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From Neither/Nor to Both/And: Reconfiguring the Life and Legacy of Shirdi Sai Baba in Hagiography

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Abstract

The paper focuses on two hagiographic texts about the Indian saint Shirdi Sai Baba: G. R. Dabholkar’s Śrī Sāī Satcarita (1930) in Marathi and B. V. Narasimhaswami’s four-volume Life of Sai Baba (1955–69) in English. A comparative study of these texts highlights a notable shift in the saint’s life story. Whereas Dabholkar describes a saint who is “neither Hindu nor Muslim,” Narasimhaswami emphasizes particular devotional testimonies to reconstruct Shirdi Sai Baba as a syncretistic figure who is “both Hindu and Muslim.” Narasimhaswami’s reconstruction also reveals a politics of compositeness, in which a dominant Hindu embrace contains a domesticated Muslim-ness.

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  1. South Asian Reference Librarian, Asian Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 20540, USA

    Jonathan Loar

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Loar, J. From Neither/Nor to Both/And: Reconfiguring the Life and Legacy of Shirdi Sai Baba in Hagiography. Hindu Studies 22, 475–496 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-018-9246-0

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