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Abstract
The transformation of ‘guru devotion’ centres as pilgrimage destinations is a growing phenomenon in contemporary Indian religious practice. In this study, we consider how the town of Shirdi, in Maharashtra, is undergoing rapid transformation as it emerges as a religious tourism destination at the epicentre of the global Sai Baba movement. Since the 1918 death of Sai Baba, a Maharashtrian saint, Shirdi has grown from a rural hamlet to a bustling town with some thirty thousand permanent residents and an estimated annual influx of eight million short-term visitors. Focusing on Shirdi as a centre of guru devotion, we examine how socio-spatial transformations have created a new mosaic of regional pluralism at the site. While the coexistence of different communities is one of the hallmarks of religious pluralism in India, we argue that the complementary compartmentalisation of co-religionists hailing from different regions is a significant outcome of rapid urbanisation at pilgrimage sites, particularly those associated with guru devotion.
Notes
1 Dilip Raote, ‘The Shirdi Economic Zone’, Businessworld (30 Sept. 2007), para. 9 [http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Columns/The-Shirdi-Economic-Zone.html, reposted on: http://dilipraote.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/the-shirdi-economic-zone/, accessed 10 April 2012].
2 Antonio Rigopoulos, The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), pp.123–70; and Smriti Srinivas, ‘The Brahmin and the Fakir: Suburban Religiosity in the Cult of Shirdi Sai Baba’, in Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol.14, no.2 (1999), p.247.
3 Haima Deshpande, ‘Divine Fight’, The Indian Express (12 Dec. 2004), para. 6 [http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/60652/, accessed 1 April 2012]; Rakesh Rai, ‘House in God's Country’, Business Today–Money Today (13 Dec. 2007), para. 8 [http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/house-in-gods-country/1/6884.html, accessed 14 April 2012]; and Raote, ‘The Shirdi Economic Zone’, para. 6.
4 Tulasi Srinivas has considered the global Sai Baba movement extensively in her recent study: Tulasi Srinivas, Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), p.413. Kevin R.D. Shepherd provides insights into the movement of 25 years ago: Kevin R.D. Shepherd, Gurus Rediscovered: Biographies of Sai Baba of Shirdi and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori (Cambridge: Anthropographia Publications, 1986), p.114. For further scholarship on the global Sai Baba movements, see Lawrence A. Babb, ‘Sathya Sai Baba's Magic’, in Anthropological Quarterly, Vol.56, no.3 (1983), pp.116–24; Smriti Srinivas, ‘Sai Baba: The Double Utilization of Written and Oral Traditions in a Modern South Asian Religious Movement’, in Diogenes, Vol.47, no.3 (1999), pp.88–99; Tulasi Srinivas, ‘Building Faith: Religious Pluralism, Pedagogical Urbanism, and Governance in the Sathya Sai Sacred City’, in International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol.13, no.3 (2010), pp.301–36; Rick Weiss, ‘The Global Guru: Sai Baba and the Miracle of the Modern’, in New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.7, no.2 (2005), pp.5–19; and Charles S.J. White, ‘The Sai Baba Movement: Approaches to the Study of Indian Saints’, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.31, no.4 (1972), pp.863–78. For consideration of Sai Baba as a modern saint, see Mary Hancock and Smriti Srinivas, ‘Spaces of Modernity: Religion and the Urban in Asia and Africa’, in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol.32, no.3 (2008), pp.613–30; and H.H. Narsimhswami, Significance of Baba's Mahasamadhi (Chennai: All India Sai Samaj, 1965), p.155.
5 Smriti Srinivas, In the Presence of Sai Baba: Body, City, and Memory in a Global Religious Movement (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2008), p.240.
6 For pertinent scholarship on pluralism and saint communities in India, see H.G. Coward, Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), p.340; Jack E. Llewellyn, ‘Gurus and Groups’, in Robin Rinehart (ed.), Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice (Greenwood, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004), pp.213–42; Christian Lee Novetzke, Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), p.309; Robin Rinehart, Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice (Greenwood, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004) p.408; and Maya Warrier, Hindu Selves in a Modern World: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission (London: Routledge Curzon, 2004), p.196.
7 Llewellyn, ‘Gurus and Groups’; and Warrier, Hindu Selves in a Modern World.
8 For relevant scholarship on urbanisation and religious pluralism, see Alan W. Entwistle, Braj: Centre of Krishna Pilgrimage (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1987), p.554; Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, ‘Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies: Religious Mobilization in American Cities’, in American Sociological Review, Vol.53, no.1 (1988), pp.41–9; and Joanne Punzo Waghorne, Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p.292.
