Before the Sathya Sai Baba phenomenon, Puttaparthi was just another nondescript hot and dusty town in Andhra Pradesh. But the man who was born as Sathyanarayana Raju, changed all that. In 1940, at the age of 14, he declared he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and over the years, Puttaparthi would become the focal point of a vast spiritual empire that spanned the globe.