1 GURU AMAR DAS. 251
2 of his occupation, which was that of carrying goods from place to place
3 ona pony, the-only property which he possessed. Having become fond
4 of the society of faqirs, he came to the village of Khadir and made Guru
5 Angad his spiritual guide. He served him with all his heart, and sacri-
6 fied his own comfort for that of the Guru. Yet he never ate anything from
7 the Guru’s storehouse, but supported himself by small sums of money which
8 he earned by trading in salt and oil in the market. Every night he used to
9 bring fresh water from the river of Gowindwal, about two kos distant from
10 Khadir, for the ablutions of his Guru. His reverence for the Guru was so
11 great that he never turned his back towards him, and in his midnight jour-
12 ney to the river he used, on all occasions, to walk backwards, te., with his
13 face towards the Guru’s house. One dark tempestuous night, in the midst
14 of rain, thunder and lightning, as Amar Das was returning from the river
15 with an earthen jar full of water for the Guru, he accidentally fell into a
16 ditch near a weaver’s house, and the jar was smashed to pieces. The weaver,
17 perceiving from the noise that some one had fallen into the pit, said to his
18 wife: “ What miserable scoundrel can that be roving about at this time of
19 night? it must be that wretched vagabond Amrd.” Amri managed to
20 scramble out of the hole without assistance, and, having procured another
21 jar, set out again and brought water afresh for his religious preceptor, who
22 enjoyed the bath without knowing anything of the misfortune which had
23 befallen his faithful Amrui. The next day, the Guru was informed by
24 somebody of what had happened on the preceding night, and he was
25 told that people called Amrd the homeless one. The Guru was convinced
26 of his disciple’s devotion and sincerity, and, holding him by the neck,
27 said: “ Amrit is not homeless, but the home of the homeless; he who will
28 follow him shall find his home with the Lord.” He was forthwith declared
29 to be the successor of Angad, who bowed down to him, and then presented
30 him with five pice and a cocoanut, after which he was paid homage to by all.
31 On the death of Angad, Amar Das established himself at Gowindwal.
32 He was successful as a teacher, and his zeal and activity in preaching, com-
33 bined with his genial habits and affable disposition, secured for him many
34 converts to the new faith. He was a just and wise Guru, humble and
35 patient. He composed beautiful verses, which have been incorporated in
36 the Granth, and are much liked for their simplicity of diction and purity of
37 idea. He found a patient listener in the high-minded Akber. He sepa-
38 rated the inert and torpid sect of Uddsis, founded by Sri Chand, from the
39 active and worldly Sikhs, and thus prevented the former from being lost in
40 oblivion as a distinct creed.
41 Following the policy initiated by Nanak, he disapproved of satét, which
42 was sanctioned by the usage of ages, and encouraged the re-marriage of Hindu
43 widows, maintaining that the woman who, bereft of her husband, nobly
44 supported herself under the trial, was a true satti, and not the suicide who
45 deliberately ended her existence on the pyre. This was the mild form in
46 which the wise Guru denounced the baneful practice of satti.
47 _From the offerings made by his disciples, Amar Das was enabled to
48 build at Gowindwal a béolt, or large oblong tank, the descent to the brink
49 of which is reached by eighty-four steps, with landing places, and covered
50 chambers for travellers to rest in and take refreshments during the heat of
51 the day. The Sikhs believe that whoever bathes on these eighty-four steps
52 one by one, repeating the Japy? to the last step, is made free from the eighty-four
53 lakhs of forms of metempsychosis and enters heaven. A grand fair is still
54 held at this béolt every year, to which the Sikhs flock from all directions to
55 do homage to the memory of the departed Guru.
56 His reverence for his
57 Guru,
58 Who declares him to
59 be his successor.
60 The new Guru
61 separates the Sikhs
62 from the Uddsis,
63 Ge denounces the
64 Satti.
65 Builds a boli at
66 Gowindwal.
67 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com