Bhai Gurdas Ji

Bhai Gurdas was possibly born in 1551 (exact year unknown but likely between 1543 and 1553) at Basarke Gillan, a small village in the Punjab. He was the only child of Bhai Ishar Das and Mata Jivani. Gurdas's father, Ishar Das, was the youngest brother of Guru Amar Das, therefore Gurdas was the nephew of Guru Amar Das. Gurdas was born into the Bhalla clan of Khatris. Bhai Gurdas was near 3 years of age when his mother died.

After being orphaned at the age of 12, he was adopted by Guru Amar Das. Under the patronage of Guru Amar Das, Bhai Gurdas learned Sanskrit, Braj Bhasha, Persian, and Punjabi at Sultanpur Lodhi and eventually began preaching. He was further educated in both the Hindu and Muslim literary traditions. He spent his early years at Goindval and Sultanpur Lodhi. At Goindval, Gurdas listened and obtained knowledge from scholars and swamis that continuously visited the town while traversing the Delhi-Lahore road. He later moved to Varanasi, where he studied Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures. After Guru Amar Das died, his successor Guru Ram Das, assigned Bhai Gurdas as a Sikh missionary to Agra.

In 1577, Bhai Gurdas contributed his labour to excavating the Sarovar at Darbar Sahib. Twenty years later, he went on an expedition to Kartarpur and recited many of the early hymns to Emperor Akbar. Akbar was impressed by their spiritual content and was satisfied they had no anti-Muslim tone.

After Guru Ram Das left the world, Bhai Gurdas formed a close relationship with the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan. The Guru had great respect for him, and regarded him as his maternal uncle ("mama"). Gurdas led a group of Sikhs to Gwalior, where the Mughal emperor Jahangir, jealous of the popularity of Sikhism, had imprisoned Guru Hargobind. After that, Gurdas was sent to Kabul, Kashmir, Rajputana, and Varanasi again to preach Sikhism. He even went to Sri Lanka, preaching the name of the Guru among the masses and showing them the true way of life.