History

The ancestors of Tajuddin Baba were Arabs. Baba belongs to the family of Hazrat Imam Hassan and Hazrat Imam Hussain. Syed Abdulla, a grand son of Hazarat Iman Askari, came from Arabia to India and settled down in Madras. The descendants of his family thus happened to live around this city for a long time. One of them, Syed Badruddin (Baba's father), become a Subedar in the army - Madras Platoon no. 32 and live in Kamptee. Baba was born on Thursday, the 27th of January, 1861, at about 5-15 a.m at Kamptee. In his 6th year when Tajuddin was at school, in Kamptee a famous Muslim Saint, Hazarat Abdulla Shah, came to see him. He gazed at Tajuddin, took out a piece of sweetmeat from his bag, chewed a bit of it and thrust the rest into Tajuddin mouth. He then told one of the teachers standing by : " What can you teach him? He is already well taught in his previous life." And, addressing the young Tajuddin, he said: " Eat little, Sleep little, and Talk little. While reading Quran, read as though the holy Prophet Mohammed has descended upon you."

This strange incident effected a profound change in tajuddin. Tears flowed from his eyes continuously for three days and he lost all interest in play and childish pranks. He sought solitude and was always found reading the works of great Sufi Saints and reflecting upon their profound significance. Of all that he read, the one couplet that captured his heart most was ---- " Drink wine, burn Quran and kaba; dwell in the mandap ( temple) but never hurt the feelings of , or cause pain to, any human heart. "
Hazarat Abdulla Shah was a Sufi dervish ( a Muslim mystic ). Neither he nor the Sufi mystic who wrote the above lines could hardly have meant these lines literally. It must be remembered that they are meant quite differently from what they appear outwardly. The commonest examples are the use of terms of drinking , lovemaking and intoxication in their poetry to connote mystical experiences. So the above lines actually meant that one has to drink the wine of ' true and sincere devotion' and faith, and not the dirty wine of worldly life; that the holy Quran is neither the parchment or the ink in which it inscribed, nor the Holy Kaba the stone; nor is it right to be caught in the narrow religious bigotry of hating other religions ( like belittling places of worship of other religions as the Hindu mandaps ). The most important of all is the non-injury of the body or the religious feelings and sentiments of any human being. Indeed Tajuddin spiritual career had been an unwritten, unuttered, commentary on these lines. When he became the full-fledged Tajuddin "Aulia", he ordered equal treatment of both the Hindus and the Muslims, as his story proves.

Accordingly, at the age of 20, in 1881 A.D., Tajuddin joined the 13th Nagpur Regiment. In 1884, Tajuddin's Regiment reached Saugor. All through his career in the army, Tajuddin never neglected his Namaz( Muslim Prayer ). One day in Saugor, Tajuddin was lured by a melodious voice which led him to a lonely waste land nearby where a famous 'Chishti' saint Hazarat Dawood Shah lived. Henceforth he used to attend regularly to the service of this Muslim saint. He used to spend much of his time in meditation in the company of the saint every day after his army duties. Sometimes he stayed away with him in the night also. when his grandmother learnt at Kamptee that he was not staying in tent at night, she rushed to Saugor suspecting that Tajuddin had fallen into some evil company. She stealthily followed him at night but found that he was meditating with a muslim saint. Next morning, when Tajuddin returned home, she served him with breakfast. But Tajuddin said he would eat his his own laddu and peda (two Indian sweets) and stared chewing up the two stones he had in his hand. The old lady was awfully surprised at this phenomenon and realized that Tajuddin's devotional life had had given him some devotional powers, and that her suspicious about his character were wrong. She returned to her town happily. Even after Hazarat Dawood Chishti's death, Tajuddin continued his meditations and mujahedas( spiritual practices ) often near the decease's tomb.
Tajuddin's meeting with Hajarat Dawood Chisthi marked the second important land mark in his life. His meditations and mujahedas soon become more intensified and he found his job in the army a great hindrance to his 'new' life. And so he tendered his resignation directly to his commander. The latter was, however, shocked and at once wrote to his relations about his rash action. His grandmother, fearing that Tajuddin had become mentally cracked, came to Saugor and found him quite different man, wandering unaware of his worldly needs and responsibilities as if in quest of "something intangible." She took him to Kamptee where the doctors tried to cure him for madness and magicians used all kinds of talismans in vain. They could not realize that, by the grace of God, and attention of his Guru(Pir), he had attained " the high mystical-state-of-all-existence," in which one forgets self. But the people generally took him for a mad man. Children flocked round him and threw stones at him. But he always smiled and was never offended with them. On the contrary, he encouraged them by heaping the stones they needed the place, ready for their use. If people dissuaded the children from stoning him, he would get angry with them for their interference.
Tajuddin lived in this state for four years in Kamptee during which period his grandmother died, unaware of the glorious future of her grandson. Now his uncle, Abdul Rahman, took him to Chanda. There too he was treated in vain for his 'madness' and he was sent back to Kamptee and left to his own fate. He lived under bridges and in ruins, caring little for sun and rain. When it rained, he stood under some tree or the other. Now he was completely naked and hardly had any inclination for food or drink. When any one gave him any thing to eat, he gave it away to the stray dogs on the road.
At last, when every human being abandoned Tajuddin, the "Hand of lord" was stretched to shield him. Now miracles started manifesting themselves through him and this made the people realise the real stuff of which Tajuddin was made. Hundreds of these miracles were narrated by the amazed public and now he was popularly called " Tajuddin Baba."

As the month of July of 1924 drew to it's close, the health of Baba Tajuddin began to fail and showed no improvement for 10 days. He grew very weak and could not even move out in his usual fashion. Maharaja Raghoji Rao was extremely upset at his condition and started visiting him very frequently.

It was the evening of Monday the 17th of August, 1925, a large number of birds gathered on the Maharaja's palace but, contrary to their natural behavior, they were all unusually quiet and still. The Baba raised his hands up and prayed for the welfare of all, blessed them, lay peacefully down on the couch and, with a slight gurgling sound in his throat, he let his 'spirit' merge into the Infinite.

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