Golden Temple (Amritsar)

                                                                HISTORY

The third Guru of the Sikh tradition, Guru Amar Das, is credited with selecting the location that would become Amritsar and house the Harimandir Sahib. After he had urged his student Ram Das to locate property for the creation of a new town with a man-made pool at its center, it was thereafter named Guru Da Chakk. In 1574, Guru Ram Das succeeded his father, Guru Amar Das, and established the town that would later be called "Ramdaspur" despite the sons of Amar Das's fierce opposition. He began by finishing the pool with the assistance of Baba Buddha, who should not be mistaken with the Buddhist Buddha. Guru Ram Das constructed his latest formal. During the reign of Guru Arjan, Ramdaspur town grew thanks to gifts and volunteer labor. The region expanded into the temple complex, and the village grew to become the city of Amritsar. Mahima Prakash Vartak, a semi-historical Sikh hagiography tract probably written in 1741 and the earliest known document detailing the lives of all ten Gurus, describes the construction activities between 1574 and 1604. In 1604, Guru Arjan placed the Sikhism scripture within the newly constructed gurdwara. Guru Arjan created Amritsar as the main Sikh pilgrimage site, carrying on the work of Guru Ram Das. He authored a great deal of Sikh scripture, such as the well-known Sukhmani Sahib.