# Guru Amar Das, the Third Guru

> Guru Amar Das (1479 to 1574) was the third Sikh Guru, who took the Guruship at the age of 73 and held it until 1574. He composed Anand Sahib and 907 hymns that stand in the Guru Granth Sahib, made eating in the langar a condition of meeting him, organised the community into 22 manjis or preaching seats, built the baoli at Goindwal, and set himself against sati, purdah and caste separation.

- **Position in the succession:** Third Guru of ten
- **Born:** 1479 at Basarke, near Amritsar, Punjab
- **Died:** 1574 at Goindwal, Punjab
- **Guruship:** 1552 to 1574, taken at the age of 73
- **Preceded by:** Guru Angad
- **Succeeded by:** Guru Ram Das, who was also his son-in-law
- **In the Guru Granth Sahib:** 907 hymns, including Anand Sahib in Raag Ramkali at angs 917 to 922
- **Known for:** Making langar a condition of audience, the 22 manjis, the Goindwal baoli, and composing Anand Sahib
- **This page:** https://sevahey.com/gurus/guru-amar-das/

## What Sevahey does not do

Sevahey sells nothing connected to Guru Amar Das and publishes no image of him. Goindwal, where he lived, built the baoli and died, is not among the gurudwaras on Sevahey, so no Sevak can be sent there. Sevahey also does not arrange an Anand Karaj, the marriage ceremony named from his Anand Sahib, or supply anyone to officiate one.

This page carries no portrait of Guru Amar Das. Sevahey publishes no image of any Guru: the paintings in circulation are later inventions with no claim to likeness, and much of Sikh tradition holds figurative depiction of the Gurus to be improper.

## About Guru Amar Das

Guru Amar Das came to Sikhi late. He was in his sixties, a Vaishnava who had made the Haridwar pilgrimage many times, when he heard Guru Angad's daughter Bibi Amro reciting a hymn of Guru Nanak's and went to Khadur Sahib. He served there for years before the succession came to him in 1552, aged 73, and he held it for twenty-two more.

His best known instrument was the langar, and what he did with it was to make it a gate. Anyone seeking audience with him, of whatever rank, had first to sit on the floor of the common kitchen and eat with everyone else. The rule reached its most quoted test when Akbar came to Goindwal and ate in the langar before the meeting, though the story is repeated more confidently than the sources support. As a mechanism it is exact: caste separation in India was maintained principally through rules about who may eat with whom, so a kitchen that refuses the distinction attacks the structure at its working joint rather than at its rhetoric.

He also built an administration. The community had outgrown what one man at one place could reach, so he divided it into 22 manjis, seats from which appointed preachers taught in their own regions, and a further set of smaller local charges. Women were among those appointed. This is the first properly organised structure in Sikh history and the ancestor of the masand system his successor would develop.

At Goindwal he had a baoli sunk, a stepwell of eighty-four steps, giving the community a gathering place and a pilgrimage site of its own rather than a borrowed one. He set fixed days for the sangat to assemble, opposed sati and the seclusion of women in purdah, and encouraged widows to remarry. His Anand Sahib, forty pauris in Raag Ramkali, is recited at the close of almost every Sikh service to this day, and the Anand Karaj marriage ceremony takes its name from it.

## What Guru Amar Das instituted

| Reform | What it did |
| --- | --- |
| Langar before audience | Required anyone seeking to meet him, of any rank, to first eat in the common kitchen, attacking caste at the point where it was actually enforced |
| The 22 manjis | Divided the community into preaching seats with appointed teachers, women among them, giving Sikhi its first organised structure |
| The Goindwal baoli | A stepwell of eighty-four steps, giving the community its own gathering and pilgrimage site |
| Fixed assembly days | Set days on which the sangat gathered, turning a scattered following into a congregation |
| Against sati and purdah | Opposed widow-burning and the seclusion of women, and encouraged widows to remarry |

## Anand Sahib at a glance

_His best known composition, recited at the close of almost every Sikh service._

| Detail | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Where it sits | Guru Granth Sahib, angs 917 to 922, in Raag Ramkali |
| Length | 40 pauris in full; the short form is the first five and the fortieth |
| Where it is used | The close of most gurudwara services, the evening Rehras Sahib, and the Amrit Sanchar |
| What is named from it | The Anand Karaj, the Sikh marriage ceremony |

