Amritsar Tourism, Punjab
About Amritsar
Located in the northwestern side of India, Amritsar is an important city of Punjab lying about 25 km east of the border with Pakistan. Discovered by Guru Ram Das in 1574, Amritsar derived its name from the Amrit Sarovar that surrounds the famous Golden Temple. Amritsar city is a major commercial, cultural, and religious center of Sikhism globally famous for the Golden Temple and the unfortunate Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.
History of Amritsar
As the history says, Amritsar was established in 1574 by Guru Ram Das, the fourth guru of Sikhism on a piece of land gifted by Akbar to Guru. Some believe that the piece of land was actually acquired or bought by Guru Ram Das. The growing colonization came to be known as Ramdaspur. Arjun Dev, the youngest son of Guru Ram Das and the 5th Sikh guru, established a temple in the middle of the sarovar (tank) created by his father, that is known as Harmander Sahib or Golden Temple. The city derived its later name from Amrit sarovar that encircles the Harmandir Sahib - and thus became ‘Amritsar’.
The flourishing town grew further in stature as the followers of Sikhism grew in number. Things moved fast. The first Sikh Maharaja, Ranjit Singh, made Amritsar his spiritual capital and oversaw the temple's further development.
Before independence of India, Amritsar was one of the main educational centers of the country with Hindu College, Khalsa College, DAV College and many other leading institutions in India. According to Hindu Mythology, Lord Rama's twin sons- Luv-Kush, had been taught the Ramayana here.