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Guru Amar
Das (1479-1574)
Guru
Amar Das was born in the village of Basarke on May 5, 1479.
He was the eldest son of Tej Bhan a farmer and trader. Guru
Amar Das grew up and married Mansa Devi and had two sons
Mohri and Mohan and two daughters Dani and Bhani. He was
a very religious Vaishanavite Hindu who spent most of his
life performing all of the ritual pilgrimages and fasts
of a devout Hindu.
It was not until his old age that Amar Das met Guru Angad
and converted to the path of Sikhism. He eventually became
Guru at the age of 73 succeeding Guru Angad as described
previously.
Guru Amar Das further institutionalized the free communal
kitchen called langer among the Sikhs. The langar kitchen
was open to serve all day and night. Although rich food
was served there, Guru Amar Das was very simple and lived
on coarse bread. The Guru spent his time personally attending
to the cure and nursing of the sick and the aged. Guru Amar
Das made it obligatory that those seeking his audience must
first eat in the langer. When the Raja of Haripur came to
see the Guru. Guru Amar Das insisted that he first partake
a common meal in the langer, irrespective of his cast. The
Raja obliged and had an audience with the Guru. But on of
his queens refused to lift the veil from her face, so Guru
Amar Das refused to meet her. Guru Amar Das not only preached
the equality of people irrespective of their caste but he
also tried to foster the idea of women's equality. He tried
to liberate women from the practices of purdah (wearing
a veil) as well as preaching strongly against the practice
of sati (Hindu wife burning on her husbands funeral pyre).
Guru Amar Das also disapproved of a widow remaining unmarried
for the rest of her life.
Once during several days of rain while Guru Amar Das was
riding by a wall which he saw was on the verge of falling
he galloped his horse past the wall. The Sikhs questioned
him saying; "O Master, you have instructed us, 'fear not
death, for it comes to all' and 'the Guru and the God-man
are beyond the pale of birth and death', why did you then
gallop past the collapsing wall?" Guru Amar Das replied;
"Our body is the embodiment of God's light. It is through
the human body that one can explore one's limitless spiritual
possibilities. Demi-god's envy the human frame. One should
not, therefore, play with it recklessly. One must submit
to the Will of God, when one's time is over, but not crave
death, nor invite it without a sufficient and noble cause.
It is self surrender for the good of man that one should
seek, not physical annihilation. "
With a view of providing the Sikhs with a place where they
could have a holy dip while visiting Goindwal the Guru had
a type of deep open water reservoir called a baoli dug.
As the Hindus believed in reincarnation in 84 hundred thousand
species, Guru Amar Das had the well dug with exactly 84
steps. To symbolize that God could be reached through his
remembrance rather than just a cycle of reincarnations he
declared that who ever would descend the 84 steps for a
bath while reciting the Japji of Guru Nanak at each step
would be freed from the cycles of births and deaths.
When it came time for the Guru to marry his younger daughter
Bibi Bani, he selected a pious and diligent young follower
of his called Jetha from Lahore. Jetha had come to visit
the Guru with a party of pilgrims from Lahore and had become
so enchanted by the Guru's teachings that he had decided
to settle in Goindwal. Here he earned a living selling wheat
and would regularly attend the services of Guru Amar Das
in his spare time.
Guru Amar Das continued a systematic planned expansion of
the Sikh Institutions. He trained a band of 146 apostles
(52 were women) called Masands and sent them to various
parts of the country. He also set up 22 dioceses called
manjis across the country. These twenty two dioceses helped
to spread Sikhism among the population while collecting
revenues to help support the young religion. Guru Amar Das
also declared Baisakhi (April 13), Maghi (1st day of Magha,
mid January) and Diwali (festival of lights in October/November)
as three special days where all the Sikhs should gather
to hear the Guru's words. Although advanced in years, Guru
Amar Das undertook a tour of a number of Hindu places of
pilgrimage along the banks of the Yamuna and Ganga rivers
as well as Kurukshetra. Here the Guru would hold religious
services and large numbers of people would come to hear
his preaching.
Seeing the rapid expansion of Sikhism, Guru Amar Das asked
his son-in-law and trusted follower Jetha to oversee the
founding of another city. He wanted him to dig a tank there
and to build himself a house. Jetha first purchased the
lands for the price of 700 Akbari rupees from the Zamindars
of Tung. Here he started the digging on the tank. This new
township called Ramdaspur would in due time become present
day Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs.
On September 1, 1574 sensing that his end was near, Guru
Amar Das sent for Baba Buddha and other prominent Sikhs
including his tow sons Mohan and Mohri. He declared; "According
to the tradition established by Guru Nanak, the leadership
of the Sikhs must go to the most deserving. I, therefore,
bestow this honour on my son-in-law Jetha." Guru Amar Das
then renamed Jetha as Ram Das, meaning Servant of God. As
was the custom Baba Buddha was asked to anoint the forehead
of Amar Das with the saffron mark. All those present bowed
before Guru Ram Das except for Mohan, Guru Amar Das's eldest
son. Shortly thereafter Guru Amar Das breathed his last
on the full moon day of Bhadon in 1574 at the ripe old age
of 95.
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