Life and times

Sri Guru Amar Das Ji

Sri Guru Amar Das Ji, the third Guru, was born in 1479 and spent most of his life as a devout Vaishnava making repeated pilgrimages to Haridwar. He became a Sikh around 1540, when he was over sixty, and served Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji for twelve years before becoming Guru in 1552 at about seventy-three. He led the community from Goindwal until he passed away there in 1574.

Guru Ji's period is better evidenced than his predecessor's for one reason: the Goindwal Pothis, manuscripts made in his lifetime, survive. His own large body of hymns also speaks directly to social questions such as sati. Some institutions credited to him rest on later writers, including the twenty-two manjis. The famous visit of Emperor Akbar comes from Sikh chronicles, and no Mughal record of it was found.

So this life can separate three levels of evidence: what the manuscripts and hymns themselves show, what later Sikh writers report, and what remains only a well-loved story.

Dates, family and related people →

The times

From Sher Shah's road to Akbar's accession

When Guru Ji took up his seat in 1552, Humayun was still in exile and Afghan rulers held the Punjab. Sher Shah Sur's repair of the great road had made the Beas ferry a busy crossing. Goindwal stood at that point, so a Sikh centre there was reachable from Lahore and Delhi and open to traders and pilgrims.

Humayun recovered Delhi and Agra in July 1555 but passed away in January 1556. Akbar was crowned on 14 February 1556 at Kalanaur in the Punjab. He ruled for the rest of Guru Ji's lifetime.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

Akbar's religious policy

The Encyclopaedia credits Akbar with abolishing the jizya and the pilgrim tax, reducing the power of the ulama, and holding debates among scholars of many faiths in a house of worship. His policy mattered to the Sikhs mainly because it left room for a growing community to organise without state interference. It also meant that complaints from rivals could be taken to a court willing to hear both sides, as the tradition of Bhai Jetha's mission to Lahore assumes.

Macauliffe, following the Suraj Prakash, says Guru Ji's party of pilgrims was excused a tax on one journey. In a footnote he dates Akbar's abolition of the jizya to 1579, after Guru Ji had passed away.[EoS][Macauliffe]

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The pilgrim of Basarke

1479-c. 1540

Sri Guru Amar Das Ji was born on 5 May 1479 (Vaisakh sudi 14, 1536 Bk) at Basarke, into a Bhalla Khatri family. His father was Tej Bhan. His mother is named Bakht Kaur, and also Lachhmi, Bhup Kaur or Rup Kaur. He married Mansa Devi, and their children were Mohan, Mohri, Dani and Bhani.

The chronicles say he made twenty pilgrimages to Haridwar. That number comes from later writers, but the broad picture of a pious Vaishnava is consistent across them.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

Agreed in traditionc. 1540Basarke and Khadur

The sadhu's reproach and Bibi Amaro's hymn

Chided for having no guru and moved by a hymn, the old pilgrim goes to Khadur.

According to the Encyclopaedia's account of the chroniclers, Guru Ji was on the way home from his twentieth trip to Haridwar when he fell in with a sadhu. The man asked who his guru was and scolded him on hearing that he had none. Guru Ji vowed to find one.

Back at Basarke he overheard Bibi Amaro, the daughter of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji, who had married into his family, singing a hymn of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji during her morning chores. She took him to her father at Khadur in 1540 (1597 Bk). He was over sixty, and he stayed.

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What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipGives the sadhu's rebuke and dates the arrival at Khadur to 1597 Bk/1540.[EoS]
ScholarshipCredits Bibi Amaro's singing and her escort to Khadur.[EoS]

Twelve years of service at Khadur

c. 1540-1552

Guru Ji rose hours before dawn to fetch river water from the Beas for the morning bath of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji. In the day he worked in the kitchen and gathered firewood. A small gurdwara 3 km from Goindwal still marks a place where he is said to have rested on this daily walk.

Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji sent him to help the trader Goinda, who was struggling to establish a settlement at the Beas ferry. Goinda believed evil spirits were undoing his work. The new village took his name. The Encyclopaedia's entry on Bhai Gurdas dates its founding to 1546.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

Agreed in traditionKhadur

The home of the homeless

A weaver woman mocks him after a fall in a storm, and Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji turns the insult into praise.

