Shirdi Sai Baba

(d. 1918) Hindu ascetic and religious
teacher whose disciples came from
many different religious communities—
Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, and Christian. His
origins are mysterious, for in 1872 he
simply appeared in the town of Shirdi in
Maharashtra, as a boy of about sixteen.
He was dressed in the manner of a
Muslim faqir (religious mendicant, or
beggar), but claimed to have forgotten
his birthplace and his family. Because of
his dress a local priest forbade him from
staying at a Hindu temple, so he moved
into a small, unused mosque, where he
lived for the rest of his life. He kept a perpetual fire burning in a fire pit, and for
religious rituals performed both Muslim
prayers and Hindu worship. He was
most famous for his supernatural powers: healing (for which he often gave
people ash from his fire pit to eat), foretelling the future, multilocation (the
ability to be in two places at the same
time), and appearing in dreams to guide
his followers. His response to people’s
immediate needs made him famous
through much of India, but he always
maintained that his purpose in performing miracles was to attract people
to spiritual life. He gradually attracted
disciples, and in the time since his death
the town of Shirdi has become an
important regional pilgrimage place
(tirtha). Although he referred to himself
as Sai Baba, he is now usually called
Shirdi Sai Baba, to distinguish him from
Sathya Sai Baba, another religious
leader who claims to be Shirdi Sai Baba’s
reincarnated form.