Zubeen - The Human Who Refused To Be God

Many a time, fans asked their beloved singer, “জুবিন দা… আপুনি মানুহ নে ভগৱান?”  (Zubeen da, are you human or god?). To this, Zubeen Garg would often make it clear that he was a mere human, like all others, someone who would die someday too.

He used to say, “People feel Zubeen Garg is God… I’m not God… When I die you guys have to lit my pyre… Everybody thinks I can do anything… The one who loves me too much may sometimes end up doing wrong things…”

But, whether he knew it or not, he never once affirmed that he was “God in a Human form!"

Yet, now that he has gone, many feel that several moments from his life, his words, his final requests, felt almost woven from prophecy. Like a divine echo.

Words He Spoke, Beliefs He Held

The Final Wish: “Mayabini Raatir Bukut”: One of the most powerful threads in this tapestry is Zubeen's last wish around a song. In 2019, during a concert at Borooah College in Guwahati, Zubeen spoke from his heart: “When I die, this song ‘Mayabini Raatir Bukut’ should be played. So, this song is so important for me, for you, and for everyone.”

Truly, when he died, Assam listened. At his funeral in Sonapur, thousands of people gathered, as he had wished, singing 'Mayabini' together as the pyre was lit.

That song, which he called his fantasy, became a hymn rising out of grief and love.

While many stories are growing around him, there are a few authentic statements that reinforce how people saw him.

Zubeen often said: “Mur kunu Jaati nai, mur kunu Dhormo nai, mur kunu Bhogoban nai. Moi Mukto. Moie Kanchanjangha.” (“I have no caste, no religion, no God. I’m free. I am Kanchanjangha.”)

These lines blur the line between the mortal and the mythical. They don’t say “I am God” in plain words, but for many, they speak of someone who felt beyond boundaries of religion, caste, time.

The Legend was laid to rest in Sonapur, the very place where, years earlier, he had done a photoshoot and fallen in love with its serene beauty.

When his mortal remains were brought to Sarusajai, the skies wept. Rain fell, and a rare rainbow appeared, a phenomenon as poetic as his life.

"Assam will come to a standstill when I’m gone," he had once said. And it did. His absence silenced an entire land.

He also often said, "I will die before I grow old." That, too, became a haunting reality.

Throughout his life, Zubeen wrote and sang many songs about death. He spoke of it often, as if he knew it would come for him early.

The last song he ever sang was “Batore Hehote” which means “At the End of the Road.” Even that felt like a farewell, resonating deeply with the sense of something or someone departing forever.

Zubeen also once boldly claimed that he would do something before he dies that in the coming 100 years nobody could do. And it was true as his funeral procession tunned the nation. On September 21, Guwahati witnessed one of the largest public funerals in history, with the city’s streets flooded by grieving fans. This massive gathering has been officially recognised by the Limca Book of Records as the fourth-largest public funeral worldwide, a place alongside the farewells of icons like Michael Jackson, Pope Francis, and Queen Elizabeth II.

Divine Connection or Deep Love?

The things Zubeen Garg did say, the wishes he gave, the way people responded, they together create what many feel is a divine presence. His humanity, his art, his openness to talk about mortality, his wish that one song be sung when he was gone, all contributed to that feeling.

In the end, maybe what matters is not whether someone was God, but whether in their life and in their death, people saw something more, something healing, something larger than self.

In Assam, Zubeen Garg lives on beyond death. And that may be the greatest tribute of all.

Also read:Beyond the Songs, Zubeen Da Was the Song