Guru from 1574 to 1581: the founding of Amritsar, the digging of the sarovar, the masand network, and the Lavan that every Sikh wedding is built on.
Guru Ram Das (1534 to 1581) was the fourth Sikh Guru, who founded the city that became Amritsar and had the sacred pool excavated around which the Harmandir Sahib now stands. He composed the Lavan, the four verses sung as the couple circles the Guru Granth Sahib at every Anand Karaj, along with 679 hymns in total, and organised the masand network that collected offerings and taught across the regions.
| Born | 1534 at Chuna Mandi, Lahore, now in Punjab, Pakistan |
|---|---|
| Died | 1581 at Goindwal, Punjab |
| Guruship | 1574 to 1581, the second shortest of the ten |
| Preceded by | Guru Amar Das, who was also his father-in-law |
| Succeeded by | Guru Arjan, his youngest son |
| In the Guru Granth Sahib | 679 hymns, including the four Lavan in Raag Suhi sung at every Anand Karaj |
| Known for | Founding the city that became Amritsar, excavating the sarovar, and composing the Lavan |
Guru Ram Das was born Jetha at Chuna Mandi in Lahore in 1534 and orphaned at seven. He came into the community at Goindwal, married Bibi Bhani the daughter of Guru Amar Das, and served for years on the construction of the baoli before the Guruship passed to him in 1574. He held it for only seven, the second shortest tenure of the ten, and did a remarkable amount within it.
The city is the largest of those things. On land near a pool with a long-standing reputation for healing, he founded a settlement first called Ramdaspur and had the sarovar excavated and lined. He did not build a temple at its centre; that was left to his son. What he built was a town, inviting traders and craftsmen of fifty-two occupations to settle so it would have an economy rather than only a shrine. Amritsar, the pool of nectar, took its name from the water and eventually gave it to the city. The Harmandir Sahib was raised in that tank by Guru Arjan, which makes Guru Ram Das the founder of the site Sikhs the world over now orient themselves toward.
He developed the masand system out of his predecessor's manjis. Masands were appointed representatives in the regions who taught, collected the daswandh, the tenth part of income Sikhs contributed, and forwarded it to the centre. The network funded the excavation and the building that followed. It also, in later generations, decayed into a corrupt intermediary class that Guru Gobind Singh eventually abolished outright, which is a fair caution about institutions rather than a mark against its founder.
His Lavan is the composition most Sikhs encounter most often without necessarily knowing whose it is. Four verses in Raag Suhi, sung one at a time as the couple walks around the Guru Granth Sahib, they describe marriage as four stages of union with the Divine rather than as a contract between families. Every Anand Karaj performed anywhere in the world is built around them.
Sung one at a time as the couple circles the Guru Granth Sahib. Sevahey describes their structure and does not reproduce them.
| Round | What the verse sets out |
|---|---|
| First lavan | The turn toward duty and righteous living as the ground on which a marriage is founded |
| Second lavan | The meeting with the true Guru and the dissolving of fear and ego |
| Third lavan | Detachment from worldly craving and the rise of longing for the Divine |
| Fourth lavan | The union attained, in which the human marriage and the divine are described as one condition |
| Foundation | What became of it |
|---|---|
| Ramdaspur and the sarovar | Grew into Amritsar; the Harmandir Sahib was raised in that pool by his son Guru Arjan |
| The masand network | Collected the daswandh and taught in the regions, funding the excavation; abolished by Guru Gobind Singh after it decayed |
| A town of fifty-two trades | Traders and craftsmen were invited to settle so the site would have an economy and not only a shrine |
Sevahey sells nothing connected to Guru Ram Das and publishes no image of him. Sevahey does not arrange an Anand Karaj or supply anyone to officiate one, so the Lavan he composed cannot be booked through this site in any form. Room booking at the Golden Temple runs through the SGPC's own system and not through Sevahey.
The Golden Temple is the one place on Sevahey that Guru Ram Das founded directly, since the sarovar the Harmandir Sahib stands in is the pool he had excavated. An ardas there is what a verified Sevak can arrange in your name: the granthi speaks your name, your gotra and your request aloud before the Guru Granth Sahib, and you receive the hukamnama and same-day proof. Families ask most often at a wedding anniversary, which is the occasion his Lavan marks.
Guru Ram Das (1534 to 1581) was the fourth Sikh Guru, who founded the settlement that became Amritsar and had the sacred pool excavated in which the Harmandir Sahib now stands. He composed 679 hymns including the four Lavan sung at every Sikh wedding, and organised the masand network across the regions. His Guruship lasted seven years.
Yes. Guru Ram Das founded the settlement first called Ramdaspur on land near a pool long reputed to heal, and had the sarovar excavated and lined. He built a town rather than a shrine, inviting traders and craftsmen of fifty-two occupations to settle there. The Harmandir Sahib was raised in that pool later by his son Guru Arjan.
The Lavan are four verses in Raag Suhi composed by Guru Ram Das, sung one at a time as a couple walks around the Guru Granth Sahib during the Anand Karaj. They describe marriage as four stages of union with the Divine rather than as a contract between families, and every Sikh wedding performed anywhere is built around them.
The masands were appointed representatives in the regions who taught, collected the daswandh, the tenth part of income Sikhs contributed, and forwarded it to the centre. Guru Ram Das developed the system from Guru Amar Das's manjis, and it funded the excavation at Amritsar. In later generations it decayed into a corrupt intermediary class, and Guru Gobind Singh abolished it.
Seven years, from 1574 to 1581, the second shortest tenure of the ten Gurus after Guru Har Krishan's three. The founding of Amritsar, the excavation of the sarovar, the development of the masand network and the composition of 679 hymns all fall inside that period.
Guru Ram Das was Guru Amar Das's son-in-law, having married his daughter Bibi Bhani. He was born Jetha at Chuna Mandi in Lahore in 1534 and orphaned at seven, came into the community at Goindwal, and served for years on the construction of the baoli before receiving the Guruship in 1574.
No. Sevahey does not arrange an Anand Karaj or supply anyone to officiate one, so the Lavan cannot be booked through this site in any form. What a verified Sevak can arrange is an ardas in your name at the Golden Temple or another gurudwara Sevahey covers, including on a wedding anniversary, with same-day proof sent to you.
Choose the gurudwara, name your sankalp, receive the proof.
* Sevahey publishes no image of a Guru. A full seva is ₹899; sevas start from ₹251. Sevahey is a service platform and does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer or ritual.