9 Llewellyn, ‘Gurus and Groups’, p.213.
10 Government of India Census 2001 [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx, accessed 10 Dec. 2011].
11 T.N. Madan, India's Religions: Perspectives from Sociology and History (New Delhi/New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p.428; and Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas, ‘Foreword: Religions in India in a Sociological Perspective’, in Social Compass, Vol.XXXIII, nos.2–3 (1986), pp.159–62.
12 Richard H. Davis, ‘Introduction: A Brief History of Religions in India’, in Donald S. Lopez (ed.), Religions of India in Practice (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1995), pp.1–51.
13 Maya Warrier, ‘Guru Choice and Spiritual Seeking in Contemporary India’, in International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol.7, nos.1–3 (2003), p.33.
14 Sanjay Srivastava, ‘Urban Spaces, Disney-Divinity and Moral Middle Classes in Delhi’, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XLIV, nos.26–27 (27 June 2009), pp.338–9.
15 Kiran A. Shinde, ‘Religious Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Religious Tourism in India’, in International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol.12, no.5 (2010), p.532. Also see Vineeta Sinha, Religion and Commodification: Merchandizing Diasporic Hinduism (London: Taylor and Francis, 2010), p.228.
16 William Harman, ‘Hindu Devotion’, in Robin Rinehart (ed.), Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice (Greenwood, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004), p.104.
17 Kevin D. Breault, ‘New Evidence on Religious Pluralism, Urbanism, and Religious Participation’, in American Sociological Review, Vol.54, no.6 (1989), pp.1048–53; Mark Chaves and Philip S. Gorski, ‘Religious Pluralism and Religious Participation’, in Annual Review of Sociology, no.27, (2001), pp.261–81; Finke and Stark, ‘Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies’, pp.41–9.
18 David Voas, Alasdair Crockett and Daniel V.A. Olson, ‘Religious Pluralism and Participation: Why Previous Research is Wrong’, in Annual Review of Sociology, no.27 (2002), pp.212–30; and Finke and Stark, ‘Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies’, p.47.
19 Tulasi Srinivas, ‘Divine Enterprise: Hindu Priests and Ritual Change in Neighbourhood Hindu Temples in Bangalore’, in South Asia, Vol.29, no.3 (2006), pp.321–43; and Peter van der Veer, Gods on Earth: The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre (London: The Athlone Press, 1988), p.310.
20 Tuhin K. Das and Ishita Datta Ray, ‘Monopolistic Competitive Market in Religion: A Case Study of Hindu Temples’, in Applied Economics Letters, Vol.15, no.1 (2008), p.70.
21 Ibid., p.71.
22 Samuel Stroope, ‘Caste, Class, and Urbanization: The Shaping of Religious Community in Contemporary India’, in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Vol.105, no.3 (2011), p.513.
23 Ibid., p.514.
24 Waghorne, Diaspora of the Gods, p.5.
25 Tulasi Srinivas, ‘Divine Enterprise’, p.341.
26 Warrier, ‘Guru Choice and Spiritual Seeking’, p.37.
27 Kiran A. Shinde, ‘Pilgrimage and the Environment: Challenges in a Pilgrimage Centre’, in Current Issues in Tourism, Vol.10, no.4 (2007), pp.343–65; Kiran A. Shinde, ‘Religious Tourism: Exploring a New Form of Sacred Journey in North India’, in Janet Cochrane (ed.), Asian Tourism: Growth and Change (London: Elsevier Publishing, 2008), pp.245–57; and Myra Shackley, Managing Sacred Sites: Service Provision and Visitor Experience (London: Continuum, 2001), p.206.
28 Entwistle, Braj.
29 Shinde's study reflects on the socio-spatial consequences of rapid growth in Vrindavan: Shinde, ‘Religious Tourism’.
30 Scholarly studies of gurus and their attendant social organisations include: Babb, ‘Sathya Sai Baba's Magic’; Llewellyn, ‘Gurus and Groups’; and Maya Warrier, ‘Processes of Secularization in Contemporary India: Guru Faith in the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission’, in Modern Asian Studies, Vol.37, no.1, (2003), pp.213–53.
31 Kama Maclean, Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765–1954 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp.67–70, 75–82.
32 B.G. Kunte, ‘Places: Shirdi’, Ahmadnagar District Gazetteer (Ahmadnagar: Maharashtra State Government, 1976), para. 3 [http://cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/Ahmadnagar/places_Shirdi.html, accessed 12 April 2012].
33 Ibid., para. 24.
34 Ibid.
35 Smriti Srinivas, ‘The Brahmin and the Fakir’, p.248.
36 Ibid., p.249.
37 Ibid., p.246; and Rigopoulos, The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi, pp.123–69.
38 This estimate is based on the 2001 census population of Shirdi (26,176 residents) multiplied by the overall decadal population growth in India (17.64 percent) as given in the partially released 2011 Government of India census results. The full results of the 2011 census will only be released in 2012.
