Amar Das

born 1479, Khadur?, India

died 1574, Goindwal

Third Sikh Guru.

Much revered for his wisdom and piety, he became Guru at age 73. He was noted for his missionary efforts to spread Sikhism and for the division of the Punjab into 22 dioceses. To strengthen the faith, he ordered three great Sikh festivals each year, and he made the city of Goindwal a centre of Sikh learning. He extended the casteless langar ("free kitchen") and required that anyone wanting to see him must first eat there. Advocating a middle way between the extremes of asceticism and sensuous pleasure, he purified Sikhism of Hindu practices, encouraged intercaste marriages, allowed widows to remarry, and prohibited suttee (self-immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre).

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▪ Sikh Guru

born 1479, Khadur?, India

died 1574, Goindwal

      third Sikh Guru (1522–74), appointed at the advanced age of 73, noted for his division of the Punjab into administrative districts and for encouraging missionary work to spread the faith. He was much revered for his wisdom and piety, and it was said that even the Mughal emperor Akbar sought his advice and ate in the Sikhs' casteless langar (communal refectory).

      Under Amar Das's direction, the city of Goindwal became a centre of Sikh authority and learning. He strengthened the existing institutions of Sikh scripture, liturgy, and langar, making it a rule that anyone who wished to see him had to eat in the refectory first. He also introduced a religio-administrative structure of 22 manjis (literally “cots,” in function “seats”), which created the possibility of effective governance for the entire increasingly large Sikh community. Appointees to these seats were to provide doctrinal guidance for their constituents, encourage the entry of others into the Sikh community, and serve as links between the local congregations and Goindwal. To further enhance the cohesion between distant congregations and Goindwal, Guru Amar Das instituted pilgrimages that were tied to a newly formed Sikh calendar. By incorporating two preexisting festivals, Vaisakhi (at the time of the spring harvest) and Diwali (at the fall harvest), into the calendar and changing their orientation, he established two major occasions when all Sikhs were encouraged to go to Goindwal and participate in communal celebrations.

      Guru Amar Das advocated a middle way of life between the extremes of asceticism and sensuous pleasure, and he praised the life of the ordinary family man. Thus, a man could enjoy prosperity and please God also. He purified the Sikh religion of Hindu (Hinduism) practices, encouraged intercaste marriage, and allowed widows to remarry. He also strictly enjoined his followers to refrain from the prevailing Hindu practice of suttee (self-immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre).

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