The biggest Sai Baba statue

Sai Baba statue The name Shirdi Sai reminds everyone of the graceful and pleasant appearance of Lord Shirdi Sai blessing the devotees. In Machilipatnam, a big statue of Shirdi Sai is built and is attracting the tourists and devotees. The biggest Sai Baba statue can be found on the main road of District court center in Machilipatnam. The statue is so big that anybody who goes near the temple can only touch his feet. The statue appears as if Baba is sitting on the first storey of the building. To view the statue completely, one has to stand away from the building and lift their heads. The biggest Sai Baba statue is sitting on a throne under the hoods of a five headed serpentine. The height of the statue is forty four feet and width is forty five feet. This has been declared the biggest Sai Baba statue in the world by India Book of Records. The statue is made by sculptors A. Manikyala Rao and his son Venkateswara Rao. The statue attracts the devotees with lifelike appearance. And many people not only from places around Machilipatnam come to have the darshan of Sai Baba. The founder of Sai Baba temple in Machilipatnam is Sri Lakshmipuram Vittal Rao. He is a devotee of Sai Baba from a very young age. He wanted to build a temple at court centers, Machilipatnam. The cement idol of Sai Baba was installed in a shed on Vijayadasami day in 1994. The temple became famous with the devotees and a temple was built there after four years. Generally all the Shirdi Sai temples have the idol in a sitting posture. But in the Machilipatnam temple, the idol is in sitting position and the height of the temple is nine feet two inches. Annadanam is held every Thursday in the temple. More than two thousand people take the prasadam in the annadanam. All the rituals performed at Shirdi are followed at the Shirdi Sai temple at Machilipatnam. Large number of devotees participates in these rituals. The founder of Sai Baba temple says that once he was travelling in a bus between Vijayawada and Tenali and Sai Baba appeared to him sitting on a hill. There was an old temple on the hill. He believed that it was the power of Sai Baba and he wanted to build the biggest Sai Baba statue. The biggest Sai Baba statue at Machilipatnam was launched on Vijayadasami day in 2007. Rs.22 lakhs were spent for the construction of the statue and no donations were asked for the construction of either the temple or the statue. Festivals such as Gurupurnima, Vijayadasami, Sri Rama Navami and Ugadi are celebrated here on a grand scale. On special occasions thousands of devotees come to the temple. All the abhishekas and pujas are performed for free at this temple.