Guru Ram Das - The Fourth Sikh Guru, Volume 1 English Graphic Novel | Sikh Comics Series
"Blessed, blessed is Guru Ram Das, the Creator has exalted him. The miracle is complete."
— Sri Guru Granth Sahib
He was an orphan selling boiled gram by the Ravi River. He would become the Sikh Guru who built Amritsar.
Bhai Jetha was barely past infancy when his mother died. By the time he was seven, his father was gone too. Close relatives turned their backs on the children. It fell to their Nani, their maternal grandmother, to move from her village of Basarke to Lahore to hold the family together, doing odd jobs to survive and sending young Jetha to sell boiled gram on the riverbank each day.
He rarely came home with much money. The hungry sadhus by the Ravi River always seemed to need it more.
"Nani, isn't it such a joy to feed the hungry? I would rather have one less meal a day than see someone go hungry."
When the family returned to Basarke, a man in the village noticed the boy. Baba Amar Das, who would one day become the Third Sikh Guru, watched Jetha work and thought: he is not only kind, but sensitive towards the suffering of others. A bond formed between the old man and the young boy. And when Baba Amar Das told Jetha he had found his Guru, Guru Angad of Khadur, and was leaving for his service, Jetha asked to come with him. From that day, Bhai Jetha's life belonged to something larger than himself.
The story of Guru Ram Das begins here — with an orphan, a grandmother, and a handful of boiled gram given freely to strangers.
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Part of the Sikh Comics series on the Ten Sikh Gurus — also available as a complete collection.
He visited Khadur to sit in the presence of Guru Angad. When Baba Amar Das was given the task of building the new Sikh town of Goindwal, Jetha came too, carrying loads, laying foundations, still selling boiled gram to earn his keep. When Guru Angad passed the divine light to Baba Amar Das, making him the Third Sikh Guru, Bhai Jetha made a quiet resolve: I will dedicate my life to serving Guru Amar Das and the sangat.
For twenty-four years, he kept that resolve without wavering once.
He cooked. He drew water from the wells. He brought firewood from the forest. He cleaned the Guru's house, served him food, massaged his body and feet, and fetched water for his bath. He laboured physically to help build the city of Goindwal. He was tireless, and always ready to help. "There is no greater joy," he said, "than serving the Guru and the sangat. I will be content doing this my entire life."
Guru Amar Das's wife, Mansa Devi, saw it clearly. When the time came to find a husband for their daughter Bibi Bhani, she told the Guru: someone like Jetha — kind and humble, sincere and selflessly devoted. Guru Amar Das replied simply: there can be no one like him — so why not Jetha himself? Bhai Jetha and Bibi Bhani were married in 1553, to the singing of Gurbani. Three sons followed: Pirthi Chand, Maha Dev, and Arjan Dev.
Even after marriage, Bhai Jetha stayed in Goindwal to serve. When relatives arrived from Lahore, outraged to see him carrying loads of mud like a labourer, they confronted the Guru directly. Bhai Jetha rushed forward and asked for their forgiveness. Guru Amar Das replied with words that silenced them completely: "I have not placed a basket of mud on Bhai Jetha's head — I have placed upon him the sign of a king of both worlds."
The test that sealed Bhai Jetha's destiny came at the Baoli — the great stepwell Guru Amar Das had ordered built. Two sons-in-law were asked to each construct a platform beside the well. Round after round, Guru Amar Das inspected and asked for each to be demolished and rebuilt. Both Bhai Rama and Bhai Jetha complied — once, twice, a third time. Then the Guru asked again. Bhai Rama, this time, did not respond. Bhai Jetha fell at the Guru's feet: "Sachay Patshah, please forgive me that I disappointed you again. It is my great fortune that you have asked me to serve you again." That was the moment. Guru Amar Das had seen everything he needed to see.
When the Brahmins filed complaints against Guru Amar Das at the court of Emperor Akbar, accusing him of destroying Hindu religion and breaking the social order, it was Bhai Jetha who travelled to Lahore to represent his Guru. Standing before the Mughal Emperor, he answered every charge with clarity and calm: that God is without form; that all humans are born equal; that bathing in holy rivers cannot wash away sins; that women deserve equal standing; that the low-caste have the same right to read the holy books as any Brahmin. Akbar dismissed all charges. "Your complaints are enemies of the truth," he told the Brahmins.
In 1569, Guru Amar Das led Bhai Jetha and Bhai Budha to a piece of land twenty-five miles from Goindwal — land that Guru Nanak had walked and Guru Angad had blessed. "We will build a new city here. We will call it Amritsar." Bhai Jetha acquired the land for Rs 700. The foundation was laid in 1570. Two sacred tanks were excavated, Santokhsar, the tank of contentment, and Amritsar, the tank of nectar.
On August 30, 1574, Guru Amar Das summoned his sons, his senior Sikhs, and Bhai Jetha. After twenty-four years of service, the hour had come. Five coins and a coconut were placed before Bhai Jetha as the sign of the Gurgaddi. Guru Amar Das bowed before him. Bhai Budha applied the saffron tilak. And the new Guru, in utter humility, composed a hymn:
"My condition, O my True Guru, is known to You. I was rolling about in the dirt and no one cared for me. In the True Guru's company, I, a worm, have been raised high and exalted."
— Page 167, Sri Guru Granth Sahib
The orphan from Lahore was now Guru Ram Das, the Fourth Sikh Guru. He moved to Amritsar, completed both sacred tanks by 1577, appointed Masand preachers across the country, and composed the Laavan, four sacred hymns that gave Sikhs a marriage ceremony entirely their own, rooted in Gurbani, needing no priest. He established the daily spiritual practice of the Sikh in a hymn that now opens the Sikh Rehit Maryada itself.
Amritsar was not only a religious centre. It was a city with markets, with traders, with a people learning to generate wealth without losing God. Guru Ram Das had given the Sikhs a home.
Volume 1 ends here; with Amritsar established, the Masand system in place, and Guru Ram Das's Gurbani beginning to shape the life of every Sikh. The story continues in Volume 2.
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32 Pages · Paperback · English · Published 2016 · ISBN 9789382887515 · Publisher: Sikh Comics
Volume 1 of 2 — covering Guru Ram Das's life from birth through the founding of Amritsar and the early years of his Guruship. Continue the story with Volume 2.
An illustrated Sikh children's book bringing the life and teachings of the Fourth Sikh Guru to vivid life, one sakhi at a time.
Also Available in Punjabi
