This is a live document, updated as new information comes to notice.
Last updated on: 2026-04-20
This article details how the history has shaped the Pirana Satpanth sect, since the times of its founder Saiyed Imamshah.
It takes through the various stages that led to its present form. The reasons and various tactics of use of al-taqiyya behind its morphing from one stage to another. For a normal outsider, it may seem that sect has converted from Islam to Hindu, but in fact, that is not the case. So far, it has been very successful in using taqiyya to hide its true values.
The greatness of the success can be truly understood only when one realises how they have been able to evade pressures from RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Hindu Sadhus etc., to reconvert to Hinduism. In fact, they tactfully used these very organisations to retain its true Islamic Seed, only to be revealed during “safe times” to come in future.
Grouping of Stages leading to present ‘Shape’
Stages 1 to 2“Seeding Period.”
Stages 3 and 4“Growth and Stability.”
Stages 5 and 6“Uprising of followers and exposed strategy.”
Stages 7 and 8“Change of Management.”
Stages 9, 10 and 11“On verge of collapse and use of taqiyya.”
Stages 12 and 13“Foundation of ex-Satpanthi community.”
Stages 14 and 15“Protection Mode.”
Stage 16“Severing the ties by ex-Satpanth community.”
Stage 17“Attempts to remove Saiyeds.”
Stages 18 and 19“Imamshah’s identity changed to Hindu.”
Stages 20, 21 and 22“Attempt of backdoor entry into Hindu society.”
Stages 23, 24 and 25“Find the true shape.”
The Roots
Islam -> Shia -> Ismaili -> Nizari branch was founded in 1094 in
Alamut (in Iran) by the Ismaili dai, Hasan-e Sabbah. The name
Nizari comes from the name of Imam ‘Nizar’ under whom Hasan-e Sabbah worked.
This Nizari sect as designated (called) as Satpanth in India.
Satpanth is divided into two main branches;
1. The Khojas, who are followers of His Highness the Aga Khan, and
2. The Satpanthis who follow the Pirs who are the descendants of Imam Shah. (This division is also known as Imamshahi Sect, Pirana Satpanth, Kaka Sect, Matia Sect, Gupt (Secret) Sect or Mumna Sect)
Stage 1 – Establishing Pirana Satpanth Sect
Satgur Nur (buried in Navsari) is considered as the first Pir sent from Persia to India to propagate Nizarism, which in India became designated as Satpanth. Next important preacher was Pir Shams. As per Satpanth Dashavatar book, Pir Shams appears as preacher of Satpanth in the 10th and final avatar of Lord Vishnu called Kalki Avatar or Nishkalanki Avatar.
Pir Sadruddin, the great grandson of Pir Shams, was the real founder of the Satpanth Sect. He is buried in Uchh,
Pakistan.
His son and successor Pir Kabiruddin (Abu Qalandar Hasan Kabiruddin) carried forward the mission of his father and died in Uchh.
Imam Shah, son of Pir Kabiruddin, was the founder of Pirana Satpanth based out of a village near Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
During his life time, Imamshah remained loyal to Iran based “Imam”, who is also called as Nishkalanki Narayan by Satpanthis. He is the religious head of Satpanth sect.
During his whole lifetime, Imamshah diligently forwarded to Imam at Iran, the amount of Dasond (the tithe), i.e., the 1/10th of his income which a follower would give in the Imam.
Before his death Imamshah had appointed one Shana Kaka (from a Leva Patidar community) as a servant caretaker i.e., Mujavar of the tomb. A servant is called Kaka in persian language, hence the word Kaka after the name. He job was of cleaning and maintaining the tomb.
Imamshah died on 25-Nov-1513. His body is buried in a Dargah built at Pirana. Imamshah had built the Dargah for himself, during his lifetime.
Stage 2 – Split of the Sect
Nar / Noor / Nur Muhammad Shah succeeded his father Imamshah to the seat of Pirana.
The practice of forwarding the amounts of Dasond to Iran as followed by Imam Shah, was also carried on even under Nur Muhammad himself, at the beginning of his rule.
But lateron, Nur Muhammad declared self to be Nishkalanki Narayan i.e., Imam. Hence it became important for him to stop
Dasond and other tax amounts from being sent to Iran.
Thus, Imamshahi sect (followers of Imam Shah) was seceded from the parent Satpanth (Khoja) community, in 16th century, by Nur Muhammad Shah.
Stage 3 – Role of Kakas
The sons of Nur Muhammad Shah were embroiled in persistent rivalries and internal disputes.
In order to create an apparatus for more or less impartial distribution of income amongst the different quarreling members of his family after his death, he arranged that the taxes and offerings should be collected by a specially appointed head Kaka, who would also keep up the shrines.
However, the history of the sect shows, the Kakas proved to be an inexhaustible source of intrigue and misery to the community.
With the help of money power, the Kakas grew in strength and started considering themselves to be religious head of the sect.
Due to Dasond, the Satpanthis were seen as cash cows. The Saiyeds and Kaka fought to have the largest share of the amount.
During these times, the sect had been divided into branches like Athia, Panchiya and Satiya branches.
Stage 4 – Moghul Aurangzeb Badshah of Delhi
Aurangezeb donates 45 bighas of land to Imamshah’s Dargah and monthly allowance of Rs.5/- for lighting the lamp in the Dargah.
