It started with the arrest of Ashok Kharat, Nashik’s lecherous astrologer. In the weeks since, videos of various babas began popping up on X and Instagram, often with the caption: “There’s a new baba in the market, guys.” Some of these were old, others new. It’s almost like Matrix’s Agent Smith. You down one, and ten others pop up in an endless loop of a self-replicating virus-like programme built on a combination of tech and manipulation.
The baba industrial complex is similar. There’s a new friendly neighbourhood baba popping up on every corner, every other week.
Each of these religious-spiritual-comical leaders has their own grift. One popped out his tongue, held his body taut, and hit a series of poses in rapid succession—a true voguer if I ever saw one. And if his mask of delirium slipped for half a second, the group of hysterical devotees—all with their heads covered—averted their eyes. No one’s perfect, guys.
Another, called Bheru Baba, tore his shirt open and was helped along by eager devotees as he struggled to get out of it. Inside, his banyan was already torn. One, dressed in a black dhoti, dragged a woman by her hair to cleanse her demons. Yet another, this time a young man, danced as if he were possessed.
In this week’s Viral Spiral, we’re looking at the multiverse of babas. And if the Kharat episode brought forth videos of “pakhandis (fakes)”, another event revealed a deeper loopyness.
The study seemed innocent enough. ‘The Shroud of Turin may have Indian origins,’ read the headlines. But it summoned uncles nationwide like moths to flame. And where uncles congregate, babas inevitably follow.
“Jesus was initiated to Kriya Yoga by Mahavatar Babaji,” read a reply to the NDTV tweet.
Mahavatar Babaji is a legendary baba who is supposed to be immortal and haunts the Himalayas. Everyone knows absent babas make the best leaders. Absolutely no risk of them raping devotees or laundering funds. The brand stays intact.
Old favourites were also brought back. A video of Devaraha Baba, a ‘siddha yogi’ who ‘predicted’ Ram Mandir and asked for a ban on cow slaughter, started making rounds again.
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Daddy issues
While the viral videos were about rural babas frolicking in the uneducated wastelands, urban babas thrive on social media too. Aniruddhacharya, dubbed Pookie Baba by Gen Z, was the first to break through and claim Q&A sessions as his big thing. His crowdwork rakes up views in the lakhs. Rahul Subramanian, who?
Another pathbreaker was Dhirendra Krishna Shastri. Together, ‘soft’ Aniruddhacharya and loudmouth Shastri—the god-cop-bad-cop of North India’s baba game—were the first movers who set up a pathway for many new startups.
True to what the posts said, new babas emerge every day. A young Madhavacharya, who only follows Pookie Baba on Instagram, has found his own gimmick: Plastic toy giveaway. He throws cheap-looking Chinese-made toys into the crowd, and his fans go nuts. And why not? Ask any young American, and he’ll tell you that if heaven exists on earth, it’s in China.
Even after Asaram and Ram Rahim, why does India continue to be obsessed with the baba phenomenon? Part of this is basic daddy issues. But another is the long-ingrained idea of a hermit’s power. Once—and I’m going back to the episode of Jahangir and the Fakir—the baba was a man on the margins, whose moments of lucidity gave direction to imperilled kings.
What were the women on the margins doing, you ask? The likes of Shivani Verma of the Brahma Kumari fame and Devi Chitralekha regularly feature on WhatsApp statuses. How lucky that the fruits of feminism have been claimed by the babains too.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Hi there…
It’s good reading. I think you should also write on some muslim babas and Christian babas who are cheating their community. Because the majority Hindus are now a days avoiding such fake and media centric babas but ghe minority people are still unaware of tye harm from their community babas. And also they have various threats including extinction… if they are trying to speak up against the fraud babas of their community. So majority communities i.e. hi dis are well educated amd well sware of these babas. But minorities are not.
So if we want to make real positive change we need to address those fraud babas also.
biased and woke article