In this paper I have examined the Saibaba phenomenon which originated in India and now has a global influence. Through fieldwork, I build on the life and works of three faith teachers (gurus) who have contributed to the Sai movement to forward my thesis that sociality and hence tangible social service is an important means to gain legitimacy, social standing and as a response to late modernity. I begin by giving an overview of the Sai phenomena and its peculiarities in terms of syncretism, bricolage and aspects of global proliferation. I then discuss how sociality is a strategy for this genre of faith movement and its implications. Finally I propose that sociality has become a metaphor of Sai sacrality.

The astronomical knowledge codified in the Vedaanga Jyotisha is entirely traceable to Vedic sources. Furthermore, in view of the works of Seidenberg on the ritual origin of geometry, and of Kak on the astronomical code in the Vedas, it is argued that the Mesopotamian origin for Vedaanga Jyotisha proposed by Pingree is not justified.