Stage 5 – Revival of Sanatan Dharm amongst Satpanthis (mainly the Kutch Kadva Patidar Community)
The decade of 1910s saw the beginning of return of Satpanthis to Sanatan Dharm. A wave of religious reforms was seen in the Kutch Kadva Patidar community, which used to follow Pirana Satpanth religion.
Their history shows that the community was deceived / betrayed to follow Satpanth by giving a false impression that Satpanth was the true Sanatan Dharm of Kaliyuga.
In early 1920s saw three community conferences were organized, to educate people that Satpanth is actually a Islamic religion and not Hindu religion.
Stage 6 – The book exposing the hidden secrets and literature of Pirana Satpanth
In 1925 the book Pirana Satpanth ni Pol ane Satya no Prakash by Narayanji Ramji Contractor / Limbani was published. This was the first book which brought to the notice of world the hidden / secret religious literature of Pirana Satpanth. It has almost complete set of the religious literature. For the first time Pirana Satpanth’s teachings were published and made available to public in general.
This enabled public to question about the doctrines and teaching of the Satpanth and Pirana Satpanth. This the sect came under public scrutiny.
Stage 7 – Adminstration falls in the hands of KKP Community
Administration of the shrine fell in the hands of KKP community. On 22-Dec-1925, one Ramji of Aral village in Kutch becomes the Bhagwa Kaka of Pirana.
From this date the management of the Pirana Sect falls in the hands of Kutch Kadva Patidar community. Earlier it was in the hands of Leva Patidar Community.
Stage 8 – Formation of Trust to manage the shrine
Meanwhile the disputes between Kaka and Saiyeds, the spiritual gurus of Satpanth continued. In the year the dispute reached the Ahmedabad District Civil Court. The Imamshah’s dargah, and the whole muslim graveyard where it was located was transferred to a Trust (called The Imamshah Bawa Roza Sansthan Committee Trust, Regd. E-738 Ahmedabad) formed by the said court’s order in 1939 and registered with Charity Commissioner’s office. Essentially the property which was the ownership of Saiyed community was transferred to a trust, where 7 satpanthis, 3 saiyeds and 1 chariman who is the head Kaka, were its trustees.
What this essential did was that the privately owned property by the descendants of Imamshah was transferred to the trust.
All the objects of the trust were for the benefit of the Saiyeds, who are the descendants of Imamshah. The administration scheme gives out occasions when the trust has to pay money to Saiyed community members.
Satpanthis have no right, except of having Darshan and eating food in the common kitchen run by the trust.
The new appointee Kaka has to undergo religious ceremonies at the hands of Saiyeds first. Only after which his appointment as Bhagwa Kaka (Main Kaka) is confirmed. Thus he becomes defacto chairman of the Trust.
Stage 9 – Ex-Satpanthis grew very stronger
The Sanatan Dharm movement amongst Kutch Kadva Patidar (KKP) Satpanth community gained tremendous movement. Under the leadership and guidance of Sant Odhavram Maharaj, the existing Satpanth Jamatkhana (known as Khana in short) were converted into proper Hindu Laxminarayan Temple. In cases where this was not possible, new temples were being built just opposite or adjacent to existing Satpanth Khanas.
The new KKP Sanantan community laid its foundation on four basic pillars.
- Laxminarayan Temples were built in almost every village.
- Organised themselves by forming Samajs and Yuvakmandals. They built community halls almost every village and elsewhere where they settled.
- Established Umiya Mataji Temple at Vandhay, which gave them the necessary original hindu identity and re-connected with the Umiya Mataji Unjha, central organisation of entire Hindu Kadva Patidar community.
- Built student hostels at Dhansura, Nakhtrana and elsewhere, with the aim to raise the education levels in the community which was overwhelmingly illiterate.
- The community started migrating outside Kutch in search of better business opportunities, which led to increase in the income levels.
These fundamental steps led the community of ex-satpanthis to grow exponentially. The growth and development with increasing levels of education amongst children became the main attraction point. The flow of people leaving Satpanth grew very stronger and stronger.
Stage 10 – Pirana sect on verge of collapse
By 1985, situation in Pirana grew very alarming. There was urgent need of changes to revive the otherwise dying sect.
Under the guidance of their hidden spiritual guru, Shamshuddin Ahmedali Khaki, the adminstrators of the sect introduced drastic reforms. They resorted to extensive use of taqiyya.
The then Chairman of the trust resigned (the sole instance where an existing Chairman of this trust resigned during his lifetime) and another person, Karsan Kaka was anointed to the seat of Kaka and made the Chairman of the trust.
The formula was;
- The Islamic elements were replaced by equivalent Hindu elements. Basically expanding on the work of Imamshah and Pir Sadruddin, the founders of the sect. The aim was to hide the Islamic identity and give a hindu identity. First such so-called changed book named “Satpanth Yagn Vidhi” was approved on 02-Sep-1990 at Laxmipura Kampa, Khedbrahma, Gujarat and published on 26-Jan-1994.
- Hindu Sadhu sammelans were organised. Hindu sadhus offered the support by declaring the Satpanth was a Hindu sect. However people say openly that, behind the closed doors, Karsan Kaka the Chairman had to promise that all religious literature of Satpanth will be replaced with the true Hindu religious texts and the followers will actually be converted to Hindu religion.
- Political and administrative support was sought from VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and BJP.
- They changed the names of erstwhile Kakas. Real names were replaced with hindu names.
At this point the orthodox followers of Pirana Satpanth, created a separate centre for themselves at Dholka, few kilometres away from Pirana.
Stage 11 – Extensive use of Taqiyya
The effect of the extensive use of taqiyya was noticeable.
