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Amritsar City is one of the cities of the Punjab state in India. This city was founded by Guru Ram Das in 1574 on land bought by him for 700 rupees from the owners of the village of Tung. Earlier Guru Ram Das had begun building Santokhsar Sarovar, near the village of Sultanwind in 1564 (according to one source in 1570). It could not be completed before 1588. In 1574, Guru Ram Das built his residence and moved to this place. At that time, it was known as Guru Da Chakk. (Later, it came to be known as Chakk Ram Das).
Since then this city has been known as Amritsar (after the name of the sarovar). The first stone of the foundation of the Darbar Sahib is said to have been laid by Sain Mian Mir Sahib, a Muslim saint from Punjab, at Guru Arjun Dev's request. A story in Sikh lore tells of a mason who then corrected the stone's alignment and was chided by Guru Arjun Dev for doing so with the Saint stating that the re-alignment was symbolic of the complex being continually attacked and rebuilt. Masons worked on laying the foundation on January 3, 1588. Sant Mian Mir was very friendly with Guru Arjun Dev and tried to intercede to prevent the Guru's subsequent torture and death at the hands of the Emperor Jahangir. He continued to be a friend of the next Guru, Guru Hargobind, and again worked on attaining his freedom when he was held for some time at Gwalior Fort. In 1590, Guru Arjun Dev moved to the village of Wadali where Guru Hargobind was born on June 19, 1590. |
