Khandoba Temple is a
Shiva temple, situated at
Shirdi near Shri Sainath Hospital on the
Ahmednagar-
Kopargaon road in
Ahmednagar District. The deity here is Lord Shiva known by the name Khandoba. It is one of the two temples with which Sree Sai Baba had direct connections. When Baba came to Shirdi for the second time with a marriage party, he stopped here at the foot of a banyan tree near the temple. Seeing the Baba, the priest of the temple, first addressed him as 'Ya, Sai' (welcome Sai). Since after, the nameless fakir came to be called as 'Sai Baba'. Shirdi is a major pilgrim center which lies on the Ahmednagar-Manmad Highway, about 250 km from
Mumbai and 75 km from
Nasik. It is well connected to other cities and towns by road. The nearest airport is at Aurangabad (144 km), and the convenient railway stations are at
Nasik (123 km) and
Manmad (60 km).