With the help of above three points, the management of the sect was largely able to create a hindu image of the sect. This arrested the outflow of the followers leaving Satpanth.
Today the ground situation is such that the young generation of followers of the sect, are so disillusioned and carried away by the wave of these changes, that they do not know about Satpanth’s true identity as a sect of Islam. They are sold a story that Satpanth is and was always a Hindu sect and during muslim rule in India, their religious place was hijacked by muslim elements. Which is nothing but a convenient lie.
The effect of lies was so deep that the ex-satpanthi community, which knew everything also became its victim. Like Hindu Sadhus and Hindu organisations like VHP, RSS, BJP etc., they were fed another set of lies that they are reverting back to the Hinduism and with them they are ensuring the whole community reverts back.
On this promise, the ex-satpanth community i.e, KKP Sanatan community leaders did not suspect any foul play. They allowed the minority Satpanthi members to join the main, majority community’s organisation. The Akhil Bhartiya Kutch Kadva Patidar Samaj (abkkpsamaj.org) is their central organisation. They hoped and believed that by bringing satpanthi close and developing people to people contacts, slowly there would be change of hearts, ultimately resulting in their religious conversions.
But what they got was deceit in return of their trust. The satpanthis who were welcomed to the Sanatani’s various organisation, soon reached the top position. They used their position to propagate Satpanth religion to Sanatanis. The Hindu image of Satpanth helped them a lot. When they were confronted by the seniors of Sanatani community, they resorted to blocking the preaching of Sanatan Dharm. Numerous false court cases and police complaints were filed against the leaders of Sanatan community, to create nuisance with the aim of intimidating anyone who speaks against Satpanth. The situation reached at such alarming level that the central organisation (abkkpsamaj.org) of Sanatanis was in tight grip of Satpanthis.
Stage 12 – Uprising in Ex-Satpanthi Community
During these times, there was entry of Himmatbhai Khetani and Rameshbhai Vagadiya in the samaj. On 07-Aug-2009 Himmatbhai delivered a historic speech, which touched every sanatanis. A Sanatan Dharm Jagruti Committee was formed under their leadership, which conducted about 65 meetings at various places, to educate people about the problems created by Satpanthis.
On 25-Mar-2010, the ABKKP Samaj release a White Paper (https://archive.org/details/bk1491), where it made its stand clear that their organisation was founded by Sanatanis and that Satpanthis are not its members. Any existing member be removed from the membership.
The village or city level organisations which are essentially branches of the central organisation, too started clearing their members’ body. Their youth wing and ladies wing too followed. But this was just the beginning.
Many Satpanthis started joining Sanatani Samaj (after leaving Satpanth Samaj – no simultaneous memberships).
Stage 13 – Umiya Mataji Unjha’s Judgment
With the aim to put the issue of Satpanth to rest, once for all and to give its members clear message, the KKP Sanatan community approached Umiya Mataji Unjha, the central organisation of Kadva Patidar community of which KKP Sanatan community was a subset. The main point of contention was whether Satpanth was a Hindu sect (as claimed by Satpanthis) or was a Islamic sect. A proper community court was setup. After hearing both the sides for about 3 years, Umiya Mataji Unjha gave their judgement on 08-Oct-2017. (https://archive.org/details/series70)
The judgement came in favour of Sanatani community. The essence of the judgement was that, Satpanth was not muslim sect. Thus Satpanthis were told to leave Satpanth and revert back to Sanatan Hindu Religion. Further they were asked to join main stream KKP Sanatan community.
Obviously, Satpanthis did not accept the verdict. Hypocrisy was at full display. They played the game of words. Taqiyya was again visible. The language was such that they said that they welcome the verdict and would implement it by keeping / maintaining / preserving the core values and principles of Satpanth. In other words they latched on to the core Islamic seed of the Satpanth.
The Sanatanis called a Vishesh Sabha (Special Meeting) on 27-Aug-2018 at their headquarters in Nakhtrana, Kutch, Gujarat to brief the community about the Unjha’s judgement. In that meeting few special resolutions were passed which were aimed at permanently resolving the Satpanth problem within the KKP Sanatan community.
Satpanth Chhodo book (https://archive.org/details/bk1018) documents the entire process at Unjha, and the historic judgement / verdict along with the details and resolutions passed in the subsequent Vishesh Sabha. It also documents the negative response by Satpanthis to the Unjha’s judgement.
Stage 14 – Satpanth’s negative reaction to the judgement – attempt to convert Dargah to Temple
The management of Pirana were somehow able to dodge the implementation. But the message delivered by the unjha verdict was loud and clear, that Satpanth is a muslim sect.
On the ground, the young generation of Satpanthis could not answer the criticism from their Sanatani collegues. The flow of Satpanthis leaving Satpanth continued once again.
For the management of Pirana Satpanth the situation was once again alarming. They urgently needed to do something, send a message that everything was ok with Pirana Satpanth and that it is a Hindu sect. As always this time too they resorted to even more extensive use of Taqiyya.
