RAMANAVAMI CELEBRATIONS AT SHIRDI - THE ORIGINS

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RAMANAVAMI CELEBRATIONS AT SHIRDI - THE ORIGINS

This is a translation of the article which was originally published in

Marathi in the Sai Leela Magazine, the official publication of Sri Sai Baba

Sansthan, Shirdi in 1925. This article had no byline but was published as

Sphuta Vishay, or, essay by the editor. The editor of Sai Leela Magazine at

that time was none other than Kaka Mahajani who played a prominent part in

starting the tradition of celebrating Sri Ramanavami at Shirdi. The then

president of the Sansthan was Das Ganu Maharaj. Other devotees, who were

very close to Baba such as Tatya, Shama, Bhishma and others were still

extant at that time. (One cannot with certainty say who the author of this

article is, but the style of writing and the manner of presentation suggest

that it may be the pen of Sri B V Dev, which fathered this article.)

_The Editor

As in all the previous years, the Ramanavami festival was celebrated with

great pomp and many people came from far away to join in. The Sri Sai Baba

Sansthan had handed over the responsibility for organizing this festival to

Sri Das Ganu Maharaj and Sri Tatya Kote Patil after Baba entered samadhi.

Both of them discharged this important responsibility ably and

enthusiastically. The festival has two parts, one is Sri Ramanavami and the

second is the Urs. How the Ramanavami festival started in Shirdi was

published in some earlier issues of the Sai Leela Magazine. We are again

putting these before the readers for their edification.

This festival first started in 1897, when Gopalrao Gund was working in

Kopergaon as the Circle Inspector of Police. Although he had married three

times he had no children but after surrendering to the lotus feet of Sri Sai

Baba he had a son, by Baba’s grace. Elated by this event, he wanted to show

his gratitude by celebrating an Urs festival at Shirdi and put this proposal

to Tatya Patil, Dada Patil, Madhavrao Deshpande and other elders of Shirdi,

who all agreed.

The Kulkarni (village officer) however, sent a report to the District

Collector that since a great number of people from all over were expected to

come for the Urs, there would be a risk of an epidemic, so the District

Collector refused to permit the festival. Everyone was disappointed but they

again applied for permission to the government and as this venture had the

full blessing of Baba the necessary permission was obtained.

Although permission to celebrate the Urs had been given, the organizers had

to face many an obstacle. On the one side was the hot sun of the Indian

summer, and on the other was the problem of insufficient drinking water in

Shirdi. Of the two wells in Shirdi, one had dried up totally while the water

in the other had become brackish. One day Baba put some flowers into the

brackish well and the water turned sweet and served the people. Baba

prophesied at that time, “In future Shirdi will have plenty of water. The

water will flow in canals.” Baba’s prophecy came to be fulfilled. The

Godavari canals were constructed and the water table, which had been at a

depth of 230 to 300 feet, soon rose to 15 to 30 feet in Shirdi. The elders

among us, however, know what a problem the lack of water was when the Urs

was first started. Tatya would get water in leather bags from a far-off well

so that the devotees attending the festival would face no problem.

Many temporary shops and stalls would be put up and wrestling matches were a

special attraction. Many artists were arranged to hold street plays, etc.

for the enjoyment of the crowds.

Damu Anna Kasar, a businessman of Ahmednagar, was a friend of Gopalrao Gund.

He was also childless, in spite of marrying many times in the hope of

obtaining offspring and finally had a son, by the grace of Sri Sai Baba. One

day Gopalrao Gund told him that it would be a good idea to hang a flag on

the mosque of Sai Maharaj and Damu Seth immediately agreed to it.

Another close devotee of Baba - Shankar Raghunath Deshpande (Nanasaheb

Nimonkar) also agreed to put up an embroidered flag at the request of

Gopalrao Gund. These two flags are brought in grand procession and are

erected on top of the mosque in the two corners, a tradition that is still

being continued to this day by Nanasaheb’s son.

In addition to this Flag festival, another festival known as the Sandal

(chandanotsav) festival was also started during the Urs. Amir Shakkar Dalal,

a Muslim of Korhala Village, was an ardent devotee of Sai Baba. He was the

driving force behind the Sandal Festival at Shirdi. He designed the festival

and obtained Baba’s permission and blessings and also assumed all

responsibility for conducting it. The festival consists of making a paste of

sandalwood and taking it in procession throughout the village with incense.

After reaching the mosque, all the devotees take the paste in their palms

and put it on the walls of the mosque.

All the expenses for the festival, such as hire of drums, lighting, the

music band and the fireworks were borne by Sri Amir Shakkar Dalal. After he

died his wife took over responsibility for the festival. It is the usual

practice to conduct a Sandal Festival in honour of a dead Muslim saint, on a

fixed day.

One wonders who this great saint is and also how great a saint he must be

that his Sandal Festival is being celebrated in the presence of Baba!

In this manner the Hindu festival of flags and the Muslim Sandal Festival

started being celebrated on the same day and both Hindus and Muslims take

part in both these festivals with great enthusiasm. To this day both these

festivals are being celebrated without any disharmony between the two

religious groups. There was no lack of devotees to make arrangements for the

festivals, as devotees flocked in their thousands from the nearby villages

to take part in it.

Urs is a very important festival for the devotees of Sai Baba. Many devotees

never missed a single Urs. All the devotees would assemble at Radhakrishna

Ayi’s house. While Tatya Kote Patil would look after all the work relating

to the outdoors, the total organization was that of Radhakrishna Ayi. Her

house on that day would wear a festive look as if a wedding was being

celebrated there, with all the people busy with activities relating to the

festivities. Some would be busy making small flags, some would make paper

flowers for decoration, some would be cleaning and polishing the silver

throne and other ornaments and insignia of Sai Maharaj’s durbar. Yet others

would be busy cooking, cleaning the rice, sweeping and swabbing. No one

would rest or sleep for those two or three days and would be working

cheerfully day and night. We can see here what is meant by ceaseless,

untiring and indefatigable devotion to duty.

The night before the Ramanavami, while Baba slept in Chavadi, Radhakrishna

Ayi used to descend on the mosque with her army of tireless Sai devotees.

All the items in the mosque would first be taken outside, including the fire

in the dhuni. Then the cleaning would begin. As the dhuni had been burning

continuously for the previous year, the walls and the ceiling of the mosque

were black with soot. Devotees would clean the walls and the ceiling with

coconut husk and soap water and polish them till they became clean. While

ten to fifteen devotees did this work, others would get water for the

cleaning.

 

To be contd......

(Source Sai Patham April 2001 )