The devotees rushed to collect soil from the ground the man had just walked on, thousands thronging to the front of a venue densely crammed with a quarter of a million people, under stifling heat. <\/p>\n
But one by one, many began falling onto the muddy field and into a sewer nearby, crushing each other as panicked screams pierced the air. <\/p>\n
They had arrived to receive spiritual enlightenment, but 121 people \u2013 mostly women \u2013 were killed by the crowd crush in northern India\u2019s Uttar Pradesh state last week. Those who survived were left scarred and traumatized. <\/p>\n
The man they had come to see was known to his disciples as Bhole Baba, a self-styled Hindu spiritual leader worshipped by many as a living god. <\/p>\n
And he is among dozens of spiritual gurus in the country who inspire devotion in millions of followers, have the ear of the Indian elite, and rake in colossal sums of money. <\/p>\n
While the world\u2019s most populous nation has long produced self-styled \u201cgodmen\u201d, the tradition has, over the last few decades, evolved into a multimillion-dollar industry, whose biggest stars control vast philanthropic and business empires. A large chunk of their money comes from their followers\u2019 donations. <\/p>\n
They are widely revered in a country where religion and faith dictate much of society \u2013 with some even winning endorsement from the highest echelons of society. <\/p>\n
But that industry occasionally finds itself mired in controversy, with several holy men either convicted or accused of a range of crimes \u2013 from financial fraud to murder and rape \u2013 alarming those who cast doubt on their divine personas. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a question we\u2019ve long asked,\u201d said Meera Nanda, author of \u201cThe God Market: How Globalization is Making India More Hindu.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat brings literally millions of poor, desperate people to these godmen?\u201d <\/p>\n
Subhash Lal was working as a security guard nearly 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Mughal Garhi village, where Bhole Baba was delivering his sermon, when the news flashed across his TV screen. <\/p>\n
Lal\u2019s mother, a devout follower of the guru, was among the crowd, and he was desperate for answers. Lal and his family rushed to the hospital that was treating the survivors, when his son learned of the devastating news. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me, Dad, your mother is no more,\u201d the 48-year-old said. \u201cMy mother believed in (Bhole Baba). I couldn\u2019t tell her anything. She would attend these functions\u2026 she believed in him. What could I do?\u201d <\/p>\n
People like Lal\u2019s mother \u2013 poor and on the lower rungs of India\u2019s hierarchical caste system \u2013 make up the bulk of Bhole Baba\u2019s following. They are predominantly Dalit women from India\u2019s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where religion holds particular sway. And for them, a sense of devotion to these godmen is a way to be seen and heard within the Hindu religion. <\/p>\n
Despite being outlawed in 1950, the caste system, which categorizes Hindus at birth and once forced the so-called \u201cuntouchables\u201d or Dalits to the margins of society, is still omnipresent in the daily lives of millions across the nation. <\/p>\n
Reportedly born Narayan Sakar to a low-caste family, Bhole Baba used to be a constable with the Uttar Pradesh Police before becoming a preacher and establishing an ashram \u2013 or place of worship \u2013 in the state. <\/p>\n
Sitting on an ornately decorated chair, he often delivers impassioned sermons exhorting his followers to maintain their devotion. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf, through the medium of truth, you remove old trash from within you, and today if you let truth into your heart, devotion for the god into your heart, humanity into your heart\u2026 then know that even if the world abuses you, you will not get affected by it at all,\u201d he can be heard saying in one of his speeches. <\/p>\n
The \u201crigidity of caste structure\u201d is an important reason for the proliferation of godmen, said K. Kalyani, an assistant professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe low-caste community are particularly debarred within Hindu religion to have respectable position within religious institutions,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir presence in the sanctum sanctorum as priest or their proximity to deity is seen as an act of defilement due to practices of \u2018untouchability\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the absence of religious and spiritual gratification for low-caste Hindus, Kalyani said, an \u201calternative form of religiosity becomes inevitable.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sheetal Jatav, a survivor of last week\u2019s Bhole Baba event, said her community \u2013 the lower-caste Jatavs \u2013 \u201cbelieve in him immensely,\u201d hanging his pictures on their walls or even placing it inside small temples at home. <\/p>\n
The gurus India has produced range from men who claim they can perform miracles, like the revered Sathya Sai Baba, to the yoga guru and founder of the widely popular Art of Living foundation, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. <\/p>\n
Claiming to possess mystical knowledge and the ability to cure illness and solve problems, godmen inspire remarkable fervor in their millions of followers. <\/p>\n
But with their rise has come a slew of criticism over the true intentions behind this perceived divinity, fueled in recent decades by their grandiose lifestyles and immense wealth. <\/p>\n
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of the spiritual organization Dera Sacha Sauda, is another self-styled spiritual guru revered by millions. His group has ashrams across 10 states and union territories in India and claims to have 60 million followers worldwide. <\/p>\n
He is also a convicted killer and rapist. In 2017 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping two of his followers. Two years later, he received a life term for the murder of a journalist who exposed the sexual abuse of women within his group. <\/p>\n
Despite the severity of his crimes, Singh maintains a cult-like following. The rape conviction even sparked riots by his supporters that left 36 people dead and hundreds injured across northern India. <\/p>\n
Since then, Singh has been granted parole multiple times, once even walking out of prison to attend his own birthday party, raising allegations of impunity for these holy men. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have deep connections with the political machine\u2026 and it\u2019s deeply problematic,\u201d Nanda, the author, said. <\/p>\n
The furor over Singh\u2019s case was reminiscent of violent skirmishes that broke out in 2013 after the arrest of guru Asaram Bapu for raping a 16-year-old girl. He was convicted five years later and given a life sentence for the crime. <\/p>\n
Many godmen are also known for their philanthropy, praised for building schools for the impoverished and developing infrastructure in small villages \u2013 and they also attract millions of people to small towns across the country. <\/p>\n
Sathya Sai Baba\u2019s followers, for example, included the US actor Goldie Hawn and Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett. When the guru died in 2011, Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar openly wept at his funeral, which was also attended by India\u2019s prime minister at the time, Manmohan Singh. <\/p>\n
More often than not, the most devout of their followers come from the lower middle classes, but millions in donations also stream in from foreigners, Indians living abroad, and the richest of society. <\/p>\n
While Sathya Sai Baba\u2019s appeal was \u2013 in large part \u2013 due to a certain level of mystique, other godmen, including Singh, are more outspoken, carefully using the media to fuel their rise. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an entire media structure that supports and promotes them,\u201d said Kalyani, the sociologist. \u201cThere are dedicated channels like Astha or Sanskar TV which have dedicated time to show their preachings.\u201d <\/p>\n
As authorities investigate the organizers of last week\u2019s event for alleged negligence, Bhole Baba, who left the event in an armored vehicle, is not being pursued by authorities. <\/p>\n
Many of those affected by the tragedy are angry. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a real (godman),\u201d said Surendra Singh, whose wife was a devout follower of the guru, and died in the tragic crowd crush. <\/p>\n
Speaking to India\u2019s largest news agency, ANI, Bhole Baba, appearing forlorn, said: \u201cThis incident has left me distraught.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMischief makers and anti-social elements responsible for the stampede will not be spared.\u201d <\/p>\n
Referring to himself by his birth name, he added: \u201cMay the praise of Narayan Sakar Hari resound forever throughout the universe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Aishwarya S. Iyer contributed reporting<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The devotees rushed to collect soil from the ground the man had just walked on, thousands thronging to the front of a venue densely crammed with a quarter of a million people, under stifling heat. But one by one, many began falling onto the muddy field and into a sewer nearby, crushing each other as <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}