On 30-Jan-2022, they cordoned off the Imamshah’s Dargah from the other parts of the graveyard, by constructing a 13 feet high compound wall around it. The construction of wall was supposed to be very controversial. In order to avoid trouble from other parties, the construction of the compound wall finished over just one night. To understand the true implications, the right perspective to look into the event is that you need to understand why the wall was constructed so that the graveyard was divided into two parts. On one side is Imamshah’s dargah and other tombs in the vicinity. Naturally the other part is graveyard. But the question is who manages this graveyard? The answer is the same trust that manages the dargah i.e., Imamshah Bawa Roza Sansthan Committee Trust. Now the real question is if both parts are managed by same trust, what was the need to divide the property into two parts? Answer is that one part they wanted to show it as Hindu and another part they wanted to remain with Islamic identity. Unless the part with Islamic identity is not separated, they could not give a fake Hindu identity to Imamshah’s dargah. This is the game plan, for everyone to see and understand.
Few weeks later, between 11-Mar-2022 and 13-Mar-2022, suddenly idols of Hindu Gods were placed in the vicinity of the Imamshah’s dargah. This was done under the existence of shadows of high security blanket provided to the RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha meeting held in the premises during those days. The meeting saw visits of high profiles VIPs like Mohan Bhagwat the General Secretary of RSS. It was declared in advance that for the reasons of VIP security, the premises was closed for normal visitors. But, when it was open, people saw the idols placed there.
On 11-Aug-2022, A new Nishkalanki Narayan’s so called Temple was opened to public. Strangely this was without any religious event. It is located on backside of the Imamshah’s Dargah. This is one of the best example of taqiyya. Because this outwardly though give an impression that the so-called temple is a hindu religious structure, but actually Nishkalanki Narayan is another name or Indian name for Maula Ali, the cousin of Prophet Muhammad, whom Shias consider their God.
Between 17 and 19-Oct-1922, a function called 54 Kundi Maha Vishnuyag (i.e, havan) was held at Pirana. Interestingly the invitation card mentioned the name of the existing premises of Imamshah’s Dargah as Kashinagari. Videos of speeches of Hindu sadhus could be seen in which they categorically say that Satpanth is hindu religion. While they subtly acknowledged that there were some issues/problems in the past related to the religion. But they also told Satpanthis that they are on the right path, so stick to it.
Needless to say, all these steps were vehemently opposed by the Saiyed community and Saiyed trustees of Pirana Satpanth. The matter went to court also. But it seems the Saiyeds could not present their case well. The cases were rejected on technical grounds.
Stage 15 – Approached Gujarat High Court to not declare the trust as Wakf
In order to legitimise the destruction, a series of new lies were resorted to.
In the case filed before the Gujarat High Court, SCA 14403 of 2022, by the Chairman Gyaneshwar Kaka (aka Gyaneshwar Maharaj), new fake stories are floated, with the aim to ensure that the trust property is not declared to be a Wakf property.
Some of the points mentioned in this petition filed in June 2022 are;
- There is no authentic information and details of birth of Imamshah Bawa – Where as ample details are available in the history books.
- Imamshah was a Hindu Brahmin by birth but grown up in Muslim family, and therefore, Muslim name. – He is born into muslim Saiyed family, which came from Iran and had occupation of preaching Islam. Nothing to do with Brahmins.
- Another theory spread was that he is born and brought up in Parsi family. – This too is complete fake story. Refer Point 2 above.
- Throughout his life he practices and professed Hindu Satpanth Sect. – As mentioned earlier, he is born, brought-up as muslim and always preached Satpanth, a branch of Shia Islam. Another lies propagated here is that as if there is something like “Hindu Satpanth Sect”. Infact there is nothing like Hindu Satpanth sect. Genesis of Satpanth is that it is branch of Islam -> Shia -> Nizari. The only Hindu connection it has is that it has used Hindu elements especially the 9 avatars of Hindu God Vishnu to attract Hindus and super imposed Ali as the 10th avatar. This is in line with use of taqiyya to spread Islam. In fact their religious literature says that Islam is true Sanatan Hindu religion of the Kaliyuga. This means that when Satpanth says true religion, it means Islam.
- Imamshah preached Hindu Sanatan Atharva Veda Philosophy. – This is classic example of use of taqiyya. In fact Imamshah himself has written in the Dasavatar book that true Atharva Veda is Kuran. All vedas and hindu scriptures used by normal hindus have been declared as void before the start of Kaliyug. In Kaliyug only one book is valid, that is Kuran, which Imamshah said is true Atharva Veda.
- In the past all Saiyeds were practising Satpanth. – This too is wrong. All Saiyeds were muslims. They were and are the spiritual gurus of Satpanth. They preach Satpanth religion.
- That at the time of death of Imamshah, his dead body turned into flower bed. There is no samadhi or Dargah. This is the main holy place of Darshan at Pirana. – As you know this is also complete cooked up story. Which has come up first time on the record.
Stage 16 – Ex-Satpanthis decide to premanently sever ties with Satpanthis
Because of the steps taken by Pirana Satpanth, it was obvious that normal people would get deceived and misled to believe that Satpanth is a Hindu sect. This was not the situation KKP Sanatan community (ex-satpanthis) would like to see for long. They wanted to protect their members for going back to Satpanth (due to the fake impression). Hence they decided to take some concrete steps.
Coincidently, during those days, a century had passed since the 1st KKP Community Conference called for awakening and educating people that Satpanth is a Muslim sect. This is considered as the awakening of the Sanatan Dharm movement in KKP community. In order to celebrate this achievement, KKP Sanatan community organised 1st Sanatan KKP Gnyati Adhiveshan (KKP Sanatan Community Conference) on 14-Mar-2023 (See https://archive.org/details/1st-sanatani-adhiveshan). This was the first KKP Sanatani Community Adhiveshan / Conference. All previous KKP Community Adhiveshans / Conferences were held jointly for Sanatani and Satpanthi members. But this time it was exclusively for Sanatani members only. Such Adhiveshan have open invitation to all relevant community members.
