Last Sunday evening, 48 hours after being questioned by the police, Radhe Maa, resplendent in vermilion and gold, arrived at the Mahalaxmi Temple. A minor stampede ensued. As she reached the steps of the temple, trishul in hand, two women in baby pink turbans hoisted her out of the car. Someone wiped her brow, someone adjusted her hair, someone opened the door. An infant was thrust at her, but Radhe Maa remained unmoved. Only a few mortal beads of sweat dotted her face as she moved slowly from one temple to the next, flanked by chanting followers and a convoy of police, which kept selfie-seekers out of bay. She appeared oblivious to the controversy surrounding her — the police dragnet, the legal entanglements and the calls for worldly accountability. Wearing her typical beatific smile, she glided through the evening.
After the darshan , a wide-eyed devotee sighed, “There really is something indescribable about her. Nothing else matters.”
For the past fortnight, this Mumbai godwoman has been roiled in legal tangles — from charges of obscenity to instigating dowry demands to cheating. Not to mention the patina of fraudulence that clings to her since all this — and her glamorous skirt-wearing avatar on Twitter — was revealed. But one man’s fraudulence is another man’s call for further devotion. “This has only reinforced my belief,” said one devotee. “This would have happened to any divinity.”
‘Naiveté’, ‘peace’, ‘positive energy’ — these are the qualities devotees attribute to her. “I first went as a non-believer, out of curiosity,” said one such believer, who didn’t want to be named, “But I was hooked.” He said he had earlier shunned godmen, but with her there was “no mumbo jumbo, no black magic, just her aura and energy.”
Her passport puts her age at 50, yet her ageless face is attributed to her ‘innocence’. “She is like a gudiya (doll),” said the same devotee. “Just like a child.” “When we hug her or carry her,” said one follower, “it is with love in our hearts, like between parent and child.”
As expected, the online world credits her with ‘miracles’, from bringing back sight to curing the terminally sick. Some even claim she is an incarnation of goddess Durga. But devotees say such specifics are irrelevant.
Other avatar
Born Sukhwinder Kaur in Dorangla in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, she studied till Class X, was married at 18, and had two sons before turning spiritual at 23. Her official website states that as a child, “she had the gift of prophesy”. Later, her husband left to explore business opportunities abroad. “However,” the profile goes on, “[she] was not daunted”. In addition to the gift of prophesy, she had the “god-given skill of sewing,” and spent time tailoring and teaching. Many temple visits later, she gave up life as she knew it and took on a life of “spiritual wandering”. She arrived in Mumbai, more than 10 years ago, where her following grew and prospered after one Mumbai-based Gupta family took her in. She now lives with them or, as one family member put it, “I live at her feet”.
It is unclear why Radhe Maa is so partial to red or how she chose the title. One explanation is that devotees think the colour suits her, another is that it is the colour of the goddess Parvati. A third theory is that the name Radhe Maa refers to ‘raah de’ or show the way.
With two grown-up sons and two school-going granddaughters, Radhe Maa lives for the most part in Borivali, the venue of her fortnightly satsangs. Her husband stopped being her husband some 25 years ago, not in law but rather by a cosmic route. “She sacrificed everything in her worldly life,” said one devotee.
This obsession for her results in the mass hugging and carrying, which has even attracted obscenity charges. But her devotees see a different kind of logic.
One 65-year-old said he’d fallen prostrate at her feet once when she was disembarking from an aircraft. He had been yearning for the special privilege of carrying her and she saw his face, read his mind and told him he could do so. “There were tears in my eyes,” he said. “This is what I had been waiting to hear.” He then walked 15 steps bearing her.
For followers who need to know when her next event or appearance is there is an app named Shri Radhe Guru Maa. Press on it and a miniature icon of the larger-than-life icon comes to life.
There was no word on the app, however, on her police station appearances. That proved no impediment to scores of devotees who showed up on Friday and waited all day as she was questioned inside. They came wearing the merchandise — red bandanas emblazoned with gold lettering, one flaunted a tattoo of her etched into his skin. When she emerged from Kandivali police station after five hours of questioning, her mini trishul in hand, rose tucked behind right ear and sunglasses happily perched on nose.
Bhavya Dore is a Mumbai-based journalist