Urs- Shree Ramanavami Festivals in Shirdi

In the year 1896, Gopal Rao Gundu was the revenue inspector of Kopargaon circle. Inspite of having three wifes, he had no children. With the blessings of Sai Baba children were born to him. Out of gratitude to him he thought of celebrating Urs festival every year. Baba agreed to this . It was decided to celebrate the festival on shree Ramanavami day.

In the year 1897 the Urs celebration was started in shirdi for the first time on Ramanavami day. Simultaneously the muslim devotees started the sandal utsav. A devotee, Amirshakkar, belonging to the village karah, got the sandal utsav performed at shirdi. They put sandalpaste in a big plateand took it in a procession with drums and cymbals to Dwarkamai. They smeared the walls of Dwarkamai with sandalpaste.
During the sandal Utsav and Ramanavami utsav they got two flags prepared with silk cloth and Zari borders, they brought them in procession and planted them on either side of the mosque. The festival, thus started , had become a full-fledged Ramanavami festival from the year 1912 at the instance of sree Krishna rao Jogeshwar Bhishma. The celebration included Harikathas, cradle function and spraying coloured powder called gulal on one another. Next day hung a pot from a considerable height. This pot contained curds riceflakes, etc. Whoever tried to catch it was sprayed with water jets. Baba moved among all the devoteed blessing them. People thought that the Lord Ram had come in the form in Sai Baba. Baba used to cry a lous with anger whenever the gulal powder fell in his eyes. Actually those cries were directed against the evil spirits moving around there.
After the festivals were over, Gopal Rao Gundu wanted to get the Mosque repaired and put stone slabs for the floor of Dwarkamai. But Baba gave away the stone slabs to the temples in the village for undertaking repairs.