As per the practice, in such Adhiveshans, community rules and regulations are framed/updated. As expected, that exercise was conducted this time too (https://archive.org/details/1st-kkp-sanatani-gyati-reet-rivaj). There are three important rules that have a very long-term bearing on the Sanatani and Satpanthi community members.
Resolution Number 21 – Ban on marital relations with Satpanthis.
Resolution Number 22 – Ban on joint Social and Religious functions with Satpanthis.
Resolution Number 24 – Closing the doors of entry of Sanatan community for Satpanthis, with few exceptions.
These three resolutions laid the foundation of separation of the KKP Sanatan community and KKP Satpanth community.
There was talk in public that going forward, just like Satpanthi Lohana community, KKP Satpanth community too would be slowly and clandestinely converted to Islam. The time may not be right today, because Pirana is under tremendous pressure from the Hindu organisations, but in future when this pressure subsides, the taqiyya will be shed and original islamic texts would be preached, leading to final conversion. Present generation may not realise this at the moment, but it is very clear that the future generations of the KKP Satpanth community will have to pay a huge price. They will be left with no choice to revert back to Hinduism.
This was an alarming situation in KKP Satpanth community. Management of Pirana had to do something had to be done to divert the public discourse and supress these fears. Else they risked loosing the management of Imamshah’s dargah and thus loose the huge amounts of Dasond, which they are presently enjoying without much efforts.
Special Note: Most of the references of the events stated in above mentioned stages are given in GharWaapsi Book. See https://archive.org/details/gharwaapsi. The book is originally in Gujarati language. But translations to English (https://abkkpsamaj.org/gharwaapsi-eng/gwe-starting-pages/) and Hindi (https://abkkpsamaj.org/gharwaapsihindi/) are also available. This book has extensive inline references.
Stage 17 – Attempts to remove Saiyeds from the trust
In the past the attempts to remove the Saiyeds from the trust have failed many times.
Recently on 24-Aug-2023, the management of the Shrine of Imamshah Dargah i.e, The Imamshah Bawa Roza Sansthan Committee Trust, filed a case before Ahmedabad District Court vide CMA DC – CIVIL MISC. APPLICATION – DISTRICT COURT Filing Number 248/2023, CNR Number GJAH010066382023.
They sought a fresh scheme for the trust. The main purpose was to take away the rights of the Saiyeds and remove them from the trust. This is against not one by all the objects of the trust.
Stage 18 – Imamshah’s name changed to Hanstej
Alarmed by the possible implications of the decisions taken in the 1st KKP Sanatani Community Conference, the management of Pirana Satpanth resorted to extreme taqiyya.
This time they changed the name of their guru Saiyed Imamshah Bawa to “Hanstej Maharaj”. On 15-Jul-2023 in a joint meeting of their preachers and the leaders this decision was taken. This was obvious because the name Imamshah was clearly associated with Islam. This was a hindrance for them to portray, even though falsely, that Satpanth was a Hindu sect. Hence they agreeed upon the name Hanstej. They even tried to justify that they relied on Mulbandh Granth (unpublished and not made available to public) in which Imamshah is also called as Hantej. However, from the copies of the Mulbandh available from other sources, such reference is no where to be found in the book. This time they also changed the nature of the shrine from a Dargah to a Temple. The new name given is “Om Shree Sadguru Hanstej-ji Maharaj Akhand Divyajyoti Mandir”.
Obviously the Muslim side connected to Pirana Satpanth went to the Gujarat High Court. In this case -in the matter of CA 1 of 2023 in WP (PIL) 49 of 2022 , by way of an affidavit filed in the court on behalf of the Chairman of the trust, Shri Gangaram Kaka aka Gyaneshwar Maharaj, it is admitted they have changed the name of Imamshah to Hanstej.
To further bolster their Hindu image, a Mahadev (Shiv) temple and another Hanuman temple were inaugurated on 26-Feb-2025 in the same premises of Imamshah’s Dargah. However that was not sufficient it seemed.
On 08-May-2024 an criminal act of destroying the tomb of Imamshah was carried out. Along with Imamshah’s tomb, his wife Fatima Bibi’s tomb and his son Nur Muhammad Shah’s tomb were also destroyed. Other tombs in the vicinity, of which prominent tomb of Hazarbeg was also destroyed. This was clearly a criminal act.
Stage 19 – Split in the Sect – Formation of Hempuri Branch
Aggrieved by the change of name of Imamshah and the acts of destroying the tombs, a big group of Satpanthis broke away from Pirana Satpanth. They created their own branch, which is called Hempuri group. On 23-Mar-2025, they formed a separate and new instutition at Hempuri Lat, near Pirana Village and today laid foundation for their new headquarters. A Satpanth preacher Patel Ratibhai Kheta Pokar, originally hailing from Laxmipura Kampa, near Khedbrahma and presently residing at Vadodara is anointed as their spiritual leader of this group and given new name as Param Pujya Dharmacharya Ramratnadas Maharaj. The temple they built at Hempuri is called Imamshah Rajh Mandir. Rajh meaning the dust, i.e., the dust of Imamshah’s tomb, as original tomb had been already destroyed.
