Amar Das

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Amar Das (* May 5, 1479 in Basarke near Amritsar , † September 1, 1574 ) was appointed Guru of the Sikhs in 1552 . He followed the tradition of his predecessors Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Angad Dev to set up free and free kitchens. He reformed existing rituals for marriage, birth and death and founded religious centers in which Sikhism was taught.

Under Amar Das it became clear that Sikhism wanted to be something other than a Hindu sect. He was against widow burning and recommended a reinterpretation of this custom. As a poet, he castigated the greed of some brahmins and the excesses of image worship .

Amar Das also spoke out against the caste system :

Everyone says there are four boxes
But all come from God's seed
The whole universe came out through the same clay
The potter merely shaped them all according to different vessels
The five elements taken together and thus created the body
Who can say that counts less and more?
- Guru Granth Sahib , p. 1128, M. 3, Amar Das

According to legend, even the Raja of Haripur or Akbar I , the Great Mughal, had to sit and eat with the common people in the public guru kitchen ( Guru ka langar ) before they could see Amar Das.

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