Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is dead. His life ebbed away a little before 2pm. He had been unconscious since early in the morning. At about 6.30am Mr Nehru suffered a heart attack combined with what the doctors described as a shock. The news of his death plunged the country into deep gloom the likes of which it had not experienced since Mahatma Gandhi's assassination 16 years before. In Parliament. Members looked dazed as they heard the sad news. Besides his grief-stricken daughter Mrs Indira Gandhi, those present by his bedside at the time of his death were Mr Gulzarilal Nanda, Mr TT Krishnamachari and Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, President Radhakrishnan and Vice-President Zakir Hussain joined them as soon as they heard the news. Most of them stood sadly round his room since early morning when it became known that he was gravely ill. The shock caused by his death was all the greater because those who had seen him only yesterday on his return from Dehradun had found him cheerful and in apparent good health. This morning, Mr Nehru woke up looking and feeling perfectly normal. At 6.20am, however, he complained of a pain in the back and a feeling of uneasiness. The doctors were immediately summoned. They diagnosed a heart attack. Nearly 10 leading doctors of Delhi were in attendance. But from almost the very start, it was feared that they were fighting a losing battle. At 11.30am, the Prime Minister was reported to be sinking. By 1.30pm, his condition was declared as grave and desperate. Mr Nehru lost consciousness soon after the attack in the morning. He never regained it. Parliament. which began its special session this morning, was first given the news of his illness when it assembled at 11am. Mr Nanda made the brief annou