| Raj Ghat | |
| Map Type: | India New Delhi |
| Building Type: | Tomb |
| Location: | Ring Road, Shahjahanabad, Delhi, India |
| Coordinates: | 28.6405°N 77.2493°W |
| Groundbreaking Date: | 1948 |
Raj Ghat is a memorial complex in Delhi, India. The first memorial was dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi where a black marble platform was raised to mark the spot of his cremation on 31 January 1948 and consists of an eternal flame at one end. Located on Delhi's Ring Road, a stone footpath leads to the walled enclosure that houses the memorial. Later the memorial complex was expanded to include other memorials for other prominent people including Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Charan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee among the others.
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.[1]
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.[2]
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.[3] [4] [5] [6]
In 2000, the Government of India under 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.[7]
| Name | Title/Position | Date of death | Memorial name | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahatma Gandhi | Founding Father of India | 30 January 1948 | Raj Ghat | ||
| Jawaharlal Nehru | First Prime Minister of India | 27 May 1964 | Shanti Van | ||
| Lal Bahadur Shastri | Second Prime Minister of India | 11 January 1966 | Vijay Ghat | ||
| Sanjay Gandhi | Grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru and former Member of Parliament | 23 June 1980 | Samadhi of Sanjay Gandhi | ||
| Indira Gandhi | Third Prime Minister of India | 31 October 1984 | Shakti Sthal | ||
| Jagjivan Ram | Fourth Deputy Prime Minister of India | 6 July 1986 | Samta Sthal | ||
| Charan Singh | Fifth Prime Minister of India | 29 May 1987 | Kisan Ghat | ||
| Rajiv Gandhi | Sixth Prime Minister of India | 21 May 1991 | Vir Bhumi | ||
| Lalita Shastri | Spouse of Lal Bahadur Shastri | 13 April 1993 | Samadhi of Lalita Shastri | ||
| Giani Zail Singh | Seventh President of India | 25 December 1994 | Ekta Sthal | ||
| Shanker Dayal Sharma | Ninth President of India | 26 December 1999 | Karma Bhumi | ||
| Devi Lal | Sixth Deputy Prime Minister of India | 6 April 2001 | Sangharsh Sthal | ||
| P. V. Narasimha Rao | Ninth Prime Minister of India | 23 December 2004 | Smriti Sthal | ||
| K. R. Narayanan | Tenth President of India | 9 November 2005 | Uday Bhumi | ||
| Chandra Shekhar | Eighth Prime Minister of India | 8 July 2007 | Jannayak Sthal | ||
| R. Venkataraman | Eighth President of India | 27 January 2009 | Ekta Sthal | ||
| Inder Kumar Gujral | Twelfth Prime Minister of India | 30 November 2012 | Smriti Sthal | ||
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Tenth Prime Minister of India | 16 August 2018 | Sadaiv Atal |
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.[8]
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.[9] 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 Smriti Sthal.[10]