The Praṇāmī sect belong to the
Sant heritage like that of the
Kabīrpanthi,
Dādūpanthis, and
Sikhs. The Praṇāmī
sampradaya emerged in the 17th century in
Western India, based on the teachings of
Bhakti saints, Devcandra Mehtā and his foremost disciple Mehrāj Ṭhākur aka Prāṇanāth. Devcandra (1581–1655) was born into a wealthy
Kāyastha family in
Umarkot, Sindh and was initiated into the
Rādhāvallabhā sect. According to sectarian tradition, Kr̥ṣṇa visited Devcandra and gave him the
tārtam mantra, which gives access to the
Iīlās of Kr̥ṣṇa. His disciple Mehrāj Ṭhākur aka Prāṇanāth was born into a Ṭhākur family in
Jamnagar, Saurashtra. Prāṇanāth worked as a government official in Saurashtra, and travelled through Arabia, Persia, and Iraq studying the
Quʾrān,
Bible, and other Islamic-Christian texts. In India he founded the Mahāmaṅgalapurī Temple in Surat. In the 1677
Kumbhamelā in
Haridvār, he won a religious debate in which he defeated Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva followers, and was awarded the title of
mahāmati. In Jamnagar he was arrested several times for allegedly embezzling public funds. The Pranami
sampradaya's teachings tries to bridge the gap between the
Eastern religions and
Western religions together stating that both the Eastern and Western religions talk about the same one almighty god. The Praṇāmī sect is heavily influenced by
Islam, having developed in an era of Islamic rule. Prāṇanāth claimed that Hinduism and Islam both contained the same esoteric truths, and that the Quʾrān and Vedas both revealed the same truth. According to sectarian tradition, Prāṇanāth is both the
last avatār of Viṣṇu and the
Mahdī and Chatrasāl is compared to
ʾAlī. During his lifetime Prāṇanāth was considered to be both a Hindu sant and a Musim
faqīr. Gandhi in his book
My Experiments With Truth mentions about this sect - "Pranami is a sect deriving the best of
Gita and Quran, in search of one goal – Shri Krishna."
Tartam Sagar The Tartam Sagar, also referred to as the Kuljam Swaroop, is the holy book of the Pranami tradition. It is a compilation of 14 books; Raas, Prakash, Shatritu, Kalash, Sanandh, Kirantan, Khulasa, Khilwat, Parikrama, Sagar, Singaar, Sindhi Bani, Marfat Sagar, and Kayamatnama (chhota and bada), consisting of 18,758 verses. The text was published in 1965 for the first time. It is regarded to contain the revelation of the Vedic scriptures, as well as the description of the supreme abode of Krishna, called paraṃadhāma or
Goloka Vrindavan. The text is regarded to be divine, and is therefore accorded equivalent worship as Krishna. ==Rites and rituals==