Naga Sai Mandir, Coimbatore

Sri Naga Sai Mandir on Mettupalayam Road in Coimbatore is a temple to Shirdi Sai Baba. It grew out of a Sai movement begun in the city in 1939; in 1942 C. Varadaraja Ayyah gave about an acre of land for a Sai Baba Madam that was open to all, whatever their caste or creed. In 1961 Sathya Sai Baba installed the marble statue of Shirdi Sai Baba, the first time he formally installed such an idol for daily worship.

The name recalls 7 January 1943, when a cobra is said to have appeared before Baba's picture during a bhajan and stayed for 17 hours under heaps of flowers before slipping away into the bushes, where an anthill later rose. That spot is treated as holy ground. The temple keeps a stick said to have been used by Sai Baba at Shirdi, a dhuni flame brought from Bangalore whose ash is given as prasadam, and a golden chariot dedicated in 2007 that is taken round the prakaram on Thursdays.