Jayalalithaa's body was laid to rest on Tuesday with full state honours. From political stalwarts to her staunch supporters, all queued up to pay homage to the iconic departed leader in Chennai.
Following her party's ideology that abhors Brahminical practises, she was buried next to her mentor and another Tamil icon MGR.
The coffin in which Jayalalithaa lay was made by the Flying Squad and Homage Company.
This company has also made coffins of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and veteran actors Sivaji Ganesan and Manorama in the past, reports Times of India.
“The coffin was built with a freezer box with a heavy duty compressor to keep the body fresh. The exterior was gold plated,” P R M M Shanthakumar, managing director of the company, who had designed the coffin, told TOI.
"We have built coffins for more than 500 VVIP's in Tamil Nadu and all the other southern states till now," he added.
The coffin had the capacity to preserve a body for two to three days if the temperature inside was maintained between 0-5 degree Celsius. Shanthakumar and his team who had brought the coffin to Poes Garden had taken care of Jayalalithaa's body until it was transferred to the box in which she was buried at the MGR Mausoleum, on Tuesday.
The coffin at Rajaji Hall - where Jayalalithaa's body was kept for public homage- was lowered forward so as to enable visitors to see the body from a distance. While many were afraid that the body will slip in the coffin under its weight, Shantakumar's perfect fittings saved the day.
"The body didn't tilt with the titling with the coffin as we had attached proper fixtures and arrangements to the coffin," Shanthakumar told the daily.
