Page 687 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India
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ANDHR A PR ADESH AND TELANGANA 685
Sri Kalahasti town, with its towering gopuras and the Kannappa Temple on a hillock
protect it from the sun’s a Puttaparthi Satyanarayana Raju in this village
rays. The cobra, when he Ananthapur district. 437 km (272 miles) on 23 November 1926, claimed
reached the shrine, was so S of Hyderabad. ~ 6 km (4 miles) SW divine powers. When he was only
upset to see the linga covered of ashram, then taxi. £ Dharmavaram, 14, he declared that he was the
with dirty cobwebs that he 40 km (25 miles) N of Puttaparthi, reincarnation of a celebrated
cleaned and covered it with then bus. @ n APTDC, (040) 3048 saint, Sai Baba from Shirdi in
little stones. The last to arrive 8365. _ Sai Baba’s Birthday (23 Nov). Maharashtra who died in 1918.
was the elephant, who removed Sai Baba passed away in 2011.
the stones and decorated the As the birthplace of Sri Satya Sai It is believed that he will return
linga with flowers. This continued Baba, the “godman” who after his death as another saint
for some time until the three preached religious called Prem Sai Baba.
devotees, each sure that his way tolerance, universal In 1950, Satya Sai
of worship was the purest and love and service to Baba established
that the others had committed others, Puttaparthi an ashram for his
sacrilege, decided to confront has a special signifi followers, whose
each other. In the fight that cance for his vast numbers had swollen
ensued, they collapsed, and number of devotees to gigantic figures.
Lord Shiva, pleased by their from all over the Known as Prasanthi
devotion, blessed them and world. The late Sai Nilayam, or the
named the shrine after them – Baba’s ability to “Abode of Highest
Sri (spider), Kala (cobra) and produce vibhuti Peace”, it is today
Hasti (elephant). (sacred ash), seem Sri Satya Sai Baba a large complex
Sri Kalahasti is also linked ingly miraculously (1926–2011) with guesthouses,
to the legend of Kannappa, out of thin air, is dormitories, kitchens
the hunter, through its Kannappa considered by his devotees to be and dining halls. Over the years,
Temple. One of the 63 Nayannars, a symbol of his godlike status several buildings have appeared
Kannappa plucked out his eye and powers. From a very young around the ashram – schools,
in a frenzy of devotion and age, Sai Baba, who was born as colleges, residential complexes,
offered it to Shiva. A shrine hospitals, a planetarium, a
comme morating him stands museum and recreation
on the summit of the hillock centres, transforming this
that rises to the east. tiny village into a
Worshippers have thronged cosmopolitan township.
to this temple for generations Outside the ashram, at the
in order to seek relief from the lower end of the village,
“evil effects” of Saturn. Some rural life continues,
pilgrims also come here with seemingly unaffected by
their unmarried daughters in the ashram’s activities. The
the hope that a special puja at countryside around is very
the temple will help them find fertile, with stretches of
good husbands. Women working in the fields, Puttaparthi wellirrigated fields.
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