Major Festivals in Shirdi Part 1

Major Festivals

The three main festivals in Shirdi, of two to four days each, are Ramnavami (March/April), Gurupoornima (July), and Vijayadasami (September/October). In Shirdi, these festivals are celebrated with great passion, verve and heartfulness. Thousands flock to bathe in the grace which seems to flow especially freely at such times. There is a programme of puja, music (bhajan), public parayana (reading of scriptures and devotional texts) and exuberant processions with the palanquin and the rath (chariot). The Samadhi Mandir remains open all night during one of these days, with the upper section of Dwarkamai being open the previous night, and there are all-night bhajan and qawali sessions at various locations around the village, including Lendi Gardens. Printed programmes with full details are available from the Sansthan. On the special atmosphere that prevails at such times.

Ramnavami

In 1897, Gopalrao Gund proposed holding an urs in Shirdi as an expression of his gratitude to Baba for having been granted the birth of a son after many childless years. Baba gave his permission for the celebration and fixed the day for Ramnavami. This was an ingenious touch of Baba's. Urs is a Muslim festival honouring a Muslim saint (usually one who has passed away); by holding the urs on the day of a Hindu festival, the two communities were brought closer together in a natural yet remarkable way. The festival gradually grew in importance and in 1912 some devotees asked Baba if they could celebrate Ramnavami, since it fell on the same day (Ramnavami is the anniversary of Lord Rama's birth). Baba agreed and the festival was held in grand style. From that day, says the Sri Sai Satcharitra, "the urs was transformed into the Ramnavami festival".

In Shirdi, two locally historic rituals are carried out during this festival: the sack of wheat that is kept in Dwarkamai is changed and the old one taken to Prasadalaya to be used there, and secondly, the Dwarkamai flags are replaced. When the urs was first celebrated, Gopalrao Gund prevailed upon

his friend to supply a flag for the procession. This was Damu Anna Rasne of Ahmednagar who had similarly been blessed by Sai Baba with sons, having come to Baba for this purpose on the recommendation of Shama's father-in-law. In addition, Gund asked Nanasaheb Nimonkar to supply a second flag with embroidery. This was also done and both flags (described as "huge" by M. W. Pradhan, who saw them) were taken in procession through the village and fixed at the two corners of the mosque. Descendants of these two devotees continue this tradition and flags are brought and offered at Baba's samadhi before being taken on a grand procession. The procession begins - as it did in Baba's time - at the house of the three carpenters who did the bulk of the repair work on the mosque (Tukaram, Gabaji and Kondaji, the first of whom personally served Baba for several years). In the evening, the descendants of Abdul Baba perform a traditional "sandal procession", finishing at Dwarkamai and applying the sandalwood paste to the nimbar there.