Pranami Sampradaya

The Nijanand sampradaya emerged in the 16th century in Western India, Sadguru Sri Devchandra ji (Shri Devchandraji who will be later known as Nijanand Swami Sat-Guru Dhani Shri Devchandraji, was born to mother Kuverbai and father Mattu Mehta, who used to practice the Radha Vallabhi sect. He was born and raised in the village of Umarkot, Marvad, Sindh–a province of undivided India, which is now in Pakistan.

Those souls of Paramdham, who played in Brij and Raas, came again to this mundane world in the 28th Kaliyug.1 The soul of Consort Shyama made her abode into Devchandraji, the jiva of the King Devapi who prayed in their previous birth for eternal salvation. The prophecy of Shrimad Bhagvatam came true). He settled down in Jamnagar, where form he explained Vedas, Vedantic knowledge and Bhagwatam in simple language intelligible to lay persons irrespective of social class and religious differences, and awaken them to their real Self with the help of divine knowledge called "Tartam". His followers later came to be known as Sundarsaths or Pranami.[8][9][10]

Sri Mehraj Thakur (As already predicted in Puran Samhita,¹ the massive work of soul awakening was to be accomplished through the combined efforts of the two great souls, Sunderbai and Indrawati, from the Supreme Heaven Paramdham. The Holy Koran² also predicted this: “The soul of Allah (Rooh Allah) will ware two different dresses, viz., Lam is Malki Surat (Devchandraji), and Mim is Hakki Surat (Prannathji).” Accordingly, the soul of Indrawati (worldly name Mehraj Thakur) joined the Jagni mission of Nijanand Swami. Mehraj (Sept. 6, 1618-1694AD, also called Mihir Raj) was born in Jamnagar (Gujarat) to mother Dhanbai and father Keshav Thakur, the Chief Minister of the State. At the age of twelve, he was introduced to Nijanand Swami, who instantly recognized in him the soul of Indrawati and awakened him).

Mahamati Shri Prannathji on a 2019 stamp of India

The credit of spreading the Nijanand sampraday goes to Sri Mehraj Thakur. He traveled throughout the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian world including Oman, Iraq and Iran to spread the ideals of religious harmony and interfaith understanding the vision of Tartam professes. Through him was revealed the divine knowledge later compiled as the holy "Kuljam Swaroop" in six languages – Gujarati, Sindhi, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi and also words of many other prevalent languages. He also attended Kumbh Mela at Haridwar in 1735 BS (1678 AD) and was engaged in religious debates in which he became victorious and was conferred the title of "Niskalanka Bijayaabhinand Buddha Avatar" by the saints of various sects and creeds.[8][11][10]

Maharaja Chhatrasal (1649–1731) (1649–1731) of Bundelkhand, was an ardent disciple of Mahamati Prannathji and a follower of Pranami Dharma. Their meeting took place in Mau in 1683, a place near Panna. His nephew Dev Karanji who had met Swami Prannathji, earlier in Ramnagar, was instrumental for this meeting. Chhatrasal was highly impressed of Prannathji and became his disciple. When Maharaja Chhatrasal came to meet him, he was going for a battle against Mughals. Swami Prannathji gave him his own sword and covered his head with a scarf, saying, "You will always be victorious. Diamond mines will be discovered in your land and you will become a great emperor." His prophecy came true and even today Panna region is famous for their diamond mines. Swami Prannathji was not only the religious Guru of Chhatrasal; but he guided him too in political, social, and economic matters. It was by being granted the boon of finding diamonds in Panna by Swami Prannathji that Maharaja Chhatrasal became prosperous.[8][11][12][10]

The traditions grew after Mughal Empire declined in the wake of Aurangzeb's religious persecution of non-Muslims, when Hindu rebellion led to new kingdoms. King Chhatrasal of one such kingdom of Bundelkhand patronized Mahamati Prannathji. The Pranami tradition welcomed all castes and religions to join the Supreme Truth Shri Krishna worship tradition. At conversion initiation, Prannathji would invite the new members to dine together regardless of whether they came from any Sanatan background. He would also explain the Pranami ideas by citing Hindu and Islamic texts to make his teachings connect with the background of the converts.[6]

Anant Shri Mahamati Prananath Ji Mandir Panna, in Madhya Pradesh and Buddhashanti, Nepal.

