The last rites of legendary painter Syed Haider Raza were performed at Mandla, his home town, as per his wish. He was laid to rest next to his father's grave in a graveyard at Binjhiya village in Mandla district amid a guard of honour by the Madhya Pradesh Police.
Raza passed away at the age of 94 on Saturday in New Delhi in a private hospital after prolonged illness.
His body was brought from Delhi to Nagpur by a special plane on Sunday morning where a large number of his fans, friends and family members were waiting. From there the body was taken to Shia Masjid before it was taken to Shahre Khamoshan graveyard in a procession. En route, people paid their last respects to Raza who had wished to be buried in this tribal-dominated district where he once lived.
The acclaimed painter, who depicted concepts like 'bindu', 'purush-prakriti' and 'nari' in his instantly recognisable geometric abstract works, was born in 1922 in Babaria in Mandla district to a forest ranger father. Raza took to drawing at the age of 12. After high school, he enrolled at the Nagpur School of Art (1939-43), followed by the J J School of Art in Mumbai (1943-47), before moving to Paris to study (1950-1953).
He was awarded the Padma Shri and Fellowship of the lalit Kala Akademi in 1981, the Padma Bhushan in 2007 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2013.
Raza, credited for popularising Indian concepts and iconography, had built a towering legacy of modern art. Raza, who lived most of his life in France, was conferred in 2015 the Commandeur de la legion d'Honneur, the highest French honour for his artistic contribution. He was a co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group together with greats like FN Souza, KH Ara, MF Husain, HA Gade, SK Bakre and others.
His demise was mourned by a string of artists and connoisseurs of art.