Stage 20 – Attempt to gain backdoor entry failed through Vishv Umiya Foundation (VUF)
Discussions with leaders of KKP Satpanth Community (Samaj) and KKP Sanatan Community (Samaj) tells us about the behind the scene attempts by management of Pirana Satpanth. Satpanthis started influencing Mr. R P Patel, the head of Vishv Umiya Foundation (https://www.vuf.org/), a very influential organisation in Gujarat. It is one of the very powerful, if not the most powerful organisation of Kadva Patidar community. A brief background of RP Patel is that his organisation VUF is building one of the most iconic temples of India, which will surely become a very influential and powerful center in future. He has refused to take donation from Satpanthis, as they were following Satpanth religion.
It is learnt that some Satpanthis started meeting RP Patel on regular basis and tried to convince him that they are Hindus. At the same time, they acknowledged the wrongs and Islamic connection of Satpanth. They assured RP Patel that they do not like the Islamic elements and they want to reform. To gain the confidence of RP Patel, they falsely assured that they are ready to abide by all and any conditions put by RP Patel, in their efforts to permanently leave Satpanth and join main stream KKP Sanatan Samaj community.
RP Patel made a proposal that he will help implementing the Unjha’s judgement (as mentioned above), and called both the parties. He will not sit in to judge again. This was amply made clear.
For the 12 months between March 2025 and Feb 2026, serious meetings were held with both the sides. Chairman of the main trust of Pirana Satpanth, Shri Gangaram Kaka aka Gyaneshwar Maharaj personally attended one of the such meetings.
The crux of the discussions that happened is this;
Satpanthis argued that;
- KKP community (which includes KKP Sanatan and KKP Satpanth communities) is lacking in Political, Medical, Education etc fields.
- That Unity, Harmony and Organization amongst KKP community is important for the future of KKP Community.
- Our youth is misguided, our daughters are victims of love jihad. We should jointly fight against this.
- We are under attack from sections of Muslims. If we do not unite, we will have to suffer.
- We are working for Hindu cause and strengthen the Nation.
- No one should criticise another’s religion.
- Everyone is free to follow his own choice of religion.
- Satpanth is a Vedic religion.
- Hence, satpanth samaj should be “recognized” as one of the factions of KKP Sanatan Samaj.
Sanatanis explained;
- Satpanth is not a Vedic religion. It is a sect of Islam, which is propagated as Vedic religion from the times of Imamshah, to attract Hindus.
- Satpanth has been using Taqiyya since its inception. Hence anything said by them cannot be trusted at face value.
- Since the strategy adopted by Satpanth is to first infiltrate, then compromise Hindus and then convert them, it is important to ensure Satpanthis first completely, truely and permanently leave Satpanth. Only after this, they can be taken in by Sanatani Samaj.
- Satpanthis will have to first withdarw all the cases they have filed against various Sanatanis. As all these cases are fake cases, file with the intention to harass and intimidate Sanatanis from speaking against Satpanth sect.
- In order to ensure Satpanthis have actually left Satpanth religion, they need to remove the Islamic seed from it, which is;
4a. Renounce Imamshah completely (renaming in any form will not be accepted. Any name like Hanstej-ji is also not acceptable.)
4b. Abrogate and Discard full set of Satpanth’s literature (do not attempt to re-define them.)
4c. Apostatize / Cease all devotion to Nishkalanki Narayan (renaming to anything not acceptable. Even calling him Kalki is not acceptable.)
4d. Permanently cacate and sever the Imamshah’s Dargah (reforming it to some temple is not acceptable. Including calling it Hanstej Maharaj temple is not acceptable.) - Once the above mentioned 4 points, viz., the Islamic seed within Satpanth is removed, then they can be considered for;
6a. Complete absorption into the organisation of KKP Sanatan Samaj. Only this will ensure that Satpanthis are fully assimiliated and no cracks remain in long term. They (Satpanthis) will have to bring in their properties related to social institutions (like community halls, education institutes etc.) and religious institutions like (their so-called temples etc.) Their complete infrastructure should be merged with the main stream Sanatan KKP community. This will ensure that the chances of deceiving is brought to minimum, and if they deceive they will have to pay the price. Only this will ensure that the permanent merger is a success.
6b. Giving “Recognition” to Satpanth as one of the faction of KKP Sanatan Community i.e, faction of Akhil Bhartiya Kutch Kadva Patidar Samaj, will legitimize Satpanth in Hindu Sanatan community. This means, they will be able to freely preach Satpanth in KKP Sanatan Community and nobody would be able to stop them in future. Once they get entry into Hindu KKP Sanatan Community, their entire machinery will work spreading Satpanth and in future, the way Hindu Lohana community fell victim and converted to Khoja muslims, Hindu KKP Sanatan community would surely be victimized and clandestinely converted. By the time people will realise, they will be left with no choice, but to accept Islam. History says this has been the strategy and modus operandi of Satpanth, all along.
6c. This is nothing but a deception and backdoor entry into Hindu community. This is the same strategy which Saiyed Imamshah and Sadruddin did to Hindus while they propagated / preached satpanth. KKP Sanatan Community has suffered this for about 500 years now. This is suicidal and cannot be accepted at any cost.
Obviously, the deception, the taqiyya, the gameplan adopted by Satpanthis became very clear. Satpanthis attempt to gain backdoor entry into KKP Hindu community, with the help of VUF also failed.
