Gurgaddi Purab of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji: the home of the homeless

The Gurgaddi Purab of Sri Guru Amar Das Ji remembers the day in 1552 when Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji entrusted the Guruship to him at Khadur Sahib. He was seventy-three, and had spent about twelve years in humble service to the Guru. The SGPC's Nanakshahi calendar keeps this anniversary on a fixed solar date.

Twelve years of seva

Every day before dawn, Amar Das Ji walked to the river Beas at Goindwal, filled a pitcher and carried it back for the Guru's bath, reciting the bani on the way. Sikh tradition tells of a stormy winter night when, returning in the dark, he stumbled against a weaver's loom near a hut. The weaver's wife called out that it could only be Amru, the homeless old man. When the story reached Guru Angad Dev Ji, he embraced his servant and called him the home of the homeless, the honour of those without honour, the strength of those without strength.

The Guruship

Guru Angad Dev Ji's son Datu resented being passed over and, tradition says, kicked the new Guru from his seat. Guru Amar Das Ji is remembered as asking whether his old bones had hurt Datu's foot, and quietly left for his native Basarke until the Sikhs found him. He went on to make Goindwal Sahib the centre of the faith, build its baoli, organise the sangats into manjis and make the langar a practice of equality.

How the day is observed

The day is marked with kirtan and Ardas at Khadur Sahib and Goindwal Sahib, and in gurdwaras everywhere. It is a day when katha returns to the theme of his life: that patience and service, at any age, are what the Guru honours.