The Encyclopaedia gives this as the anecdote that decided the succession. On a night of wind, rain and lightning, Guru Ji was carrying water from the Beas when he stumbled over a peg in the weavers' quarter outside Khadur. He was hurt, but he kept the pitcher on his head.

A weaver woman, woken by the noise, called out a taunt: Amru the homeless. When Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji heard of it he reversed the insult, calling his disciple the home of the homeless and the shelter of those who had none, in a long list of such titles. Macauliffe has the same words spoken at the installation that followed.

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Note. Sources in the same stream, so these two do not independently confirm it.

What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipNarrates the fall, the taunt and the reply, and links them to the choice of successor.[EoS]
Later traditionRetells the blessing and goes straight on to the coconut and coins of installation.[Macauliffe]

Agreed in tradition1546Goindwal

Founding Goindwal

Sent to help Goinda, Guru Ji lays the foundation of a village at the ferry.

What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipTells of Goinda's trouble, his appeal to Khadur and the deputation of Guru Ji, who knew the area from carrying water.[EoS]
ScholarshipGives 1603 Bk/1546 as the founding year of the town.[EoS]

Well attested1552Khadur

Installation as Guru

Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji offers a coconut and five coins, and Bhai Buddha applies the mark.

Note. The succession itself is secure. The ceremony's details come from later accounts.

What the sources say (3)

ScriptureSatta says the same mark, throne and court continued, and that the son was approved like father and grandfather. (Ang 968, Ramkali ki Var, pauri 6)[DB]
ScholarshipGives the offerings, Bhai Buddha's part and the passing of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji on 29 March 1552.[EoS]
From the timeThe Dabistan names Sri Guru Amar Das Ji, of the Bhalla Khatris, as next in line after Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji.[Src]

Rival claims: Baba Dasu and Baba Datu

From 1552

The sons of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji did not accept the outcome easily. Guru Ji left Khadur for Goindwal, as he had been told to do, and the sons kept the old seat. The accounts below show one of them recanting and the other holding out for decades, though all of them are told from the side that won.

Bhai Ballu, a barber who had become a Sikh, also figures in this period. The Mahima Prakash says he was the one who coaxed Guru Ji out of seclusion after the installation, mirroring what Bhai Buddha had done for Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji.[EoS][EoS][EoS][Macauliffe]

Single accountAfter 1552Khadur and Goindwal

Baba Dasu's claim and apology

Baba Dasu declares himself Guru at Khadur, and his mother brings him to Goindwal to apologise.

Note. The Encyclopaedia's sources are later chronicles, and the Bansavalinama is quoted for the father's words. These were not read directly for this page.

What the sources say (1)

ScholarshipSays he set himself up at Khadur against his mother's protest, later repented, and she took him to make his peace.[EoS]

Agreed in traditionGoindwal

The kick at Goindwal

Baba Datu kicks Guru Ji before the congregation, and Guru Ji responds by asking if his foot is hurt.

The Suraj Prakash, as reported by the Encyclopaedia, says Baba Datu took up yogic practices to win powers and a following of his own. One evening he walked into the congregation at Goindwal and kicked the old Guru. People were stunned. Guru Ji took hold of the young man's foot and stroked it, asking pardon in case his hard old bones had hurt the foot of his master's son.

Baba Datu grew angrier, called him a usurper and ordered him out. Guru Ji went quietly to Basarke. The story goes on to say that Baba Datu then took what he could carry, was thrown by Guru Ji's mare, was robbed on the way home and returned to Khadur lame and empty-handed.

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Note. The Encyclopaedia says Baba Datu made amends only under Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji and lived until 1628. These are sectarian memories of a real succession conflict, with the rival's view lost.

What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipCites the Suraj Prakash for the kick, the reply and the departure to Basarke.[EoS]
Later traditionTells of Baba Datu's resentment at Khadur and his attempt to sit on the throne at Goindwal.[Macauliffe]

Well attested

The succession conflict in scripture

Praise verses speak of slanderers and rebels, showing that opposition was remembered at the time.

Note. The Var's verses on disobedient sons concern the founder's sons, not Baba Dasu and Baba Datu. They show the pattern, not this particular dispute.

