Abstract
Modern religious movements together with their saintly leaders in Hinduism constitute an area where-from little scholarly research appears, yet, in print. This study of the Sāi Bābā Movement attempts to show on the one hand that, regarding the saints in question (Sāi Bābā, Upasani Baba, Mata Godavari, and Sathya Sāi Bābā), one can trace their origins to ancient forms of religious life in India and on the odier that they display the effects of influences stemming from Muslim and later Hindu practices. Moreover, the interrelations of the members of the Movement appear to harmonize on the basis of common motifs whose origins are capable of the kind of reconstruction suggested above. The scholarly task in describing the phenomena of India's modern saints should focus on the relationship that obtains between the structural elements of Demonstration, Organization and Intention for the task of communicating one's understanding of the religious expression; hence, while this study provides substantive material concerning some modern Indian saints, it also proposes issues of a methodological nature in their regard.
