Less known facts about Shirdi and Sai Baba
Shirdi is one of the most important pilgrimage towns in The Maharashtra State of India. Sai Baba, a 19th-century saint who united people
together from all faiths, is the presiding deity of the temple around which the
town runs. Today, this small town with a population of over 36,000 people provides work to thousands of
peoples and makes it easy for the devotees who wait in a long queue for hours
just to get the blessings of Sai Baba. No one can deny or even ignore the fact
that Shirdi contributes to the economy and to the livelihood of peoples living
in Shirdi.
Here are some less known and even interesting facts about
Sai Baba’s Shirdi.
Shirdi’s literacy rate is more than the national average.
This Smalltown Shirdi has a higher literacy rate than the
national average. According to the 2011 census, the average literacy rate was
70% with male literacy at 76% and female literacy at 62%. The national average
literacy rate is 59.5%.
Direct train from Puri in Odisha to Shirdi.
Shirdi is easily reachable
from many major cities in the state. It has good connectivity by road with
Smart cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, and Aurangabad around the country. And
even has its own airport too. You can even catch your flights from Mumbai and
Pune. But the less known fact is that Shirdi has one of the most active Railway stations named Sainagar on Central Railway line. The Sainagar
Shirdi – Puri Express leaves every Sunday from Sainagar Shirdi and takes about
29 hours to complete the journey of 1,619 km to Puri. Sainagar Shirdi – Kolkata
Howrah Junction Superfast Express takes about 26 hours to complete the journey
from Sainagar Shirdi to Kolkata’s Howrah Junction, a distance of 1,790 km.
The Malaysian government wants to invest in Shirdi Airport
The
Government of Maharashtra received a bid from the Malaysian Government showing
interest in taking over the operations of Shirdi’s airport. Which makes it more
important and worth in the way of investments.
Jackie Shroff gave up smoking and drinking while shooting for a film on Sai Baba in Shirdi
The ’80s heartthrob, Jackie Shroff, also played the saint in
a 2010 film called Malik Ek. In interviews with media
houses, Shroff committed that he’d given up smoking and drinking while he shooting
the film. The movie vanished without a trace and if Jackie Shroff had any hopes
of renewing his flagging career, they were dashed.
The actor played Sai Baba so well, people began worshiping him too
In a movie named Shirdi Ke Sai Baba, this actor Sudhir
Dalvi’s played role in Sai Baba in 1977 was so prompt that many peoples
started worshiping him as a god. The movie that broke all records made Dalvi a
household name. Many Sai Baba devotees who would spot him on the streets would
fall at his feet and take his blessings. Isn’t it an interesting fact?
A Gentleman donates Rs 110 crore to Shirdi’s Sai baba trust.
Mr. KV Ramani, the co-founder of NASSCOM. In 2012 donated Rs
110 crore to the trust. He donated his 80% of his earning to Shirdi Sai Trust.
The trust utilize this money in building ashram that can accommodate 14,000
devotees! Well, that’s a quite big number.
The Sai baba temple was once private property!
Today the beautiful temple that stands at the center of
Shirdi’s economy was built in 1922, four years after Sai Baba’s death, the temple was commissioned and privately owned by Shrimant Gopalrao, from Nagpur,
who was a devotee of Sai Baba. Today it is owned and run by the Shri Saibaba
Sansthan Trust.
Shirdi temple welcomes 60,000 visitors every day
Shirdi handles almost 60,000 visitors on ordinary days. And
this no cross over 100,000 during weekends. But on Special days such as Gurupoornima,
Dussehra and Ramnavami it counts over 500,000.
So these were
some interesting facts about Shirdi and Sai baba, hope you all liked it.
This article
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