Devotional Spaces of a Global Saint : Shirdi Sai Baba's Presence

"Devotional Spaces of a Global Saint focuses on the presence and contemporaneity of Shirdi Sai Baba (d.1918), who has a vast following in postcolonial South Asia and an ever-growing global diaspora. Essays consider the saint's influence on everyday life and how visual, narrative, textual, sensorial, performative, political, social, and spatial practices interpenetrate to produce multiple terrains of devotion. Contributions by twelve scholars of several academic disciplines explore eruptions and circulations of sacred materials, spatialities of devotional practices, visual and digital imaginaries, transcultural narrativizations, and material affects and effects of Sai Baba. The presentation transcends routine scholarly discussions about sainthood, cultures of worship, religious objects, Hinduism and Islam. Shirdi Sai Baba's presence conveys inspiration and healing energies and he accepted the entreaties of people of all castes and creeds, offering an alternative to communal ideologies of his time - and the present. Considerations of Shirdi Sai Baba's milieux of devotional praxis situate and localize debates about the meaning of nation and religion, past and present, urbanization, and class identity in transitions from colonial to postcolonial/global South Asia. The book expands the boundaries of the study of Shirdi Sai Baba and makes important contributions to South Asia Studies, Anthropology, Religious Studies, Global Studies, Urban Studies, Indian Ocean Studies, Inter-Asian Studies, Visual and Media Studies, and Cultural Geography"-- Provided by publisher. Cover Endorsements Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of Figures Note on Transliteration Contributors Introduction: Baba’s Always-Present Presence 1. Engaging Universalism: Sai Baba’s Predecessors and Contemporaries 2. Hagiographic Connections between Shirdi Sai Baba and Sathya Sai Baba: Venkusha, Venkavadhuta, and the Integrative Icon of Dattatreya Interleaf A: Shirdi Sai Baba’s Lamp-Lighting Miracle in Text and Film 3. From Sai Baba of Shirdi to Shirdi of Sai Baba: The Making of a Contemporary Pilgrim-Center 4. Routes and Repositories: Shirdi Sai Baba’s Urban Presence Interleaf B: “This Is My Shirdi”: Wayside Shrines and Sai Baba’s Popular Omnipresence 5. Kolis of Mumbai and Shirdi Sai Baba 6. “Saint Above (Beyond) Religion”: Re-Imaging Shirdi Sai in Chennai and Singapore Interleaf C: Sai Baba, Ghana, and Oceanic Spiritual Crossovers 7. Baba’s Guiding Hand: Artists and Acheiropoiesis Interleaf D: India Spirits, Hounkpode Baba, and Powers of the Sea in the Republic of Bénin 8. A Sheltering Gaze: Darshan with Baba, Baraka from Bamba Index This book focuses on the presence and contemporaneity of Shirdi Sai Baba (d.1918), who has a vast following in postcolonial South Asia and an ever-growing global diaspora, contributing to South Asia / Anthropology / Religion / Global / Urban / Indian Ocean / Inter-Asian Studies / Visual/Media Studies and Cultural Geography.