Nirañjanī Sampradāy

Abstract

Believed to have been founded by the saint-poet Svāmī Haridās (d. 1601?) in the late 16th or early 17th century, the Nirañjanī Sampradāy is one of the bhakti communities associated with the so-called nirguṇ sant movement that began in northern India sometime in the 15th century. The Sampradāy, which consists of both monastic initiates and lay followers, flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries in what is now Rajasthan, during which time it also established monastic outposts at locations as distant as Aurangabad and the Narmada River valley. Nirañjanī hagiographical traditions acknowledge the community’s early connections with the Nāth Sampradāya and with the Dādū Panth, another nirguṇ sant tradition that arose at roughly the same time as the Nirañjanī Sampradāy. These close connections are also reflected in the literature, theology, and practices of the sect, which combine Vaishnava bhakti with aspects of yoga as well as elements adapted from Sufi traditions. After the passing of Haridās, the monastic order expanded quickly in a decentralized fashion, with several of Haridās’s direct disciples founding monastic centers and lineages in different parts of Rajasthan (and eventually in Hyderabad as well). Among the later monastic disciples were several prominent saint-poets, including Santadās, Turasīdās, Manoharadās, Bhagavānadās, Dhyānadās, and Harirāmadās. Importantly, the Nirañjanīs also give prominence to Pannājī, an 18th-century female saint, and recognize several other female saints as being part of the tradition. Although the Nirañjanīs themselves were prolific writers, very little material by or about the Nirañjanīs is available in published form. This article lists the few original works of scholarship that have been produced on the Sampradāy in Hindi and in English along with any relevant primary sources that have been published.