The religious center of the Nijanand Sampradaya has been in northeast Madhya Pradesh, in the town of Panna.[5] Every year, there is a Pragatan Utsabh of their founder, Prannathji. This happens around the time in January and the whole town of Panna attracts devotees from around the world .

The Nijanandi worship Shri Anadi Achheratit as the Supreme Truth God, and they believe in one and only LORD.[3][4][13] Its Hindu includes just the texts. Its theology is contained in 14 religious texts attributed to Prannath ji, which is known as Shri Tartam Sagar.[3][14] The 14 compositions contain 18,758 chaupai (verses),[15] and is called Tartam Sagar. [5][4] The Pranami devotees believe that Prannathji taught with his text, the essence of all major religious texts of the world, including the Vedas, the Bhagawat Geeta, Quran and the Bible. Most of the devotees believe in no religion but one Lord and some of them call themselves Hindu but willingly accept teachings found in other sources and texts.

Images and devotees at Shri Krishna Pranami temples.

The tradition is strictly vegetarian (ahimsa, non-violence to animals), non-caste tradition dedicated to Supreme Lord whom they also call as "Rajji".[3][4] Dedicated Pranami temples exist such as in Kathiawar and Gulf of Kutch region, but followers of NIJANAND SAMPRADAYA substitute it by praying and spiritual pursuits in any nearby convenient temples.[3][6] There are an estimated 5-10 million Sundarsath found primarily throughout North India, particularly the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal (Darjeeling , Kalimpong and Sikkim), and Assam, as well as the eastern half of Nepal.[3]

In this religion there is no such absolute statue of the Supreme Lord, as they don't believe in Idol Worship, only Shri Tartam Sagar, the divine knowledge is worshiped. Gandhi in his book My Experiments With Truth mentions about this sampradaya: "Pranami is a sect deriving the best of both Quran and Gita, in search of one goal, and one god — Supreme Lord Shri Achheratit."[18]

The "Nijanam Mantra" is used by followers and it is said to be the powerful mantra to get rid of this infinite loop of birth and death. This is the same mantra which is given when someone wants to enter in this sampardaye. This mantra is the summarized version of Tartam Sagar.

The followers of Nijanand Sampardaye are barred from alcohol intake, non-veg diets, tobacco products, etc. The followers recite hymns and verses from their holy book Kuljam Swarup a.k.a. Tartam Sagar, worship the Holy book as the Lord Himself.

In Nijanand temples, which are dedicated to Shree Raj shyamaji (the Lord Supreme and his bliss part), ladies and gentlemen sit in separately to listen to the recitation of fragments of their holy scripture and sing devotional songs (Bramh-waani) to the accompaniment of harmonium, drums (tabla and dholak) and small brass cymbals (manjiras).[8][11][12][10] The walls of temple are covered by scripts from their books – which are inscribed both in Hindi and Sanskrit.

Nijanand Sampraday followers though a minority sect of an offshoot Hinduism can be found in States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim in India chiefly. The followers of Shree Nijanand Sampradya Faith are spread worldwide in recent times including the countries like Nepal, United States, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Canada among others.

• Bhakti movement
• Chhatrasal

• Khan, Dominique-Sila (2002). The Pranami Faith: Beyond "Hindu" and "Muslim". Yoginder Sikand.
• Mukharya, P.S. (2003). Mahamati Prannath and the Synthesis of All Religions. Jamnagar: Shri 5 Navtanpuri Dham. ISBN 81-86228-53-5.

• Shri Krishna Pranami Sampraday
• Nijanandi Sampraday
• Shri Tartam Sagar, the Pranami scriptures