The cult of Shirdi Sai Baba has been adopted by many other communities Mumbai, and argued that Koli protection of these shrines during theĬommunal riots in Mumbai (1992-93) reﬂected the syncretic nature of Koli In another paper about contemporary Koli culture, we documented the existence of two Suﬁ dargāhs in two of the Koli villages of With the supreme goddess of the Kolis, the clan deity Ekveera Devi (ViczianyĮt al.

Sai Baba’s name was mentioned by our Koli respondents along Hindu worshipper and retired government servant from Virar), each day atĥ:00 am he bathed his image of Sai Baba along with those of the other godsĪnd goddesses and then read the ‘Sainam Charitra’, a popular story about Saiīaba’s life. Worshipped or followed.3 According to one of our respondents (No. That 35 per cent named Sai Baba as one of the deities or gurus that they Ghats of Maharashtra, near Lonavala (Vicziany et al. While interviewingĢ7 Mumbai pilgrims visiting the Ekveera Devi temple high in the western Study of the indigenous Koli tribal people of Mumbai city. I ﬁrst began to understand the importance of Shirdi Sai Baba during our Of religious identity as a factor in the politics of Mumbai and Maharashtra? Shirdi Sai Baba and Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari survive the increasing role What role has Hindu nationalism played in these, given the long history ofĬommunal (or religious) politics in western India? Will the popular cults of Syncretic religious practices in the context of the results of the Maharashtrian State Assembly elections of 2014 and municipal elections in 2009-15.

Shrine? In the ﬁnal section of this chapter I consider the persistence of these Yet many visitors and worshippers are not Muslims. InĬontrast to the cult of Sai Baba, the Muslim trust that looks after it hasĮnsured that the Islamic character of the Haji Ali dargāh remains undiluted. (dargāh) of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari on the Worli foreshore in Mumbai. The other end of the spectrum, we have the equally famous Muslim shrine The original Muslim shrine in Shirdi, some 300 kilometres from Mumbai, has become thoroughly Hinduized or Brahmanized inĪppearance and rituals, and the management trust consists only of Hindus. In this chapter I consider one of Mumbai’s most popular cults, that of Shirdi

History of sai baba shirdi hindi