Does Shirdi's Sai Baba fit into 'new India'?

When the azaan vs Hanuman Chalisa controversy was taking place in Maharashtra last month, the Sai Baba shrine in Shirdi decided to follow the Supreme Court guidelines given in a 2005 verdict that public address systems could only be used between 6 am and 10 pm. The Shirdi shrine traditionally has five prayers, three of which take place at 5 am, 5.15 am and 10 pm, that are no longer heard over loudspeakers. It might be recalled that MNS chief Raj Thackeray threatened to play the Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques if they continued to broadcast azaan, or the call to prayer, over loudspeakers.

If that was a blatant attempt to provoke communal tension, in Shirdi, the reverse was happening. Muslim residents, and members of the local trust that runs the Jama Masjid, wrote to authorities requesting them to allow the Sai Baba shrine to use loudspeakers during all the aartis on the grounds that Shirdi's Hindu and Muslim communities have always shared a bond and been united. In a letter to the local administration, the masjid trustees wrote that "despite the fact that we have decided not to broadcast the azaan on loudspeakers in keeping with the Supreme Court order, we request that aarti be broadcast on loudspeakers on a daily basis as usual."

Also Read: Use of loudspeaker in mosque not a fundamental right, rules Allahabad HC

The Shirdi Sai Baba is not merely a locally revered figure but one of the most popular national saint divinities of contemporary times. Sai Baba worship is a phenomenon that defines India as much as other processes do. For those who do not know, the Sai Baba was believed to have been a Muslim fakir who has been fitted into the Hindu pantheon. The worshippers are largely from the majority community. Today, there are Sai Baba temples across the land, his posters and images adorn millions of homes, and thousands of Indians wear Sai Baba amulets and lockets.

His shrine in Shirdi has become one of the wealthiest pilgrimage spots in India and certainly among the most famous in Maharashtra. The Sai Baba of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, who passed away in 2011 and had an impressive following of influential politicians and businessmen, had claimed to be a reincarnation of the Shirdi Sai Baba.

I had covered the Shirdi cult in my book titled 'In Good Faith' on India's syncretic and plural traditions. While researching the tradition, I found that in the early years of this century, some of the most devout followers of the Shirdi cult were also the authors of the Hindutva project. In the two decades spent covering politics, I would discover that many members of the RSS and BJP had images of the Shirdi Sai Baba in their homes and offices. As the Sai Baba looks like a typical Muslim fakir with a beard and a cloth tied over his head, these followers obviously saw no contradiction between worshipping a so-called Muslim man and belonging to a political project designed to marginalise the community.

There are several reasons why his cult has become so popular in such a short time, and one of the more fascinating arguments put forth is that he has been a particular favourite of the Bollywood film producers. Perhaps the many devotional songs in praise of the Sai Baba, and the film and television series about him, have all contributed to making this one of the most popular religious cults of contemporary India. Several mythological films have been made about the Shirdi Sai Baba, and he is routinely depicted in Bollywood films as performing great miracles. Today, the powerful and rich Sai Baba properties, trusts and buildings in Shirdi and across India are a virtual industry.

Also Read: Agitation does not end here, says Raj Thackeray as majority of mosques stay away from Azaan

In a book titled 'Sai Baba of Shirdi: A Unique Saint', M V Kamath and V B Kher maintain that his origins remain unclear. In one part of the book, they put forward the theory that he could have been a Brahmin and it was never conclusively proved that he was a Muslim. In the lore about the Sai Baba, his devotees are divided on the issue of his origins. Some maintain he was not circumcised and hence not a Muslim. Others say his ears were pierced, which was more common among Hindus.

Yet we cannot overlook the fact that Sai Baba dressed like a fakir and lived in a rundown mosque in Shirdi. But he kept a fire going in the mosque, and as his fame spread, devotees were allowed to blow conch shells and worship him in their own ways. In the end, what comes through is a fakir who had great respect for Hindu traditions. His most frequently uttered words were believed to be 'Sabka Malik Ek' (All have the same God), and he also sang bhajans (devotional songs) in praise of the Hindu gods. It is said that at his behest, the locals decided to celebrate Urs (a Sufi celebration) and the Ram Navami festival on the same day. When the villagers collected money to repair the dilapidated mosque where the Sai Baba lived, he is believed to have insisted that all the local temples should first be repaired. Kamath and Kher claim there is evidence that Sai Baba knew the Gita well and understood Hindu scriptures.

The facts about him that are known are that he came to Shirdi between 1868 and 1872 and first lived on the village outskirts, then under a neem tree and finally moved into the dilapidated masjid. He collected alms and, over the years, also collected a band of devotees. At one point, a local qazi opposed devotees worshipping him in the mosque. Soon after this, it was decided to hold the Urs and Ram Navami celebrations on the same day. As he grew older, he was credited with performing miracles, and people began to travel to Shirdi in droves. In 1917, Congress leader and freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak visited him. The Sai baba passed away in 1918.

The huge shrine that has now come up at Shirdi largely functions as a temple, but it does keep up traditions that represent the sort of Hindu-Muslim synthesis that the Sai Baba propagated. When researching the Shirdi cult, I had an interesting conversation with RSS ideologue K Govindacharya, who quipped, "He is a bad Muslim as he does not oppose idol worship but a good Hindu. He now belongs to us."

Yet today, we have moved on to another level of hate where a section of radicalised Hindus argue that the Sai Baba does not belong to the Hindu pantheon because he was a Muslim. Last year a video emerged of an idol of the Sai Baba being demolished in a small temple in south Delhi. The man seen in the footage overseeing the destruction of the Sai baba idol has also been photographed with Yati Narsinghanand, the rabble-rousing head priest of the temple in Dasna, Ghaziabad, who is at the centre of all the so-called congregations that have taken place where genocidal acts against Muslims are called for. In the video of the 2021 demolition, the Sai Baba is called a jihadi. Last week again, I was sent a video where a group of men are aggressively telling Sai worshippers that it was a corruption of Sanatan Dharma to worship the Sai Baba because he was a Muslim.

Yet, to the question of whether Sai Baba belongs in New India, the answer would be yes, he does, because millions still worship him, even though a few thousands would want to smash his idols to smithereens.

(Saba Naqvi is a journalist and author)

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)