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It was in the year 1916 that a Madrasi Bhajani Mela (Party of
the Ramadasi Panth) started on a Pilgrimage to the holy city of
Banaras1
. The Party consisted of a man, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law. Unfortunately their names are not mentioned. On their
way, the party heard that there lived at Shirdi in Kopergaon Taluka,
Ahmednagar District, a great sage named Sai Baba, who was calm
and composed, and who was very liberal and who distributed money
every day to His Bhaktas and to skilful persons, who went and showed
their skill there. A lot of money in the form of Dakshina was collected daily by Sai Baba and out of this amount, He gave daily one
rupee to a three year old girl Amani, the daughter of a Bhakta Kondaji
and Rs. 2 to 5 to some, Rs. 6 to Jamali, the mother of Amani and Rs.
10 to 20 and even Rs. 50 to other Bhaktas as He pleased. On hearing
all this the party came to Shirdi and stayed there. The Mela did very
good bhajan and sang very good songs, but inwardly they craved for
money. Three of the party were full of avarice, but the chief lady or
mistress was of a very different nature. She had a regard and love for
Baba.
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