Sardar was the heaviest blow and shock to Delhi. The entire populace plunged into deep sorrow. In a vast public meeting Delhi citizens voiced their grief in a resolution. “Though the Sardar is no more, his name will ever remained enshrined in the annals of our national history and the living and coming generations will always remember him as one whose hand played by far the most predominant role in shaping the structure of Free India.”

Sardar’s last message to the Nation as delivered through a Cabinet colleague of him was:

“Whenever in her long history, India has achieved Freedom from foreign domination, her Independence was menaced not by her external enemies, but by her internal weakness. At this hour of crisis, therefore, it is our duty to be very cautious and careful.”

Wreaths, flower garlands and yarn-hanks in countless numbers were offered at his feet one by one by the thousands of citizens and institutions. Prominent citizens walked to the pedestal in an unending stream and bowed in reverence to the great departed.

All the three Service came to Bombay by a special plane. They saluted the departed leader. Then officers of the Army, Navy and Air-Force passed in threes and fours and gave their last salute to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Prior to the arrival of the President and the Prime Minister from Delhi, Army services had lined the approaches to the Birla House and the huge crowds stood waiting for the funeral procession to start. The sweet and solemn chanting in chorus of the Raghupati Raghava Rajaram had filled the atmosphere around.

The Prime Minister almost broke down as he entered the portico where Sardar Patel’s body lay in state. Tears were rolling down the shrunken cheeks of Shri Rajagopalachari. U.P. Premier, G.B.Pant, was sobbing like a bereaved child. Some Governors and Chief Ministers including his close comrades in the Parliament gathered in Bombay to pay their last homage to their esteemed leader and lieutenant. V.P.Memon, Secretary to State Ministry and Devdas Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s youngest son, came down to Bombay by a service plane.

A few minutes before 5 p.m., Sardar’s body was placed in the gun-carriage kept ready in the portico of the Birla House. With kumkum mark and a paste of sandalwood on his forehead, and a white shroud over his body, Sardar looked a picture of peace and serenity.

The last pilgrimage commenced exactly at 5 p.m. along a six-mile route, Maniben and Dahyabhai followed the gun-carriage on foot. Then followed a fleet of cars carrying the Union President, Prime Minister and a host of Central and State dignitaries. Men of the Defence Services, so dear to Sardar’s heart, followed next.

A tidal wave of grief-sticken humanity swept through West and Central Bombay, as the funeral procession was on its way to reach the cremation ground.

The crowds estimated at about a million took part in the State funeral. The six-mile route along which this mourning procession was passing, became so thick and crowdy at times that it became almost difficult to move further. A score of people fell or fainted and were almost trampled upon by the milling crowds.

All along the route on either side of the pavements men and women had thronged in thousands to see their departed leader. Balconies and windows were seen crammed with people to catch the glimpse of the Sardar. Verily, it was the pathetic sight of Mother India shedding her bitterest tears over the loss of her precious and dearest son. Flowers and bouquets were frequently showered on him by people till the cortege reached the cremation ground.

At 7.20 p m. this historic funeral procession reached the precincts of Sonapur Crematorium. From this point, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Shri Nehru and the rest of Sardar’s closest colleagues carried on their shoulders the body of their great comrade on the last lap of the journey and laid it on a white sheet-covered platform.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Shri Nehru, Shri Rajagopalachari, the Governors of Bombay and Madras and some of the Chief and other Ministers of States reverentially touched the feet of the Sardar.

Just before the pyre was lit, the company of Travancore Light Infantry presented arms to their dead hero and fired three salutes in his honour.

Then came on the spot, the three Service Chief, Gen. K.M.Cariappa, Admiral W.E.Parry and Vice-Air Marshal, S.Mukherjee and other military officers all of them in ceremonial gowns. They stood in salute to the Sardar. The three Chiefs laid wreaths on behalf of their Forces.

The body was placed on the sandalwood pyre at 7.25 pm.m Very near this spot, his elder brother Vitthalbhai Patel – that valiant fighter for Swaraj – was cremated seventeen years ago. Then Shri Dahyabhai, Sardar’s son, poured ghi and incense on the pyre and lighted it. All assembled round the pyre stepped behind with tears in their eyes. Shri Nehru was seen sobbing as he poured incense on the pyre and turned back. Soon the flames were rising in the air.

Just while the pyre was being lit, Rajaji in his funeral oration said of Sardar, “What inspiration, courage, confidence and force incarnate Vallabhbhai was. Let us not think that Sardar is dead ….. The real Vallabhbhai has survived even after the Vallabhbhai we knew breathed his last.” In his funeral speech, in a voice quivering with emotion, Dr. Rajendra Prasad spoke of his colleague: “Sardar’s body is being consumed by fire; but no fire on earth can consume his fame. The earthly body of Sardar Patel has gone. But in the form of the service he has rendered to his country, he would live for all time. Those left behind would have to continue the work left by him unfinished.”

On the 30th of December the ashes of Sardar were immersed into the sacred confluence of the Ganges, the Jumna and the invisible Saraswati. Over a million people joined the Union President in paying silent prayers to the Almighty for the peace of the Great Departed.

Sardar’s loss was universally felt. But to his countrymen, as the prominent Delhi paper so aptly put it: “It is really a void which the Nation may not be able to fill for generations to come.”

– DeshGujarat
About Sardar Patel project:
Sardar Patel series aims to connect Shri Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s life/works/thoughts to new generation audience through popular online platforms. Lot of authentic and unexplored material on Sardar Patel will be published online for the first time under this project. It will come in a form of series on DeshGujarat.Com and later move to a separate website dedicated to Sardar Patel project.