Raj Ghat and associated memorials

Raj Ghat loosely translates to Royal Steps with the word "royal" alluding to the importance of the place and "steps" referencing the climb from the banks of the Yamuna river.{{cite journal |last1=Maddipati |first1=Venugopal |title=When Landscape Became King: A Short Note on the Ascendancy of the Immediate Present as the Sovereign of Rajghat |journal=LA Journal of Landscape Architecture, India. |date=January 2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36919706 |access-date=27 January 2020 |language=en}}

Raj Ghat was the name of a location of historic ghat in Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi on the west bank of the Yamuna River east of Daryaganj.{{cite book |title=Delhi, past and present|author= H.C. Fanshawe|publisher=Asian Educational Services|year= 1998|isbn=81-206-1318-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ4HFt5S8CcC&q=Daryaganj&pg=PA67|ref=Fa}}

The first memorial was dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi on the spot where his remains were cremated on 31 January 1948. It consists of a black marble platform with an eternal flame at one end. A stone footpath leads to the walled enclosure that houses the memorial. Later the memorial complex was expanded to include several other samadhis for various leaders in the vicinity of Raj Ghat. The landscaping and planting of these memorials were originally performed by Alick Percy-Lancaster, Superintendent of Horticultural operations with the Government of India.{{cite news|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/no-space-for-samadhis-vvips-to-share-memorial-place-in-delhi/20130516.htm|title=No space for 'samadhis', VVIPs to share memorial place in Delhi|date=16 May 2013|work=Rediff.com|access-date=30 November 2013}}{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040819/delhi.htm|title='Rajiv' to bloom at Veer Bhumi|date=18 August 2004|publisher=The Tribune Trust|access-date=21 December 2008}}{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99dec29/nation.htm|title=Tearful farewell to S.D. Sharma|date=28 December 1999|work=The Tribune|publisher=The Tribune Trust|access-date=21 December 2008}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Former-PM-Chandrashekhars-samadhi-to-be-called-Jannayak-Sthal/articleshow/47022230.cms|title=Former PM Chandrashekhar's samadhi to be called Jannayak Sthal|date=23 April 2015|work=The Times of India|access-date=19 November 2015}}

In 2000, the government of India under Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a decision to not create separate memorials for different leaders as the already existing memorials were occupying more than 245 acres of prime land in Delhi.{{cite news|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/history-significance-of-rashtriya-smriti-sthal-where-atal-bihari-vajpayees-last-rites-will-be-held/1283619/|title=History, significance of Rashtriya Smriti Sthal where Atal Bihari Vajpayee's last rites will be held|date=17 August 2017|access-date=8 August 2023|publisher=Financial Express}}

The hard materials used in the memorial had raised a few questions about the nature of Gandhian architecture where there is a stark difference between the architecture of Rajghat and a Gandhian low-cost housing architecture.{{cite journal |last1=Maddipati |first1=Venugopal |title=Gandhi and Architecture: A Time for Low-Cost Housing: The Philosophy of Finitude |journal=Gandhi and Architecture: A Time for Low-Cost Housing |date=January 2020 |doi=10.4324/9780429262517 |isbn=9780429262517 |s2cid=225597933 |url=https://www.academia.edu/42743173 |access-date=22 August 2020 |language=en}}

P. V. Narasimha Rao was the ninth Prime minister of India. He died on 24 December 2004 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/24/stories/2004122408870100.htm|title=Narasimha Rao passes away at the age of 83|work=The Hindu| date= 24 December 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041230182813/http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/24/stories/2004122408870100.htm |access-date=10 July 2012|archive-date=30 December 2004 }} His family wanted the body cremated at Raj Ghat in Delhi. In 2015, almost ten years since his death, a memorial was finally erected at Gyan Bhumi.{{Cite news|title=10 years after death, Narasimha Rao gets memorial in Delhi|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/10-years-after-death-narasimha-rao-gets-memorial-in-delhi/articleshow/47868463.cms|website=The Times of India|language=en|date=30 June 2015}}

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{{commons category|Rajghat}}

• [http://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/tourist_place/memorial_delhi.jsp India official tourism website]

{{Delhi}}

{{Gandhi}}

Category:Eternal flames

Category:Monuments and memorials in Delhi

Category:Memorials to Mahatma Gandhi

Category:Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi