Festivals & events
Three principal observances — Ram Navami, Guru Purnima, and Baba's Punyatithi — with many smaller ones between. If you are travelling for one, Ram Navami is the largest.
The three great days
Every Sai temple observes these. They are the days the temple is fullest, and the days most worth travelling for.
For Sai devotees this is the most personal festival of the year — the day set aside to honour the guru. Baba himself asked that it be observed at Shirdi during his lifetime. The temple holds special abhishek, extended bhajan through the day, and annadan on a larger scale than usual.
Baba took mahasamadhi on Vijayadashami in 1918. The day is both the temple's most solemn and its most attended: a remembrance rather than a celebration, though it falls on Dussehra. Expect the largest gathering of the year and the longest darshan queue.
At Shirdi, Ram Navami has been the principal annual festival since Baba's own lifetime, and Sai temples everywhere follow. In Gadag it runs as a multi-day celebration with processions, continuous bhajan, and annadan at its largest scale of the year. If you plan to travel for one festival, this is the one.
Full calendar
Hindu festival dates follow the panchanga, so they fall on a different day each year. The calendar below gives the date for each observance at the temple.
