Swami Dayanand's last rites on Friday

Rishikesh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's spiritual guru Swami Dayanand Giri who passed away at his ashram here late on Wednesday night will be ceremonially buried inside the ashram premises on Friday.

Ashram's trustee and Swami Dayanand's close aide Swami Shantatmananda said the revered guru will be offered "Bhoosamadhi" at a spot facing the Ganga within his Sheeshamjhadi ashram between 8 am and 10 am tomorrow.

Swami Dayananda (87) breathed his last at his ashram around 10:15 PM last night hours after being brought back from the Jollygrant Himalayan Hospital where he underwent treatment for 10 days.

He had long been suffering from lever-related problems.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Governor Krishna Kant Paul besides a host of saints and seers today visited the ashram to pay their last respects to the spiritual guru by placing floral wreaths on his embalmed body kept in a glass case.

A couple of days before Swami Dayanand Giri was hospitalised, the Prime Minister had called on him at his ashram here on September 11 to enquire about his health.

Saints and seers kept streaming into Swami Dayanand's ashram throughout the day to pay their last respects to the spiritual guru.

Chief of spiritual organisation Shantikunj Pranav Pandya also paid a floral tribute to the Swami describing him as a great scholar of the Vedanta and ancient Sanskrit texts.

Pandya said he had been showered with fatherly love by the spiritual guru for the last 30 years.