The Shirdi Sai Sansthan immediately approved this Mud Statue of Baba, on the basis of which the present Italian Marble Statue of Sai Baba was carved and installed in the Samadhi Shrine. Baba remarked on Talim’s difficulties and showed him his Face from various angles, encouraging Talim to study it thoroughly and remember it well. Therefore, he prayed saying “If Sri Sai Baba gives me darshan while making His Statue, the Statue will be worthy & the devotees also will have feelings of devotion”.Īnd sure enough one early morning, around 07:00 am when Shri.Balaji entered his Studio, he saw a bright light even before he could switch on the Lights. Baba had appeared in the Light and given Darshan to him in the studio. Meticulously, Shri.Balaji Talim got his tools ‘made to order’ from iron-smiths and carpenters and started off by first making a Model of Baba using Mud Clay.īut it was difficult for Shri.Balaji Talim to make the statue in its exact likeness without the intricate details of the physical characteristic’s of Baba’s face, to profile which he only had Baba’s one black & white photograph. So they gave Shri.Balaji Vasantrao Talim – a sculptor from Bombay, the humungous task of sculpting Baba’s Idol. Impressed by the quality of the Italian Marble, the Shirdi Sansthan planned to use it for an Idol of Sai Baba. In 1952, a piece of a White Italian Marble had arrived from Italy at the Bombay Docks but for whom or why, nobody seemed to know Thus, in the absence of a claimant, the dockyard authorities auctioned it off and the purchaser later offered it to the Shirdi Sai Sansthan.

It was a huge turning point for Shirdi when the Shirdi Sansthan decided to put a statue on 7th October`1954, Vijayadashami Day – 36 years after Baba’s Mahasamadhi.

Sai baba shirdi idol in glass hexagonal