## Dates

- **1479** — Guru Amar Das is born at Basarke, near Amritsar
- **c. 1540** — He hears Bibi Amro reciting a hymn of Guru Nanak's and comes to Guru Angad at Khadur Sahib
- **1552** — Guru Amar Das receives the Guruship at the age of 73
- **1552 to 1574** — He institutes langar before audience, appoints the 22 manjis, and has the Goindwal baoli sunk
- **1574** — Guru Amar Das confers the Guruship on Guru Ram Das and dies at Goindwal
- **1604** — Guru Arjan places Anand Sahib in Raag Ramkali in the Adi Granth

## Where accounts differ

The story that Akbar ate in the langar at Goindwal before being received by Guru Amar Das is repeated in most popular accounts as established fact. The visit is plausible and widely reported in Sikh tradition, but the detail rests on later sources rather than on contemporary record, and historians differ on how much of the episode is reliable. The rule it illustrates is not in doubt: eating in the langar was genuinely a condition of audience, whoever the visitor was. It is the emperor's participation specifically that is traditional rather than documented.

## Connected pages on Sevahey

- [Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple)](https://sevahey.com/gurudwaras/golden-temple/): Amritsar, Punjab
- [Anand Sahib Path](https://sevahey.com/paths/anand-sahib/): Guru Amar Das (1479–1574), the third Guru

## What can be offered in your name

Two things Guru Amar Das established are what a Sevak actually meets at the gurudwara. His Anand Sahib is sung at the close of the service, and the ardas follows it directly, which is the sequence in which your name is spoken before the Guru Granth Sahib. The langar he made a condition of audience is still served, and langar seva is the other thing Sevahey arranges: a Sevak contributes and serves a meal in your name and sends you proof the same day.

- **Seva:** Ardas — https://sevahey.com/seva/ardas/
- **Performed by:** a verified, named Sevak
- **Proof:** GPS-tagged photos, the hukamnama where it applies, timing, and a handwritten note — usually same day

## Questions

### Who was Guru Amar Das?

Guru Amar Das (1479 to 1574) was the third Sikh Guru, who received the Guruship at the age of 73 and held it for twenty-two years. He composed Anand Sahib and 907 hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib, made eating in the langar a condition of meeting him, organised the community into 22 manjis, and opposed sati, purdah and caste separation.

### Why did Guru Amar Das make people eat in the langar first?

Because caste separation in India was maintained principally through rules about who may eat with whom. Requiring everyone seeking audience, of whatever rank, to first sit on the floor of the common kitchen and eat together attacked the structure at the point where it was actually enforced rather than merely arguing against it in words.

### What were the 22 manjis?

The manjis were preaching seats, twenty-two districts into which Guru Amar Das divided the growing Sikh community, each with an appointed teacher responsible for their own region. Women were among those appointed. The manjis are the first organised administrative structure in Sikh history and the ancestor of the masand system developed under Guru Ram Das.

### How old was Guru Amar Das when he became Guru?

Seventy-three, which makes him by some distance the oldest of the ten at succession. He had come to Sikhi late, in his sixties, after hearing Guru Angad's daughter Bibi Amro reciting a hymn of Guru Nanak's, and served at Khadur Sahib for years before the Guruship passed to him in 1552. He held it until 1574.

### Did Guru Amar Das compose Anand Sahib?

Yes. Anand Sahib is his best known composition, forty pauris in Raag Ramkali occupying angs 917 to 922 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It is recited at the close of almost every Sikh service, usually in a short form of six pauris, and the Anand Karaj marriage ceremony takes its name from it.

### What is the Goindwal baoli?

The Goindwal baoli is a stepwell of eighty-four steps that Guru Amar Das had sunk at Goindwal, giving the Sikh community a gathering place and pilgrimage site of its own rather than a borrowed one. Building it belongs to the same programme as his fixed assembly days: turning a scattered following into a congregation with its own centre.

### Did Akbar really eat in Guru Amar Das's langar?

The story is widely told and is plausible, but it rests on later sources rather than contemporary record, and historians differ on its reliability. What is not in doubt is the rule it illustrates: eating in the langar genuinely was a condition of audience with Guru Amar Das, whoever the visitor was. The emperor's participation specifically is tradition rather than documentation.

### Can Sevahey arrange an Anand Karaj?

No. Sevahey does not arrange the Sikh marriage ceremony named from Guru Amar Das's Anand Sahib, and supplies no one to officiate one. What a verified Sevak can arrange is an ardas in your name at a gurudwara Sevahey covers, or langar seva, where a meal is contributed and served in your name with same-day proof sent to you.

Sevahey is a service platform. It sells nothing connected to a Guru, and does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer, seva, or ritual.