What the sources say (2)

ScriptureCondemns sons who turned their backs on Guru Ji and warns of the fate of slanderers, in a general way. (Ang 967, Ramkali ki Var, pauris 2-5)[DB]
ScholarshipTreats the sons of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji as unreconciled to the new Guru.[EoS]

Goindwal as a Sikh centre

1552-1574

Under Guru Ji, Goindwal became the first place the Sikhs treated as a pilgrimage centre. Guru Ji fixed the first days of Vaisakh and Magh and Diwali as occasions for Sikhs to gather there. He set simple rites for birth, marriage and death. Whatever came in to the kitchen was spent the same day, while Guru Ji himself is said to have eaten coarse bread earned by his own labour.

The kitchen rule became famous in a Punjabi phrase: first eat together, then meet together. The Var confirms the plenty of the kitchen, and the Encyclopaedia reports that visitors had to eat before seeing Guru Ji. Hymns confirm one journey to Kurukshetra, placed by a modern scholar on 14 January 1553, the rare date that can be taken from scripture.[EoS][EoS][EoS][DB]

Agreed in traditionFrom 1559Goindwal

The Baoli at Goindwal

Guru Ji begins a great stepped well that becomes a pilgrimage site and draws in many volunteers.

Macauliffe retells the chronicles' account of how the digging went on for years and how Bhai Jetha, the future Sri Guru Ram Das Ji, carried earth like any labourer. When it was finished the water was sweet, and the Sikhs celebrated. Macauliffe adds that Guru Ji promised release from rebirth to anyone who recited the Japji on each of its 84 steps.

Today the well is reached by 84 covered steps. The Encyclopaedia notes a platform at the entrance marking where Guru Ji sat to watch the work.

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Note. The well exists and its link with Guru Ji is not in question. No source from his lifetime was found for the 1559 date. The number of steps describes the well as it now stands.

What the sources say (4)

ScholarshipDates the digging from 1559 and describes the well, an open shaft 8 metres across with 84 steps.[EoS]
ScholarshipSays the Goindwal baoli was built by Guru Ji and is a major pilgrim site.[EoS]
Later traditionDescribes the work on the well, Bhai Jetha's labour and the sweet water.[Macauliffe]
ScholarshipNames Baba Buddha among those who dug at the site.[EoS]

Well attestedGoindwal and beyond

The twenty-two manjis

Guru Ji appoints leading Sikhs over districts, though the number comes from later chroniclers.

Note. That Guru Ji built some regional organisation is well supported. The exact figure of twenty-two, and the idea of a tidy diocesan system, come from later writing. The Encyclopaedia's entries also disagree on terms: the Manji entry calls the appointees masands, while the Masands entry says the first masands were appointed by Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji.

What the sources say (4)

ScripturePraises Guru Ji's knowledge of the four directions, which the Encyclopaedia reads as pointing to his network of centres. (Ang 968, Ramkali ki Var, pauri 6)[DB]
ScholarshipReads Satta as referring to many centres set up across the land for the teaching.[EoS]
ScholarshipAttributes the figure of twenty-two to Sikh chroniclers and explains the name from the cot on which the teacher sat.[EoS]
ScholarshipDescribes each manji as charged with teaching and forwarding offerings to Goindwal.[EoS]

Well attested

Against sati and for women's standing

Guru Ji's verses reject the burning of widows, and women are said to have supervised some sangats.

Note. The teaching on sati is in Guru Ji's own words. The appointment of women to oversee sangats is a later report that could not be traced to a close source.

What the sources say (2)

ScriptureA shalok says that women who burn with a husband's corpse should not be called sati. (Ang 787)[DB]
ScholarshipStates that purdah and sati were discouraged and that women were given charge over some groups of disciples.[EoS]

Agreed in traditionGoindwal

The Anandu

Guru Ji composes the forty-stanza Anandu, which tradition links to a grandson's birth.

Note. The hymn is certainly by Guru Ji and is in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Only the occasion rests on tradition.

What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipCalls the 40-stanza work a staple of Sikh services and reports the tradition tying it to a grandson's birth.[EoS]
ScholarshipSays the Mahima Prakash has Bhai Ballu sing it to a drum at Guru Ji's command for the birth of Anand.[EoS]

Agreed in traditionGoindwal

Akbar's visit to Goindwal

Sikh chronicles say the emperor ate in the langar and offered land; no Mughal record of it was found.

