CALCUTTA. Sept 8: From the poorest of India's poor to the most powerful and privileged, thousands of mourners passed by the body of Mother Teresa to pay their final respects to the selfless nun. reports AP.

The Nobel laureate lay in state Sunday at St Thomas' Church, one of Calcutta's oldest and largest Roman Catholic churches, in a fashionable neighborhood that contrasted with the slums where she toiled during life.

Mother Teresa, who died of a heart attack Friday night, lay under a glass case on a platform draped in the white and blue colors of her Missionaries of Charity order, her hands folded across her chest.

Reflecting Mother Teresa's ability to touch rich and poor, mourners included barefoot paupers, government leaders, a former beauty queen and an Indian musician. They filed quickly through the church, praying, weeping or stopping for just a few moments before the body.

One man who broke down in tears after seeing Mother Teresa s body said her compassion transcended religious boundaries in this overwhelmingly Hindu country.

"She worked for the people and never thought about whether we were Muslijn or Hindu." said Mohinulisam, 38. who uses only one name.

He said he saw Mother Teresa every day when she visited a home for the aged near his leather shop in Calcutta.

Mother Teresa died at the headquarters of her Missionaries of Charity, where she lived in a simple room. Her body lay in the order's small, dimly lit chapel, surrounded by flowers and praying nuns.

But the chapel was too small to accommodate crowds, so the public viewing was delayed.

Her body was moved early Sunday in a white ambulance, escorted by a police officer on motorcycle, as bells pealed in St Thomas' Church and anguished wails rose from mourners.

Mourners began gathering before dawn, and by the time the coffin arrived, the line snaked one kilometer (half a mile) along the sidewalk 4n front of the chapel. • *

Even there, the importance of caste and privilege in India was inescapable.

Politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats roared to the front of the line in bulkywhlte official cars, and strode into the chapel through a special entrance.

Meanwhile, shop owners and students, clerks and children in starched Sunday best waited uncomplainingly while their line moved in spurts for the chance, however brief, to see Mother Teresa.