SANTOKH DAS

SANTOKH DAS, an Udasi sant belonging to the Sangat Sahib Ke subsect, is remembered for the construction of the hansli, a water channel taken off the Shahi Nahar, an irrigation canal, for the regular supply of water for the sacred tanks in Amritsar. This feat he accomplished in collaboration with Mahant Pritam Das, another Udasi sadhu, during 1781-84. Like Pritam Das, Santokh Das had also established an akhara or monastery close to the Harimandar at Amritsar, which is known as Brahm Buta after Santokh Das` successor, Brahm Das or Brahm Sahib. Long after these events, Santokh Das and some other saints of his subject developed differences with the central Udasi organization, the Pahchayati Akhara, and in 1840 set up under his leadership a separate body named Sri Gur Naya Akhara Udasin, popularly known as Udasian da Chhota Akhara.

References :

1. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Sri Amritsar. Amritsar, 1977