The first building of this burning ghat came up in 1717, but cremation was done almost 2000 years before that time. The present structure of the ghat was created by
Babu Rajchandra Das, for the citizens of
Calcutta. Before the creation of
Keoratola crematorium, it used to be the sole crematorium in the whole city. Feeling the need of the citizens Rajchandra constructed the ghat in 1817 after his father,
Babu Pritaram Marh's demise. In 2010 the central government of India upgraded the crematorium at a cost of INR ₹140 million (US$2.0 million). The last rites and cremation of "The Levitating Saint" Bhaduri Mahasaya - Maharshi Nagendranath Bhaduri were performed at Nimtala Burning Ghat in Kolkata on November 2, 1926.The Bengali polymath
Rabindranath Tagore was cremated here in 1941. The Rabindranath Tagore Memorial in the crematorium compound was beautified as part of the 2010 project. The ghat has also been represented in popular literature. It plays a significant part in the plot of the
2013 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winning Malayalam novel,
Aarachaar, by
K. R. Meera. == Notable funerals ==