Country India Language spoken Marathi | State Maharashtra District Ahmednagar | |
Shirdi (Marathi: ??????) is a town and falls under the jurisdiction of municipal council popularly known as Shirdi Nagar Panchayat, located in Rahata Taluka (Sub-division) in Ahmednagar District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is accessible via the Ahmednagar - Manmad State Highway No.10, approximately 83 km from Ahmednagar and 15 km from Kopargaon. It is located 185 km east of the Western Seashore line (the Ahmednagar - Manmad road), which is a very busy route. Shirdi is best known as the late 19th century home of the popular guru Shirdi Sai Baba. It is one of the richest temple organisations.
Contents
- Map of Shirdi
- Demographics
- Transportation
- Holy places shirdi darshan
- Tourism places to visit in shirdi
- References
Map of Shirdi
Demographics
As of the 2011 India census, the population of Shirdi stood at 36,004. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Shirdi has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 62%. In Shirdi, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. But, Shirdi being a pilgrimage centre, it also has a large amount of floating population. On any given day some 25,000 devotees come for darshan. On holidays the number reaches to about half a million people. Due to easy availability of jobs, a lot of migrant population, mainly of unskilled labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana etc. also reside here.
Transportation
Shirdi is located approximately 296 km from Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra in India. It is called the Land of Sai. The closest and most highly connected city from Shirdi is Ahmednagar city.
Shirdi now has a new railway station called "Sainagar Shirdi", which became operational in March 2009.
As of 2011, there are trains from Chennai, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam via Secunderabad, Mysore and other cities/states that have Shirdi railway station as their terminal stop. Trains also run from Manmad railway station which is 87 km and Ahmednagar railway station which is 83 km from the heart of Shirdi, alternatively from Kopargaon station which is 15 km from Shirdi, or Nashik city, which is 119 km from Shirdi or Nagarsol. Daund railway station is170 km from Shirdi.
Buses and taxis play from these railway stations and locations to and from Shirdi. Shirdi can be reached by bus from any of the following cities in Maharashtra State (India): Ahmednagar, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik, Akluj, Dhule, Nagpur and Aurangabad.Also from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh from where maximum pilgrims reach every day and year to seek blessings from Sai Baba. Currently, four-laning of State highway Nagar-Manmad highway is in progress on BOT basis. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has been assigned to execute the works of internal roads in Shirdi.
Shirdi Airport is being constructed at Kakdi (Kopargaon taluka), 14 km south-west of Shirdi. Root for shirdi airport is shirdi - Nandurkhi bk(4 km)- Korhale(8 km)- Kakadi(14 km).