Dwarkamai Masjid (Mother of Mercy)

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Dwarkamai Masjid (Mother of Mercy)

 

Baba Sitting near Dhuni

 

 

 

 

 

Baba seated near 'Dhuni' - the sacred fire, lit by Him in Dwarkamai. Maintained by the Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan with full sanctity.

DWARKAMAI

 

Dwarkamai is the mosque where Baba lived during his sixty years of stay at Shirdi. This is the place where He lived His divine advent and performed Leelas (Divine play). The feeling of His physical presence persists even today most overwhelmingly. In Dwarkamai only Shri Sai assembled His 'darbar' the royal court where He fulfilled their material needs, extended solace to His devotees and conferred spiritual benefit on them. The sacred fire 'dhuni' lighted by Shri Sai, is burning perpetually for more than a hundred years now. It is maintained by the Trust by regularly putting wooden logs as fuel into it with full sanctity. The sacred ash 'Udi' is collected twice a day from this perpetual fire, to be distributed to the devotees as a token of his blessings. There is a life size of portrait placed at the very spot where Baba used to sit untiringly surrounded by his devotees. Shri Jayakar of Mumbai did this portrait in oil when Baba was living in physical body. The picture assumes almost a three dimensional reality with his dynamic presence in it. The eyes have a lustrous brightness penetrating deep into the soul of the devotee and the smile is so gentle and vivid, that it is not a painted smile. This portrait is placed on wooden throne like seat. On the west wall there is a niche 'nimbar' towards which muslims turn for prayers. On one corner of the masjid the grinding stone used by him is kept covered with an iron grill. The other items are an earthen pot, kolamba(an earthenware in which Baba used to put all the food he would receive in alms), bath-stone, a bold square black stone which was presented to Baba by a devotee to sit on it while taking bath (which he never used), a few brass lamps and bells. In the foreyard of the masjid is the same blessed stone on which Baba used to often sit. There is another portrait hanging over it featuring the same pose in which Baba used to sit on it. This stone is flanked by the statues of a tiger and a horse, as living momento of the compassion of the Master. The palanquin and chariot used in his royal procession are housed in an adjoining enclosure of the masjid, which are used on Thursday and all important occasions.