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{{Short description|Religious figure}}
[[File:Detail of Baba Pritam Das Udasi from a painting of the ten Sikh gurus, with Baba Pritam Das, Chandu Lal, and Nanak Ram from Hyderabad, circa 1780.jpg|thumb|Baba Pritam Das Udasi, detail from a Hyderabadi painting, ca.1780]]
{{Udasi}}
'''Pritam Das''' (1722 or 1752 – 1831) was an [[Udasi]] [[Sant (religion)|saint]] and [[mahant]]. He conducted construction projects to support religious infrastructure and founded ''[[akhara]]s''. Followers of Pritam Das are known as ''Nanga Udasis''.

== Biography ==
Pritam Das was born as Karam Chand into a [[Saraswat Brahmin]] family in either 1722 or 1752 in what is now [[Hoshiarpur district]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Amole |first=Sarmukh Singh |title=PRĪTAM DĀS, MAHANT |url=https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/PRITAM%20DAS%20MAHANT%20(1752-1831).html |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=Encyclopedia of Sikhism (Online Edition) |publisher=Punjabi University, Patiala}}</ref> He received an education in basic [[Urdu]].<ref name=":1" /> At the age of eleven, he started travelling around with ''[[sadhu]]s'' and he met the Udasi figure Sangat Das, who initiated him as his disciple, receiving the new name ''Pritam Das''. Later while going on pilgrimages around the northern Indian subcontinent, he became a disciple of the Mihanshahi Udasi scholar and preacher [[Bankhandi]], who bestowed the title ''nirban'' ("without desire") upon Pritam Das. After this, he travelled to the Deccan in southern India, where he became acquainted with Nanak Chand, the uncle of [[Chandu Lal|Diwan Chandu Lal]] of [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]].<ref name=":1" /> Nanak Chand gave a large sum of 700,000 rupees to Pritam Das, who used it to found a central organization of the Udasis in [[Prayagraj|Allahabad]], the Panchayati Akhara in 1779.<ref name=":1" /> The motivation to set-up the Panchayti Akhara was to support ''[[Gurpurb|gurpurabs]]'' by providing boarding and lodging to for religious figures visiting shrines.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=15 January 2021 |title=Dens of belief: Akharas of Amritsar - Akhara Brahm Buta |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/dens-of-belief-198715/ |access-date=11 April 2026 |work=The Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Teja |first=Charanjit Singh |date=5 April 2025 |title=Udasi akharas steeped in spiritual tradition |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/udasi-akharas-steeped-in-spiritual-tradition/ |access-date=11 April 2026 |work=The Tribune}}</ref> Furthermore, he established ''[[akhara]]s'' at Kankhal in Haridwar and Kashi (Varanasi).<ref name=":4" />

Between 1781 and 1784, he constructed, alongside another Udasi named [[Santokh Das]], a ''hansli'' (canal) connecting the Shahi Nahar irrigation-channel to the ''[[Temple tank|sarovars]]'' of [[Amritsar]] to continuously provide them with a water-source.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Amole |first=Sarmukh Singh |title=SANTOKH DĀS |url=https://eos.learnpunjabi.org/SANTOKH%20DAS.html |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=Encyclopedia of Sikhism (Online Edition) |publisher=Punjabi University, Patiala}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In 1783, Pritam Das and Santokh Das brought a piece of a tall ''sāl'' tree from Dera Ram Rai (present-day [[Dehradun]]) which they used as material to construct a flagpole that they installed a Nishan Sahib on, with the flagpole being erected in-front of a pre-existing bunga near the Akal Takht, with the bunga then acquiring the name ''[[Jhanda Bunga]]'' as a result.<ref name=":13a22">{{Cite book |author=Singh |first=Parkash |title=The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism |date= |publisher=Punjabi University |year=2011 |isbn=8173803498 |editor-last=Singh |editor-first=Harbans |edition=3rd |volume=III: M-R |location=Patiala |pages=239–240 |oclc=}}</ref>
[[File:Photograph titled 'A Temple in Amritsar' taken in 1859 by Felice Beato. Identified as the original Udasi shrine of the Sangalwala Akhara in Amritsar.jpg|thumb|Photograph titled 'A Temple in Amritsar' taken in 1859 by Felice Beato. Identified as the original Udasi shrine of the Sangalwala Akhara in Amritsar.]]
At Bazaar Mai Sevan, Amritsar, he established the Sanglan Wala Akhara in 1788 (some sources claim it was established earlier in 1781 with the original name ''Nirban Akhara''<ref name=":1" />), including an internal temple within it.'''<ref name=":4" />'''

During the 1819 Haridwar Kumbh Mela, some Bairagis protested and attacked the Udasis because they had a procession using the [[Guru Granth Sahib]], so Pritam Das complained to Sikh chiefs, who reprimanded the Bairagis.<ref name=":1" /> Pritam Das died in Amritsar in 1831.<ref name=":1" /> Followers of Pirtam Das are known as ''Nanga Udasis''.<ref>Singh, Sulakhan. “HETERODOXY IN SIKHISM : THE CASE OF THE UDASlS.” ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', vol. 43, 1982, pp. 383–87. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/44141250</nowiki>. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.</ref> They wear a ''kara'' (bracelet) and a waist-chain known as a ''janjiri''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kapoor |first=Satish K. |date=7 November 2020 |title=The Udasi Tradition |url=https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/The-UDASI-Tradition-1.aspx |access-date=11 April 2026 |website=eSamskirit}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Sikh saints]]
[[Category:People from Hoshiarpur district]]
[[Category:Indian Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:18th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:18th-century births]]

[[Category:1831 deaths]]

[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

Pritam Das (Udasi) - Revision history

Eldartpy: created some post initial version