Guru Ramdas
| Guru Ram Das | |
|---|---|
Opaque watercolour on paper c 1800
Government Museum, Chandigarh |
|
| Religion | Sikhism |
| Known for | founder of Amritsar city |
| Other names | The Fourth Master |
| Personal | |
| Born | Bhai Jetha 8 October 1534 Chuna Mandi, Lahore, Punjab, Mughal Empire (Present day Pakistan) |
| Died |
September 1, 1581 (aged 46) Goindval, Mughal Empire (Present day India) |
| Spouse | Bibi Bhani |
| Children | Baba Prithi Chand, Baba Mahan Dev, and Guru Arjan |
| Parents | Hari Das and Mata Anup Devi |
| Religious career | |
| Predecessor | Guru Amar Das |
| Successor | Guru Arjan |
Guru Ram Das ([ɡʊru ɾɑm dɑs]; 1534–1581) was the fourth of the ten Gurus of Sikhism. He was born on 9 October 1534 in a poor Hindu family based in Lahore, part of what is now Pakistan. His birth name was Jetha, he was orphaned at age 7, and thereafter grew up with his maternal grandmother in a village.
At age 12, Bhai Jetha and his grandmother moved to Goindval, where they met Guru Amar Das. The boy thereafter accepted Guru Amar Das as mentor and served him. The daughter of Guru Amar Das married Bhai Jetha, and he thus became part of Guru Amar Das's family. As with the first two Gurus of Sikhism, Guru Amar Das instead of choosing his own sons, chose Bhai Jetha as his successor and renamed him as Ram Das or "servant or slave of god ".
Ram Das became the Guru of Sikhism in 1574 and served as the Sikh leader until his death in 1581. He faced hostilities from the sons of Guru Amar Das, shifted his official base to lands identified by Guru Amar Das as Guru-ka-Chak. This newly founded town was eponymous Ramdaspur, later to evolve and get renamed as Amritsar – the holiest city of Sikhism. He is also remembered in the Sikh tradition for expanding the manji organization for clerical appointments and donation collections to theologically and economically support the Sikh movement. He appointed his own son as his successor, and unlike the first four Gurus who were not related through descent, the fifth through tenth Sikh Gurus were the direct descendants of Guru Ram Das.
The Guru was born in a house along the Chuna Mandi Bazaar in Lahore, at a site marked by the Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Ram Das. His father was Hari Das and his mother Anup Devi (Daya Kaur), a Sodhi Khatri caste family. He married Bibi Bhani, the younger daughter of Guru Amar Das. They had three sons: Prithi Chand, Mahadev and Guru Arjan.
Guru Ram Das died on 1 September 1581, in the city of Amritsar, Punjab.
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