Standing Babas’ Den

The Standing Babas’ Den is a hashish den in suburban Byculla, set within a temple compound associated with the Standing Babas, monks who have vowed to remain standing for the rest of their lives. The location brings together religious devotion and ordinary commercial exchange: the Babas maintain their vow while preparing hashish for customers, who observe the same rule of standing in their presence.

Setting and Practice

The den occupies a corridor between two brick buildings at the rear of the temple. An iron roof covers its stone-paved floor. The Babas enter through a door at the rear, while customers use an iron gate opening onto the street. The temple compound also contains gardens, cloisters, and dormitories reserved for those who have taken and kept the vow; these spaces remain hidden from the den’s customers.

The vow shapes the room’s everyday arrangements. Customers stand along the corridor walls, and nobody sits in the Babas’ presence. Near the street entrance, a tap stands over an open drain. The Babas move among the visitors, preparing hashish in funnel-shaped clay chillums and smoking with them. The den therefore operates as both a place of commerce and a space governed by the monks’ discipline.

The Babas and the Vow

The Standing Babas have renounced sitting and lying down altogether. They eat, pray, work, sing, and attend to daily needs while standing; even sleep takes place upright, with harnesses supporting them so they do not fall while unconscious. The practice carries severe and lasting physical costs, while the Babas’ persistent swaying becomes a visible consequence of the effort required to keep the vow.

The vow has different meanings for different men. Some undertake it when young, in response to a religious calling; older men may adopt it as preparation for death and another incarnation. Former businessmen, other holy men, and men with criminal pasts are also among the Babas. Their presence makes the den a meeting place for people whose routes to renunciation differ, even as they share the same demanding discipline.

Lin’s Visit and the Attack

Prabaker had taken Lin to the den months earlier as part of a tour of the city’s darker side. After returning from the village, Lin asked Prabaker to take him again, this time with Karla, who had heard stories about the place but had never visited. The planned outing becomes part of Lin’s transition toward living in the slum: Prabaker agrees to take them before helping Lin collect his belongings.

During the visit, one of the Babas prepares a chillum and offers it to Lin. The encounter gives Lin a brief sense of the endurance demanded by the vow, before the moment passes and the Baba returns toward the street gate. The den’s enclosed layout then becomes crucial when a sword-wielding man enters through that gate and advances toward Lin. With the rear door locked, the visitors have no immediate exit. Another man trips the attacker and restrains him; those who know the attacker escort him outside. Lin picks up the sword, then gives it to a man who approaches with open hands. The episode places a sudden armed assault inside a setting otherwise organized around ritual discipline and shared observance.