Perfumes, sarees form Sai Baba's inventory

Yajurmandir, the residence of Sathya Sai Baba and his aide Sathyajit, also threw light on the lifestyle of the godman, revered as the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai.

“Baba used perfumes to smell good when he gave darshan to thousands of devotees, and gave personal interviews to dignitaries who will be sitting close to him,” recalled a devotee at Prasahanti Nilayam.

While there is no brand-wise perfume list available with the revenue officers, they could recall latest and rarest kind of perfumes and toiletries stocked at Yajurmandir.

The revenue officials of Anantapur district during the three rounds of inventory taking completed on July 20, also found thousands of pure silk sarees, dhotis and shirts at Yajurmandir. Baba used to present the sarees to a few select women devotees and also distribute among the volunteers who do free “seva” at Prashanti Nilayam. A large number of silver and gold “mangala sutrams” were also found during the inventory.

Electronic gadgets

“We also found electronic gadgets of various makes that one could dream of and around 5,000 watches that include Rado, Tag Heuer and mostly Swiss hand made watches,” the awestruck revenue officials, who took part in the inventory sessions from June 2, said.

These goods believed to have been gifted by the devotees from across the world, indicate the love and affection they had for Sai Baba. The revenue officers also stumbled upon two gold garlands, each weighing 6-7 kg under a table.

The Swiss and Danish chocolates and huge cache of dry fruits which have passed the date of expiry were also found by the team.

“These might be gifted by devotees from abroad, but one wonders why they were not distributed and left to rot,” a senior officer from the revenue department deputed to  make inventory, recalled.

The inventory making, which still has to open the personal living quarter of Sathya Sai Baba.  The officials also found 40 pairs of saffron robes, 75 silver glasses each weighing 700 gm in a carton, thousands of gold rings and gold plated fancy earrings.