Stage 21 – H.H. Shankaracharya-ji of Dwaraka, successfully evaded the trap
His Holihighness Swamy Sadananda Sarawati, Shankaracharya of Sharada pith, Dwarka, Gujarat was given a false impression that the shrine of Pirana has been converted to a Hindu religious structure, something similar to what happened at Ayodhya Ram Mandir. This has to be seen with the destruction of the tombs in Pirana. Believing this in good faith, on 18-Aug-2025 Shri Shankaracharaya-ji also gave a statement over the video praising the Kalki Tirthdham Pirana. Satpanthis told him that they are planning to host a grand Sadhu sammelan in Pirana and that they wanted to invite him as the chief guest.
Shankaraharya had initially accepted the invitation too. He had sent his delegation to visit Pirana and report on the ground reality. Obviously they were taken or shown only that gives hindu image of the trust, not the full picture of the sect.
But later on when leaders of KKP Sanatan Samaj met him and explained the true picture, he decided to host a joint meeting between Satpanthis and Sanatanis.
The joint meeting was held on 21-Sep-2025 at Shankaracharaya-ji’s Kheda Ashram. Pirana Satpanth delegation was led by Janardan Maharaj of Faizpur. He was accompanied by almost all the Trustees of Pirana trust (The Imamshah Bawa Roza Sansthan Committee Trust -Reg. No E738 Ahmedabad), their advocate Suresh Patel and few other top leaders.
The Sanatani delegation was led by the President of ABKKP Samaj. He was accompanied by President of Sanskar Dham, Desalpar. About 40 top sanatani leaders accompanied him.
Shankaracharya-ji said his aim is to unite the two factions of KKP community, the Satpanth faction and the Sanatan faction.
The satpanthis made an emotional appeal that they are fighting the muslims, they have removed the tombs, they went to jail for the sake of Hindu religion, they are fighting other factions of Satpanth which like the Islamic image of Pirana etc. How much more they have to suffer? How much more they need to prove that they are Hindus? They repeated their points made before VUF, as mentioned above.
Sanatanis also repeated their points made before the VUF, as mentioned above.
In addition, they brought one main point to the attention of the Shankaracharya-ji. The point is that they have made the so-called changes in Pirana. Though there is nothing to be happy about, as they are nothing but attempts of deception, even if we, for the moment, assume them to be in favour of Hindu religion, we should understand this point. Satpanth is not equal to Pirana and Pirana is not equal to Satpanth. Imamshah’s dargat at the Pirana is central institution of Pirana Satpanth sect. The other religious places of Pirana Satpanth sect, like nearby Bakar Ali’s Dargah, Rabari Samaj, Dholka, the graveyard outside the 13 feet wall around the Imamshah’s Dargah (it is ownership of the same trust), the masjid in that graveyard, the Navsari’s dargah, Burhanpur’s dargah, Virod’s shrine, there atleast two dargah’s (covered by partition to hide them from plain site) within the vicinity of the Imamshah’s Dargah (so called Hanstej Maharaj’s temple) which are handled by Rabaris and Muslims, etc all have huge tombs in it. If you approve Satpanth as Hindu sect, all these Islamic elements will get a backdoor entry into Hindu religion. Remember Satpanth’s strategy has always been to gain infiltrate hindu society and then spread within. Let them clear every Islamic aspect from every place / religious site related to Pirana Satpanth, after which we can decide on this.
Ultimately the Shankaracharya-ji appreciated the efforts and the points of KKP Sanatan Community. He asked upon the Satpanthis to permanently discard all literature related to Satpanth. Instead replace them with the pure Sanatan Dharm literature published by Gita Press Gorakhpur. Finally he decided not to visit Pirana. The game plan of Satpanthis to deceive Shankaracharaya and hold a huge sadhu sammelan with the aim to send out a fake message that Satpanth is Hindu religion, failed.
Stage 22 – Literature withdrawn and Dashavatar kathas stopped.
As of the time, this post is being written, it is observed that after change of name of Imamshah, all existing Satpanth’s religious literature having word Imamshah is withdrawn. No Dashavatar Katha programs are being conducted.
A couple of books have come to our notice, which are nothing but re-print of old book, except with the word Imamshah replaced with Hanstej.
Stage 23 – Portrayal… that went wrong.
It is observed that almost all of the researcher and commentors have cast aspersions or accused, if you can say so, the VHP, RSS, BJP, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Sadhus and other Hindu organisations for the present outwardly Hinduized form adopted by the Pirana Satpanth sect.
The fact however is that the changes done by the management of the Pirana Satpanth sect, are mainly due to the pressure from the KKP Sanatan Community. The VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Hindu Sadhus etc., are just used by the Pirana Satpanth to gain some sort of legitimacy in the eyes of their followers. This is because they cannot openly accept that they are under pressure from their sanatani brothern, because satpanthis always have had this narrative that Sanatanis are wrong and Satpanthis are right. Their young will not be able to digest that they were wrong all along. The risk is that the moment they truly believe this, they would leave KKP Satpanth community and join KKP Sanatan community. The strategy adopted is to use these organisations in the justifying the steps taken in the areas where they are using Taqiyya.
The true test between whose pressure is working can be seen when this question is asked. Are Pirana Satpanthis ready to reject / remove the Islamic seed of Satpanth? At present Satpanthis are not ready to budge on this. They are trying to somehow latch on and not let go the Islamic seed. They are trying tactics like renaming, translating and redefining the Islamic elements, but if they are truly Hindu (as they claim) why do remove these Islamic elements once for all? why remain stuck with a Islamic sect? Who is stopping them from joining main stream Hindu religion? The only reason is that they still have faith and loyalty towards Islam. It is their majburi / compulsion that they have to pretend they are hindu sect. Because if they do no to that, their followers will not remain with them. The Money, the Respect they enjoy, the influence and power they exercise on the local politicians, government and police officials will vanish over night.
