Joti Jot Purab of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji: the founder of Amritsar

The Joti Jot Purab of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji remembers the day in 1581 when the fourth Sikh Guru completed his life on earth at Goindwal Sahib, after entrusting the Guruship to his youngest son, Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji. He was forty-seven, and had been Guru for about seven years.

A city and a sarovar

In those seven years Sri Guru Ram Das Ji founded the town first called Guru Ka Chakk and then Ramdaspur, which grew into Amritsar. He had the sarovar dug, the pool of nectar that gave the city its name, around which his son would raise Sri Harmandir Sahib. He invited traders and craftsmen of fifty-two trades to settle there, and the bazaar he founded, Guru Bazaar, still stands. He appointed masands to look after distant sangats and collect their offerings for the Guru's work.

His bani

His bani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is sung in thirty raags and is known for its tenderness and longing. It includes the Laavan, the four hymns around which the couple walk at an Anand Karaj, the Sikh wedding, and a number of the shabads Sikhs recite in Rehras Sahib and Sohila Sahib each evening.

Choosing Guru Arjan Dev Ji

His eldest son, Prithi Chand, wanted the Guruship and resented the choice; his second son, Mahadev, had turned to an ascetic life. The Guru chose Arjan Dev Ji, whose letters of longing from Lahore had shown his devotion, and asked Baba Budha Ji to perform the ceremony before the sangat.

How the day is observed

Sangats remember him with kirtan, katha and Ardas at Goindwal Sahib, at Amritsar and in gurdwaras everywhere.