Editing Sathya Sai Baba (section)

===Early life===

Sathyanarayana Raju was born on 23 November 1926 to Namagiriamma (Easwaramma) and Peddavenkama Raju Ratnakaram, to a [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-speaking [[Bhatraju]] family,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/south/story/a-phenomenon-called-sathya-sai-baba-132676-2011-04-25|title=A phenomenon called Sathya Sai Baba|last=Rao|first=A. Srinivasa|website=India Today|date=25 April 2011 |language=en|access-date=22 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fHFLQDOEuYC&q=bhat+raju|title=Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Movement|last=Srinivas|first=Tulasi|year= 2010|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231520522|pages=54|language=en}}</ref> a community of religious musicians and balladeers,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35458340.pdf|title=Sathya Sai Baba as Avatar: "His Story" and the History of an Idea|last=Spurr|first=Michael James|website=University of Canterbury}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSpnAQAAQBAJ&q=Bhat+raju&pg=PT368|title=Gurus of Modern Yoga|last1=Singleton|first1=Mark|last2=Goldberg|first2=Ellen|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199374953|language=en}}</ref> in the village of [[Puttaparthi]] in [[Madras Presidency]] of [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Andhra Pradesh]], India).<ref name="BabbLawrence" /><ref>Haraldsson, Erlendur, Miracles are my visiting cards – An investigative inquiry on Sathya Sai Baba, (1997 revised and updated edition published by Sai Towers, Prasanthi Nilayam, India), p. 55, {{ISBN|8186822321}}</ref><ref name="Eade">{{Cite book|year=2002|editor-last=Eade|editor-first=John|editor2-last=Mele|editor2-first=Christopher|title=Understanding the City|publisher=Wiley|language=en|doi=10.1002/9780470693582|isbn=978-0470693582}}</ref> His birth was purported by his mother Easwaramma to be of a [[Miraculous births|miraculous conception]].<ref name="RichardWeiss"/><ref name="BabbLawrence"/> He was the fourth among the five children of his parents.

Sathya Sai Baba's siblings included elder brother Ratnakaram Seshama Raju (1911–1985), elder sisters Venkamma (1918–1993) and Parvathamma (1920–1998), and younger brother Janakiramaiah (1931–2003).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-22/india/29463028_1_sathya-sai-baba-satyajit-trust-affairsnephew|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103170839/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-22/india/29463028_1_sathya-sai-baba-satyajit-trust-affairsnephew|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 January 2013|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|title=Vaastu dosham at hospital he built, say Sai kin|date=25 April 2011}}</ref>

As a child, Sathya was described as "unusually intelligent" and charitable, though not necessarily academically inclined, as his interests were of a more spiritual nature.<ref name="BabbLawrence"/><ref name=Palmer99 /> He was uncommonly talented in devotional music, dance and drama.<ref name=Palmer99 /><ref name="kent">{{Cite book | last = Kent | first = Alexandra |title =Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization Movement in Malaysia |publisher = Nordic Institute of Asian Studies | year = 2005  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26sVhUo_aM4C&pg=PA37 |pages = 37–39| isbn = 978-8791114403}}</ref> From a young age, he has been purported to have been capable of materializing objects such as food and sweets out of thin air.<ref name="AlexandraKent">{{Cite journal|last=Kent|first=Alexandra|date=1 January 2000|title=Creating Divine Unity: Chinese Recruitment in the Sathya Sai Baba Movement of Malaysia|journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion|volume=15|issue=1|pages=5–27|doi=10.1080/135379000112116|s2cid=143315480|issn=1353-7903}}</ref>