The Mahima Prakash, as quoted in the Encyclopaedia, says that servants laid out silks for Akbar's walk to Guru Ji and that the emperor pushed them aside with his own hands and went barefoot. Macauliffe adds that he came on his way to Lahore with an escort of Mughal and Pathan soldiers and learned that no one could see Guru Ji without first eating from the kitchen. He sat down and ate the coarse rice.

Impressed, he offered land for the kitchen. Guru Ji declined it, saying that his lands and rent-free holdings came from the Creator and that each day's gifts were spent that day. The Mahima Prakash and Macauliffe both then say that the land was granted to Bibi Bhani instead.

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Note. Is it corroborated? In the sources read here, no. The Akbarnama passage translated by Moosvi records Akbar at Goindwal in November 1598, with Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, and says nothing about an earlier visit, though that is one passage and not a search of all Mughal records. All the accounts here go back to Sikh writers. Macauliffe gives no date, and it may be a memory coloured by the well-recorded 1598 visit.

What the sources say (4)

ScholarshipAttributes the visit and the barefoot walk to Sikh chronicles and the Mahima Prakash.[EoS]
Later traditionTells the full story including the refused grant and the villages made over to Bibi Bhani.[Macauliffe]
ScholarshipCredits Bhai Ballu with suggesting the grant to Bibi Bhani, following the Mahima Prakash.[EoS]
ScholarshipAccepts the visit without question and says it raised Guru Ji's standing and brought new followers.[Gupta]

Agreed in traditionLahore

Bhai Jetha's mission to Lahore

When Brahmins and Khatris complain to Akbar about the kitchen, Bhai Jetha defends Guru Ji before the emperor.

According to Macauliffe and the Encyclopaedia, Brahmins objected to the free kitchen and to the neglect of caste rules, and took their case to the emperor. Macauliffe adds that they warned that Guru Ji's teaching could lead to disturbance.

Guru Ji sent Bhai Jetha to reply. Macauliffe has him say that God had been worshipped under different names in the four ages. The Encyclopaedia reduces the answer to its core: all are equal before God. Akbar dismissed the charges.

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What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipReports the mission and Akbar's dismissal of the complaint.[EoS]
Later traditionGives the complaint, the summons and Bhai Jetha's speech at length.[Macauliffe]

Scripture and the last years

c. 1570-1574

Guru Ji's compositions, in seventeen ragas, are the third largest body of work in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. He also took a decisive step in collecting older hymns, including those of the Bhagats. The Goindwal Pothis grew out of that work.

Before he passed away on 1 September 1574 (Bhadon sudi 15, 1631 Bk), Guru Ji chose as successor his son-in-law, Bhai Jetha, passing over his own sons. Baba Mohri accepted this. Baba Mohan withdrew to his upper room, and his possession of the Pothis became a source of tension in the next two generations.[EoS][EoS][Mann][EoS][EoS]

Well attestedc. 1570-1572Goindwal

The Goindwal Pothis

Guru Ji's grandson Sahansar Ram copies a collection of hymns by the first three Gurus and by Bhagats.

Note. Scholars differ on their role. Mann reports that Teja Singh saw them as the main source for the 1604 compilation, while Sahib Singh rejected that view and the story of the loan. They also carry unfamiliar readings and a differently worded opening invocation.

What the sources say (3)

From the timeDescribes two surviving manuscripts written at Goindwal, begun in September 1570 and completed on 9 August 1572, with later additions likely.[EoS]
ScholarshipDates them to the 1570s with a query and says they held hymns by the first three Gurus along with those of the Bhagats.[Mann]
ScholarshipCalls this recording of hymns an important step towards fixing the canon.[EoS]

Agreed in traditionGoindwal

Bibi Bhani and the stool

Bibi Bhani holds up a breaking seat with her hand, and Guru Ji blesses her descendants.

Old chronicles, as cited in the Encyclopaedia, tell how Guru Ji was deep in meditation one morning when Bibi Bhani saw that a leg of his low seat was about to give way. She put her hand under the frame and held it there. When he came out of his meditation, he found her hand bleeding. Moved, he told her that her descendants would inherit the office of Guru.

