More than 120 devotees who had come to seek his blessings were killed in a stampede on July 2. Open travels to Hathras, the site of the tragedy, and follow the trail to his birthplace in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj to unravel the power and mystery of the godman
TCA Raghavan is a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore. His first book, Attendant Lords: Abdur Rahim and Bairam Khan: Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, was awarded the Mohammad Habib Prize by the Indian History Congress. He is also the author of The People Next Door: The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan and History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G S Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and Their Quest for India’s Past. His latest book is Circles of Freedom: Love, Friendship and Loyalty in the Indian National Struggle