RAKHI SYSTEM, the arrangement whereby the Dal Khalsa during the middecades of the eighteenth century established their sway over territories not under their direct occupation. Rakhi, lit. `protection` or `vigilance,` referred to the cess levied by the Dal Khalsa upon villages which sought their protection against aggression or molestation in those disturbed times. The establishment of Dal Khalsa in 1748 coincided with the first of a series of invasions by Ahmad Shah Durrani which further weakened the already crumbling administration of the Mughals.

TARUNA DAL, army of the youth, was one of the two main divisions of Dal Khalsa, the confederated army of the Sikhs during the eighteenth century, the other one being the Buddha Dal (army of the elders). These Dais came into existence in 1734 when, during a truce with Zakariya Khan, the Mughal governor of the Punjab, different roving bands of the Sikhs were concentrated in Amritsar. Taruna Dal was subdivided into five Jathas or fighting groups of approximately 1300 to 2,000 men each, mosdy mounted. The first was commanded by Bhai Dip Singh, commonly known, after he met with a martyr`s death, as Baba Dip Singh Shahid. It was called Shahidanvala Jatha.