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Note. This explains after the fact why the office stayed in the Sodhi line from Sri Guru Ram Das Ji onward.

What the sources say (2)

ScholarshipCalls this a popular anecdote from the chronicles and gives the blessing to her progeny.[EoS]
Later traditionPraises Bibi Bhani's devotion and her continued attendance on her father after marriage.[Macauliffe]

Well attested1 September 1574Goindwal

The last charge and the succession

Guru Ji names Bhai Jetha and tells the family not to weep, as Sundar's Sad records.

Note. The Sad is a family witness. Mann describes a further contest, with the sons keeping control of the Goindwal establishment as legal heirs while the nominated Guru moved away. The Sad presents only harmony.

What the sources say (3)

ScriptureThe Sad of Baba Sundar, a great-grandson, is said to record the appointment of the successor and the instruction not to mourn.[EoS]
ScholarshipCites the Sad at Angs 923-924 for the family and Sikhs bowing to the new Guru.[EoS]
ScholarshipSays Baba Mohri accepted the choice without objection.[EoS]

Images

A later artist's imagining of the ten Gurus, from Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, from the workshop of Purkhu of Kangra. No portrait from any Guru's lifetime is established.
Purkhu of Kangra, Early 19th century. Kapany Collection (as credited on Commons). Public domain. Source
An early form of the Mul Mantar, labelled on Commons as from the Ahiapur Wali volume of the Goindwal Pothis, about 1570-1572. The source link is informal. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls this the Darapur or Yahyapur volume.
Sahansar Ram, scribe, per the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, c. 1570-1572. Public domain. Source
A gilded panel from doors given to the Harmandir Sahib by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, now in the treasury according to Commons. It imagines Baba Buddha anointing Sri Guru Amar Das Ji under Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji's command.
Unknown, c. 1801-1839. Toshakhana, Harmandir Sahib (as stated on Commons). Public domain. Source
A later fresco of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji above the entrance to the Baoli Sahib, Goindwal, numbered with the Gurmukhi numeral three. Probably 19th century. No portrait from Guru Ji's lifetime is established.
Unknown, Probably 19th century. Baoli Sahib, Goindwal. Public domain. Source
A later artist's imagining of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji, from a set of the first nine Gurus painted about 1800-1840. No portrait from Guru Ji's lifetime is established.
Unknown, c. 1800-1840. Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 925204 (as credited on Commons). Public domain. Source

The sources, and how far to trust them

Sri Guru Amar Das Ji's compositions1552-1574Scripture
Direct evidence for what Guru Ji taught, including the Anandu and verses rejecting sati, but they contain few datable events. The Kurukshetra visit, which a modern scholar dated by astronomy to 14 January 1553, is a rare exception.[DB][EoS][EoS]
The Goindwal PothisTraditionally 1570-1572From the time
Physical manuscripts from the family of Guru Ji, written by his grandson Sahansar Ram. Two survive, one of them closed to scholars, so most descriptions depend on a photocopy of the other at Punjabi University. Mann dates them with a query to the 1570s and treats them as evidence of a four-volume text. Read here through Mann and the Encyclopaedia, not directly.[EoS][Mann]
Var of Balvand and Satta and Sundar's SadLate 16th centuryScripture
Both are in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The Var praises Guru Ji's steady kitchen and many teaching centres in royal language. The Sad, by a great-grandson, describes the final charge and the naming of the successor. It is close to the family, and that means it speaks for one side of the later dispute over the inheritance.[DB][EoS][EoS]
Mahima Prakash of Sarup Das Bhalla1776Later tradition
Thirty-two sakhis on Guru Ji, the fullest early source, written by a Bhalla, which is the family of Guru Ji himself. That gives it access to family memory and also a family interest. It is the source of the barefoot Akbar scene. Read here through the Encyclopaedia.[EoS][EoS]
Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, vol. 2, and Gupta1909; late 20th centuryScholarship
Macauliffe retells the chronicles at length, often the Suraj Prakash, without testing them. Gupta's narrative accepts the Akbar visit outright. Neither should be counted as independent proof of the stories they repeat.[Macauliffe][Gupta]

Cite this page

"Life and times of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji". Sikh History: lives of the Gurus. https://sikh-history.co.uk/lives/guru-amar-das/