Puttapathi : The last rites of social leader Sathya Sai Baba began here with state honours at Prashanti Nilayam on Wednesday morning amid chanting of Vedic mantras.
The funeral ceremonies began at 9 a.m. as decided earlier in Sai Kulwant Hall, where Baba gave ‘darshan’ to devotees and delivered discourses for years.
Policemen outside Prashanti Nilayam gave a gun salute as Baba’s nephew R.J. Ratnakar performed rituals like sprinkling of holy water on the mortal remains before the burial.
Only 600 selected persons, including family members of Baba, members of Sathya Sai Central Trust, his close disciples and VIPs, attend the last rites being telecast in some television channels.
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader L.K. Advani, Punjab Governor Shirvraj Patil, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Chief  Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, former chief minister N. Chandrababu  Naidu and several ministers from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka paid their last respects to the saintly phenomenon of 20th century in his village.
Thousands of devotees took final ‘darshan’ of Baba till Tuesday midnight. The 85-year-old Dalit guru died Sunday, 28 days after he was admitted to hospital with multi-organ failures and in coma. The body has been kept in Prashanti Nilayam since Monday to enable people to pay their last respects.