Animals in the Shri Sai Satcharita

Abstract

This essay documents the symbolic use of animals in one of the most popular Hindu hagiographies of modern times, i.e. the Shri Sai Satcharita or ‘The True Life of Lord Sai’ written by Govind Raghunath Dabholkar (1859–1929) and dedicated to the famous saint Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918). Divided into fifty-one chapters (plus two additional ones, i.e. an epilogue and an epitome), the Shri Sai Satcharita is written in traditional ovī verse form and comprises more than 9,300 verses. Special attention is paid to those animals that recur most often and with whom Sai Baba and his devotees are identified. The significance of the Shri Sai Satcharita lies in the fact that it is a Hindu appropriation of an eclectic Sufi ascetic, part and parcel of Maharashtra’s integrative culture. This peculiar feature reflects itself even in its choice of animal symbolism. The essay is divided into six paragraphs: Introduction; Fundamental presuppositions in the Shri Sai Satcharita with regard to animals; Auspicious and inauspicious animals; Animals that are symbolically ambivalent; Identification of Sai Baba and his devotees with particular animals; The Islāmic element. Appendix 1 offers the complete list of animals present in the Shri Sai Satcharita, and Appendix 2 the number of their occurrences in descending order. Animal deities (such as Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling cow) and all deities and their animal vehicles (such as Sarasvati and her ‘swan,’ Ganesh and his mouse, etc.) have purposefully been omitted.