Guru Amar Das
Guru Amar Das
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Guru Amar Das

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Guru Amar Das

Guru Amar Das (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਅਮਰ ਦਾਸ, pronunciation: [gʊɾuː əməɾᵊ d̯aːsᵊ]; 5 May 1479 – 1 September 1574), sometimes spelled as Guru Amardas, was the third guru of Sikhism and became Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552 at age 73.[failed verification]

Before becoming a Sikh, on a pilgrimage after having been prompted to search for a guru, he heard his nephew's wife, Bibi Amro, reciting a hymn by Guru Nanak, and was deeply moved by it. Amro was the daughter of Guru Angad, the second Guru of the Sikhs. Amar Das persuaded Amro to introduce him to her father. In 1539, Amar Das, at the age of sixty, met Guru Angad and became a Sikh, devoting himself to the Guru. In 1552, before his death, Guru Angad appointed Amar Das as the third Guru of Sikhism.

Guru Amar Das was an important innovator in the teachings of Guru who introduced a religious organization called the Manji system by appointing trained clergy, a system that expanded and survives into the contemporary era. He also established the Peerah system for propagating the religion to women. He wrote and compiled hymns into a Pothi (book) that ultimately helped create the Adi Granth. He also enacted social reforms, such as by allowing widow remarriage, promoting intercaste alliance, encouraging monogamy, banning sati, and discouraging purdah.

Amar Das remained the Guru of the Sikhs till age 95, and named his son-in-law Bhai Jetha, who was later remembered by the name Guru Ram Das, as his successor.

Amar Das was born to mother Bakht Kaur (also known as Sullakhani, Lakhmi Devi, or Rup Kaur) and father Tej Bhan Bhalla on 5 May 1479 in Basarke village in what is now called Amritsar district of Punjab (India). His grandfather was Hari Das. His family belonged to the Bhalla gotra (clan) of the Khatri tribe. Amar Das was the eldest child out of four sons. Amar Das worked as both an agriculturalist and a trader.

Whilst the most commonly accepted and recorded date for Guru Amar Das's birth year is 1479, many sources give a much later date of 1509.

Some sources that affirm the 1479 year of birth for the guru are: Ganda Singh's Makhaz-i-Twarikh-i-Sikhan, Karam Singh's Gurpurab Nirnay, Kahn Singh Nabha's Mahan Kosh, Max Arthur MaCauliffe's The Sikh Religion, and Giani Gian Singh's Panth Prakash and Twarikh Guru Khalsa.

Sources that give a later year of 1509 as the birth year for the guru are: Joseph Davey Cunningham's History of the Sikhs and Kesar Singh Chibber's Bansavalinama.

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