LENDI PROCESSION (L TO R: NANA SAHEB NIMONKAR WITH HIS GRANDSON, BABA, BHAGOJI SHINDE (HOLIDING UMBRELLA), GOPAL RAO BUTTI AND CHOPDAR

A BRIEF ABOUT LENDI 

Lendi was the name of a little stream on the outskirts of the village. Hence the land nearby was called 'Lendi Bagh' by Baba. Baba was rather rigid in this routine, and everyday He made His rounds in the morning and afternoon to Lendi Ba°h, often accompanied by His Bhaktas, Butti, Bhagoji and Nimonkar but He entered the garden alone and spent sometime. This Lendi garden was purchased by Moreshwar Pradhan. A few years before the land was purchased, Baba took Pradhan and the two sons of Chandorkar to Lendi Bagh. There Baba dug small holes in the earth and gave some corn to Pradhan to put in the holes which He covered with earth and asked Pradhan to water them. Pradhan gave wonderful relevance to this incident as being the first seeds of thought in his mind to buy this land for Baba's use.

1.NEEM TREE 2. NANADADEEP 3.PEEPUL TREE

1.NEEM TREE

To the left of the Nanda Deep are two Neem trees. These were planted by Baba

2. NANDA DEEP

When Baba went to Lendi Bagh daily He lit the 'Nanda Deep'. At that time it was placed in a pit and Abdul Baba looked after it. Abdul states that Baba sat with His back to the 'Jyoth¹ and from there the lamp was not visible to Baba. Abdul brought pots of water and placed them near the Nanda Deep and Baba poured *ater in various directions (Ref. DE, p. 144). In 1942 Galwankar built a par over which was placed the Nanda Deep and now it is contained in a marble pillar and shielded with glass and protected from the elements.

3.PEEPUL TREE

To the right of the Nanda Deep is this holy Peepul tree. Baba went daily to Lendi Bagh and spent two to three hours below these trees (Neem and Peepul). This Peepul tree began to dry and Baba gave life to it and made Navgriha installation in this tree, as a mark of which the stem of this tree has nine large branches and nine roots. There is also a Ganesh formation on this tree.

BABA'S WELL

It is situated straight ahead of the floral canopied entrance, by the side of the western compound wall. Baba Himself with the manual help of His devotees both rich and poor dug and built this well (Ref. SSB, Pradhan, p.48). The water of this well became famous in the vicinity, for driving away fevers and other ailments. Previously devotees used to take water from this well, and then it gradually dried up. In 1983 A.D. Shinde deepened this well and water was found in abundance. There were two wells in Shirdi in those days, one in Lendi Bagh and the other behind Baba's Samadhi. Devotees throng to this well and take Darshan of it as it was dug by Baba Himself.

DATTATREYA MANDIR

In front of the Nanda Deep, a little distance away is this Dattatreya Mandir. This temple was built by two local devotees of Baba. The statue was installed with due formalities by the Sansthan in 1976 August. There is a small Audumbar tree behind this temple.

SAMADHI OF SHYAM KARAN

A horse merchant, Kasam, had a mare that was issueless for a long time. He made a vow to Baba that if his mare had issues he would give the first issue to Baba. By the grace of Baba she did have the issues and he gratefully brought the first issue and presented it to Baba. Baba named it 'Shyam Karan'. Inis horse loved Baba and would daily lovingly take darshan of Baba. On Chavadi procession days would be dressed royally and dance all the way to the Chavadi. Baba reciprocated this love by applying Udi on his forehead after the Noon Arati. ecause of this reciprocal love upon the demise of this horse the Sansthan honoured it with a Samadhi in Baba's Lendi Bagh.

SAMADHI OF AMIDAS MEHTA

A devotee named Amidas Bhavani Mehta wrote and published many stories on Sai Baba in Gujarati thus spreading the glory of Baba in Gujarat and other States from a very early time i.e. before 1910 (Ref. ESS, Ch.II). (No further details are available of this devotee).

SAMADHI OF MUKTHARAM (KHANDESH)

One Muktharam of Khandesh was at Shirdi before Baba's Mahasamadhi. Two days after Baba's Mahasamadhi, he stated that Baba had asked him to occupy His seat as "I am His heir" but everyone dissuaded him. After sometime he felt that he was being pierced with huge needles in his seat. The pain was followed by bleeding for the next seven to eight days. His suffering was unbearable and he died with Baba's name on his lips begging for forgiveness (Ref. MSS, p.38).