The fourth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Ram Das (1534 -1581 A.D.), excavated a tank which subsequently became known as Amritsar (meaning: Pool of the Nectar of Immortality) and gave its name to the city that grew around it. In due course, a splendid Sikh edifice, Harmandir Sahib (meaning: The Abode of God), rose in the middle of this tank and became the supreme centre of the Sikhism. Its sanctorum came to house the adi granth confining compositions of Sikh Gurus and other saints considered to have Sikh values and philosophies e.g. Baba Farid, Kabir, etc. The compilation of the Adi granth was started by the fifth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Arjun Dev (1581 - 1606 a.d.). The Sikh Golden temple was fully completed by the time of the sixth Guru of Sikhism - Guru Hargobind.
Amritsar is located in the Majha region of the Punjab. Majha is also known as the Bari Doab, since it is the Doab or (fluvial) tract of land which lies between two of the five great rivers of the province, the Ravi and the Beas. As such, Majha lies in the heart of the ancient Punjab region. Besides Amritsar, it comprises Gurdaspur, Batala and Tarn Taran Sahib.Originally during 1574, the site of the temple was surrounded by a small lake, in a thin forest. The third of the six grand Mughals, emperor Akbar, who visited the third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Das at the neighbouring town of Goindval, was so impressed by the way of life in the town that he assigned the revenues of several villages in the vicinity to the Guru's daughter, Bhani as a gift on her marriage to Bhai Jetha, who later became the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das. He enlarged the lake and built a small township around it. The town was named after Guru Ram Das as 'Guru Ka Chak','Chak Ram Das' or 'Ram Das Pura'. It was during the leadership of the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev (1581-1606), that the full fledged Temple was built. In December, 1588, the great Sufi of Lahore, Hazrat Mian Mir, who was a friend of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, initiated the construction of the building by laying the foundation stone. It was completed in 1601. The temple was later attacked by the Afghans under Ahmed Shah Abdali and had to be substantially rebuilt in the 1760s.
