saichitramala.org

        -: Om Samartha Sadguru Sainathaya Namah :-

This web site is dedicated to collecting photos and paintings of personalities and places as narrated in the celebrated Telugu book – “Sri Sai Leelamritamu” by Poojya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja Master.

Like me, many who read the “Sai Leelamritamu” feel – one should have been born during Sai Baba’s physical sojourn in Shirdi. Imagine the fortune of boarding a train and visiting the Shirdi of Baba’s time and getting soaked in His divine presence. Though one can not travel back in time, one can visualize the ‘Sai Leelamritamu’ as it unfolds during the parayana and in the process experience Sri Sai Baba’s divine presence. This is where the photos and paintings of personalities and places comes in handy.

As an example, in chapter 22 of “Sai Leelamritamu” we read that Sriman Bhuti invited then famous Hindustani singer Sri Khan saheb to perform in Dwarakamai. If we were to know the photos of Sri Bhuti and Sri Khan saheb and better yet the song “Hechi dan dega deva”, one can virtually travel to Dwarakamai and be an audience in that august gathering. All these photos and the song are provided in this web site.

This humble work is intended to attach ‘picture’ to the ‘story’ and help Sai devotees immerse in the parayana and complement the “Sai Leelamritamu” textual reading.

Important notes: 

1. This work is a humble Sai seva with no commercial intent
2. All photos and paintings are collected from open source and I sincerely hope that no copy-right violations have taken place. In case of such issues, please contact the site administrator. Considering the spiritual nature of the work, I request your generosity to permit the use of photos/paintings in the web site with photo credit. Otherwise, please let me know and I shall remove the same from the web site. We do not have any intent/resources to engage in any legal issues arising out of such use
3. Where possible and known, references are provided to the photo sources
4. Missing photos in each chapter are marked with “Missing:” tag.  A consolidated list of missing photos is provided as an ‘Appendix’. Photo contributions are most welcome and will be duly acknowledged
5. In a work of this nature, it is possible that there are mistakes that could have crept in inadvertently. Corrections and constructive suggestions are most welcome and will be duly acknowledged
6. Contents from this web site can be used in any spiritual activities related to Sai Baba. I request you to send a note to the site administrator and duly acknowledge the source

The following sources were of immense help during this work and I am grateful to all the contributors:

1. Poojya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja Master’s online books
2. Sai Amrita Dhara web site
3. Photos from Kannada book: Sri Sai Sacharitra, Sai Keashr Prakashan, Pune
4. Online resources from Sri Sai Baba Sanstan, Shirdi

My heartfelt thanks to above sources for their kind  permission to use photos.

I also thank every one who provided their inputs and review comments for this website creation.

Further resources: 

1. Interested readers who wish to see the old Shirdi photos in printed form can refer to book “Shirdi: within and beyond” by Sri Rabinder Nath Kakarya, Sterling Publishers. 
2. Sai devotees visiting Shirdi may consider visiting “Sai Heritage Village” which intends to reflect life of Sri Sai Baba and Shirdi village during Baba’s life time (Disclaimer: I have no association with this organization).
3.  A short video on old photos of Sri Sai Baba by Dr. Vinny Chitluri 

                                                   -: Jai Sai Ram :-