
SaiBaba reportedly arrived at the village of Shirdi in the Ahmednagar region of Maharashtra India, when he was around sixteen years of age. This dichotomy has given rise to two major theories regarding SaiBaba's background, with the majority of writers supporting the Hindu background over the Islamic, while others join both the hypotheses (that Sai Baba was first raised by a fakir and afterward by a master). On another event, Baba reportedly said that the fakir's wife had left him in the care of a Hindu guru, Venkusa of Selu, and that he had stayed with Venkusa for twelve years as his disciple.


He had allegedly stated to a close follower, Mhalsapati, that he has been born of Brahmin parents in the village of Pathri and had been endowed into the care of a fakir in his earliest stages. SaiBaba was infamous for giving vague, misleading and opposing replies to questions concerning his parentage and origins, tersely expressing the information was unimportant.

The Historical Researches into genealogies in Shirdi give support to the theory that Baba could have been born with the name Haribhau Bhusari. Despite the fact that SaiBaba's origins are unknown, a few signs exist suggest that he was born not far from Shirdi.
