Udasi Sikhs photographed in the 1860s. An image of ash covered ascetics seems completely at odds with the Sikh ideal, but these men are descendants of a tradition that rooted in the very origins of the Sikh faith... read more... 
When Guru Nanak selected the successor to his spiritual path, he didn’t choose either of his two sons. The Guru’s youngest son had chosen a mercantile career. while his eldest son, Sri Chand, was deeply spiritual from a very early age, but in a manner largely rejected by the Guru
Sri Chand, tradition says, possessed a strong spiritual leaning from birth, devoted his life to austere spiritual aestheticism, he lived a reclusive, celibate existence expounding renunciation of possessions, family, material ambition. He founded the sect of Udasi yogis
Sri Chand maintained a long and cordial relationship with proceeding Sikh gurus. It is said that he lived to well over a 100 years and traditions (both Sikh and Udasi) place him at numerous events in Sikh history variously interacting or providing wise counsel to the Sikh Gurus
The Udasi order was important and influential throughout the 18th and 19th century. Unlike the Khalsa their practices were rarely uniform or regulated. The Udasis pictured here would have looked very different to the Udasis who officiated and managed the Sikh gurdwaras
Literate and disciplined, the Udasis greatly revered the Sikh scriptures and wrote volumes commentaries on the Sikh world, as a result they were central in the running Sikh affairs and institutions through much of the 19th century.
In our 2004 book ‘Sicques Tigers or Thieves’ Parmjit and I reproduce a 1796 event where a group of Udasis mount a vicious attack on a group of Bairagi Fakirs who attempt to assault them, killing many hundreds. Clearly their power was more than administrative.
in the 1780s it was Udasi sants that built the underground canal that brings fresh water to the sarovar that surrounds the Harimandir Sahib. Later the same Udasi sant built one of the great Bungas (centres of learning) in Amritsar - Brahm Buta Akhara.
Udasi influence rose in Sikh institutions through the early 20th C and with it came deep unease from the Khalsa. A wholesale expulsion of Udasi control of gurdwaras began in the '20s accelerated by the Nankana Sahib massacre where the main perpetrator declared himself an Udasi
Today Udasis are considered outside of the mainstream Sikh tradition. Instead they maintain their own shrines and traditions. As a religious body they are largely outside of Sikh affairs, but are influential, and well-respected inside the greater Hindu world.