They are stuck in a catch 22 situation.
Stage 24 – The upcoming possible shape.
Looking from the recent moves of Pirana Satpanth, it is clear that they have adopted two pronged strategy
A) Develop more closer ties with Hindu Sadhus and with RSS, BJP etc.
Though they had good relations with Hindu Sadhus, it has been observed that they are concentrating on taking the ties even deeper.
Their main supporters from Hindu Sadhu organisations are; 1) Avichaldas Maharaj of Sarsa, Gujarat and 2) Parmatmanand Saraswati of Rajkot. They are introducing the Sadhus of Pirana Satpanth to the other Hindus. While they both know very well and admit privately that Pirana Satpanth is a muslim sect. Satpanthis do not miss any single opportunity to meet them and create and impression that they (Satpanthis) are Hindus.
Similarly, they host events of RSS, VHP, etc. free of cost. The number of events of RSS hosted at the grand hall in Pirana has increased in the past 5 years. Placing of Idols, Construction of 13 feet high wall around the dargah – both over one night respectively, are some of the works the management of Pirana was able to complete.
Needless to say the administration of Gujarat too has lent a helping hand by conveniently ignoring the rules and complaints against the management of Pirana Satpanth. The members of KKP Sanatan Community too have been complaining about the illicit complaints that BJP and Gujarat administration is receiving from Pirana – in cases filed against them, especially the Charity Commissioners’ office.
It is expected that his trend will continue in future.
B) Attempts to ensure that the social ties with KKP Sanatan Community members is not broken.
These days only one community handles the management of the central organisation (i.e., The Imamshah Bawa Roza Sansthan Committee Trust) of Pirana Satpanth sect, which is the Kutch Kadva Patidar Satpanth Samaj – KKP Satpanth Community. This community is the main driving force. They are the main donors. The exceptionally large group of volunteers need to run the organisation also comes from this community. If you see the functions conducted by the central organisation, almost all revolve around KKP Satpanth community.
It is imperative for Pirana Satpanth to ensure that their connection with larger counter part the KKP Sanatan Community (its an ex-KKP satpanthi community, which after leaving Satpanth is not following Sanatan Hindu religion) is not broken. KKP Sanatan Community is more than 95% of the total KKP Community (Satpanth and Sanatan included).
Since there are existing traditional marital relations between both the communities and is considered as one community by outside world, it is of utmost necessity that the KKP Satpanth Community has to maintain relations with the larger KKP Santan community. Their young are under constant doubts as to why larger community is not welcoming them.
Further, if the Satpanth has to grow, it can grow only if Hindus are attracted to Satpanth. Muslims do not need Satpanth at all. Hence it is important to have a door between two communities that will allow Hindus to come to Satpanth. If they cut the ties with the KKP Sanatan Community, this door will permanently get closed. So from long term religious conversion point of view also it is important to ensure relations are not severed.
With this background in mind, now let us come back to our point of shaping up Pirana Satpanth. For this we need to understand the narrative adopted by Pirana Satpanth in the KKP Community.
The strategy adopted by the preachers of Pirana Satpanth is as called in Hindi as “Atkava, Bhatkava aur Latkava” which essentially means “Obstruct, Mislead, and Delay”
Whenever they are faced with uncomfortable questions related to the real identity of Satpanth, their religious texts, imamshah (aka Hanstej), nishkalanki narayan (aka Kalki), the Imamshah Dargah (aka Hanstej Temple), exposing the use of taqiyya, etc., they resort to the above-mentioned strategy to obstruct, mislead, and delay.
Their narrative always would revolve around Unity, Harmony and Organization. Their narration would that forget about religion etc., we should concentrate on Unity, Harmony and Organization. Our youth is being misled, politically we are lagging far behind, we need to work in the field of education, medical facilities, helping to poor etc. We are under constant threat from outside people. We should forget our differences (i.e., do not raise questions about our islamic roots) and work towards Unity, Harmony and Organization of the community. Our both KKP Sanatan and KKP Satpanth community should be united and work together.
They sponsor events in KKP Community like Niyani (daughters of the family) felicitation, Temple renovation, Cricket and sports, Religious events like Kumbh Mela, Ramdev Pir Katha, Celebration of festivals jointly like Navratri, Krishna Janmasthami etc. They support formation of joint samajs at local city/village level where Satpanthis and Sanatanis are under one umbrella. etc. All this is done with the aim that when youth of both the communities come together, chances of establishing marital relations increases, and friendship between the people of both communities can then be used as a shield to protect their identity and would not allow severing the ties between the two communities.
Stage 25 – How can they be countered? Find the Truth.
The true intention of Satpanthis can be exposed by not falling their line of narrative. They can be easily countered if they are taken to the discussion of 4 Islamic seeds, as mentioned above. This is their choke point. They have no way out of these points. If they want to prove they are right, they will have no choice but to shed the Islamic seed and convert to Hinduism. Else its Islamic identity becomes evident.
At this stage, Satpanthis are left with no more taqiyya to deceive sanatanis.
Studying what the courts have looked into so far in matters related to Satpanth, it is unfortunate that courts have struggled or deceived by the outwardly Hindu look adopted by Pirana Satpanth to camouflage their Islamic identity. If the courts start concentrating on the Islamic seeds, the judgements would be very logical and in line with what Pirana Satpanth actually is.
