Shakti Sthal

Shakti Sthal, together with Raj Ghat to its south, is the most visited of India's memorial grounds. Here are commemorated three Indian leaders, all bearing the name Gandhi and all assassinated by extremists. Most visitors are moved, some to tears, by this poignant reminder of such wanton destruction of peaceful, democratic lives. Shakti Sthal is also of interest to geologists, as specimens of rock from all India are exhibited in the grounds, many of them formed when the then island of India collided, on its northward drift, with the continent of Asia.

Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi assassinated in 1984 by two of her Sikh guards, was cremated here, and a great rock marks the spot. Foreign visitors should bear in mind that the ashes of cremated Hindus are scattered over holy water, such as the River Ganges or Pushkar Lake, and therefore, unlike Muslim, their monuments are examples not tombs but cenotaphs. Some confusion also exists over the name Gandhi. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, and gained her surname through marriage to Feroze Gandhi, who was not related in any way to Mahatma Gandhi; a strange historical coincidence! Her son Rajiv, Prime Minister of India (1984-89), was killed in south India by a bomb during his election campaign of 1991. It is believed that the assassin was an elderly Tamil women, who also died in the explosion after presenting him with a bouquet of flowers in which the bomb was concealed. A brick plinth to the north-east commemorates Rajiv Gandhi; note that it is forbidden to mount the steps.

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