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Building: the Harmandir Sahib, Tarn Taran and Kartarpur

The foundation of the Harmandir Sahib and Mian Mir

Popular tradition says the Sufi Mian Mir laid the foundation; the sources for this are late, and Macauliffe says Guru Ji laid it.

Disputed1588 or 1589Amritsar1 min read
Early photograph of the Harmandir Sahib and its pool
The Harmandir Sahib photographed by Felice Beato in 1858-1859, one of the earliest photographs of the gurdwara in this set.Felice Beato, 1858-1859, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007.26.209.9. CC0. Source

Here is who says what. Ghulam Muhayy ud-Din, known as Bute Shah, in his Twarikh-i-Punjab, says that the Sufi travelled to Amritsar when Guru Ji asked him, and set a brick on each of four sides and another at the tank's centre. Sohan Lal Suri's Umdat-ut-Twarikh has Guru Ji go to Lahore and ask Mian Mir for help with the buildings. Giani Gian Singh's Twarikh Guru Khalsa of 1896 says plainly that Mian Mir laid the foundation.

Painting of the interior of the Harmandir Sahib
The interior of the Harmandir Sahib painted by William Carpenter, shown with a date of 1854 in the file name. Commons credits the V&A but gives no accession number. Source

The Encyclopaedia calls the date of 28 December 1588 (1 Magh 1645 Bk) current tradition. Macauliffe gives the same Bikrami date, converts it to 1589, and says Guru Ji himself laid the first brick. He adds that a mason knocked it out of place, and that Guru Ji said the foundation would have to be laid again, which he connects with Ahmad Shah's destruction of the temple. Gupta tells the mason story but gives the foundation and the saying to Mian Mir.

How do we know?

The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.

None of the named sources is close to 1588. Two were printed in 1885 and 1896, and the third is cited from an undated manuscript. Nothing read for this page from Guru Ji's lifetime mentions the story. It may preserve a memory of real goodwill between the two men, or it may reflect the value later writers placed on the idea. The Mian Mir entry's doubt about the life spans is itself odd, since he was born in 1550 and Guru Ji in 1563, and it is given here as the source states it.

  • ScholarshipQuotes Bute Shah, Sohan Lal Suri and Giani Gian Singh, and describes the cornerstone by Mian Mir as current tradition.[EoS]
  • ScholarshipSays Sikh tradition is inclined to claim a long friendship, which their life spans will not support, and that he is said to have laid the stone.[EoS]
  • Later traditionSays Guru Ji laid the first brick, with no part for Mian Mir at the foundation.[Macauliffe]
  • ScholarshipAccepts the foundation by Mian Mir on 28 December 1588, and gives him the saying about the temple being rebuilt.[Gupta]
  • ScholarshipCites Bute Shah and Gian Singh for the cornerstone.[EoS]
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"The foundation of the Harmandir Sahib and Mian Mir". Sikh History: lives of the Gurus. https://sikh-history.co.uk/stories/guru-arjun-the-foundation-of-the-harmandir-sahib-and-mian-mir/