Swami Amar Dev was a great propagator of Sanskrit language and Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) in west Punjab. He was born on January 21, 1885, at Kansoola village, Nabha (east Punjab), in a devout Sikh family. The child Amar Dev was so greatly influenced by the religiosity of his mother that at the age of fifteen he expressed the desire to lead an ascetic life. His mother reluctantly conceded to his desire.
Amar Dev came in contract with Swami Kalyana Deva, who initiated him into sannyasa. Inspired by his spiritual master, he went to Varanasi for religious studies and within a short period became a profound scholar of Sanskrit and Hindu religious texts.
From 1904-16, Swami Amar Dev spent his time in meditation at Rishikesh, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, etc. Thereafter, he began to propagate Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Religion) in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sialkot and Multan. In 1919, he met an experienced and divine saint, Sant Santosha Dasa, at Kaloor Kot, who persuaded him to go to enlighten the Hindus of west Punjab. Swami Amar Dev reached Kotjoyi (district Dera Ismail Khan, now in Pakistan and established Hari Mandir Sanskrit Vidyalaya. The Hindus of the neighboring districts (Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh and North West Frontier), who were only ten percent of the total population, sent their children to learn Sanskrit and Hindu texts.
In 1935, Swamiji set up another Hari Mandir Sanskrit Vidyalaya at Darya Khan. It is notable that these two vidyalayas of Sanskrit not only taught and propagated Sanskrit-based education, but also produced many Brahmins efficient in karma-kanda and specialist scholars in Vedas, Vyakarana, Vedanta, etc. After partition the institution of Hari Mandir Sanskrit Vidyalaya was shifted to Pataudi (district Gurgaon, Haryana). Thousands of students have obtained Shastri degree in Sanskrit from this vidyalaya.
On November 23, 1976, Swami Amar Dev passed away in peace. Currently, this great institution is being supervised by his promising pupils, Swami Krishna Deva and Swami Dharama Deva.