Shirdi Sai Baba gets gold paduka plate from devotee
The three-day Guru Pournima Mahotsav began in the Shri Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi on Saturday with devotees thronging the temple for darshan and donating cash and artefacts including a ‘paduka’ (footprint) plate of 2 kg gold worth approximately Rs 50,00,000.
The temple regularly receives cash and ornaments from devotees in India and abroad especially on festivals like Guru Pournima and Ramnamvi etc, said Sachin Tambe, Shri Sai Baba Sansthan trustee.
Tambe said that, devotee Ajay Gupta from Agra donated the gold paduka to the temple on Saturday. “It had been given a day before but the formal presentation and Paduka Puja were conducted today. Gupta, a leading businessman from Agra, has earlier donated a silver Devara of 67 kg silver worth approximately Rs 35,00,000,” he said.
In May this year a devotee, Kashinath Govind Patil of Kopri village in Vasai tehsil of Palghar district, donated 2 buildings and surrounding land worth Rs 32.27 crore to the temple. The two buildings were already being used as Sai Palkhi Niwara.
In February this year, a foreign sadhvi had made her third donation to the temple. She said that she was cured from a disease by the Baba and gave a gold crown studded with gems worth Rs 29,00,000.
Earlier she had given a rudraksha necklace worth Rs 12,00,000 and later another rudraksha necklace worth Rs 14,00,00.