39 The statistics are stated in the annual reports of the Shirdi Sai Sansthan Trust (SSST). There is some ambiguity in the figures mentioned in these reports: a daily average of 30,000–40,000 visitors in 1999, 25,000 visitors in 2004 and 40,000 visitors in 2008. However, a seemingly more consistent figure is obtained from the records furnished by the dining hall; in 2008, around eight million meals were served, which corresponds to an average of 22,545 daily diners. Given that a substantial numbers of visitors visit the site, but not the dining hall, a minimum weekday estimate of at least 25,000 daily visitors seems appropriate. This was corroborated by many officials of the SSST and the local municipal office as well as members of the hotel association.
40 These figures are based on interviews with officials from the Festivals Department (part of the SSST), who make special arrangements for visitors during festivals and are responsible for pilgrims' accommodation.
41 ‘No Garlands and Coconuts in Siddhivinayak’, The Times of India (19 June 2007), [http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-06-19/india/27953733_1_siddhivinayak-temple-siddhivinayak-trust-coconuts, accessed 19 Aug. 2012].
42 Andrea Marion Pinkney, ‘The Sacred Share: Prasada in South Asia’, PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 2008, p.220.
43 Maclean, Pilgrimage and Power, pp.228–9.
44 Deshpande, ‘Divine Fight’, para. 2.
45 Narain, Shirdi shopkeeper, male, early 40s, interviewed in Shirdi, Maharashtra, on 18 Dec. 2009.
46 ‘Debit Cards’, Andhra Bank (2012) [http://andhrabank.in/english/debitcard.aspx, accessed 10 April 2012].
47 Ibid.
48 Please refer to the various trust homepages for further details about these organisations, such as ‘About Us’, Shri Kashi Annapurna Vasavi Arya Vysya (2012), [http://aryavysyasatram.com/about_us.html, accessed 10 April 2012].
49 ‘Donors’, Shri Kashi Annapurna Vasavi Arya Vysya (2012) [http://aryavysyasatram.com/donoors.html, accessed 10 April 2012]. These calculations (and all subsequent conversions in this paper) are based on approximate exchange rates for June 2011, using a rate of Rs45 to US$1.
50 ‘About Us’, Shri Kashi Annapurna Vasavi Arya Vysya.
51 ‘Donation Details’, Shri Kashi Annapurna Vasavi Arya Vysya (2012), [http://aryavysyasatram.com/images_files/BroucherNew3.pdf, accessed 10 April 2012].
52 ‘Temples’, Shri Kashi Annapurna Vasavi Arya Vysya (2012), [http://www.aryavysyagroup.com/temples.html, accessed 10 April 2012].
53 Rakesh, Shirdi hotelier, male, mid-40s, interviewed in Shirdi, Maharashtra, on 10 Dec. 2009.
54 Maclean, Pilgrimage and Power, p.147.
55 Lalasaheb, Shirdi village council member, male, late 70s, interviewed in Shirdi, Maharashtra, on 15 Dec. 2009.
56 Digambar, Shirdi-based journalist, male, mid-30s, interviewed in Shirdi, Maharashtra, on 19 Dec. 2009.
57 Shiv Kumar, ‘Shirdi is Losing Its Sufi Traditions’, InfoChangeIndia (2 April 2006), para. 18 [http://infochangeindiaorg/200604045525/Human-Rights/Features/Shirdi-is-losing-its-Sufi-traditions.html, reposted on http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/spiritual-discussions/454819-shirdi-losing-its-sufi-traditions.html, accessed 10 Jan. 2012].
58 Afsar Mohammad, ‘Telling Stories: Hindu–Muslim Worship in South India’, in Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol.3, no.2 (Jul. 2010), pp.157–88.
59 Carla Bellamy, The Powerful Ephemeral: Everyday Healing in an Ambiguously Islamic Place (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), p.104.
60 ‘Strict Vigil at Shirdi, Nasik Temples Following Anonymous Threat’, The Times of India (8 Oct. 2007), para. 2 [http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-10-08/india/27989828_1_nasik-saibaba-temple-shirdi, accessed 19 Aug. 2012]; and ‘Terror Threat at Shirdi: VIPs’ Copter Usage Cut, Helipad Shut’, NDTV (21 May 2010), [http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/terror-threat-at-shirdi-vips-copter-usage-cut-helipad-shut-26879, accessed 19 Aug. 2012].
61 Anne Hardgrove, ‘Review of The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi by Antonio Rigopoulos', in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.53, no.4 (Nov. 1994), pp.1306–8.
62 Ibid., p.1307.
63 Rangeshwar, Andhra Sai Baba devotee, male, early 40s, interviewed in Shirdi, Maharashtra, on 18 Dec. 2009.