NAINA SINGH, AKALI, eighteenth century Nihang warrior esteemed as much for his piety as for his valour. His special title to fame rests on the fact that he was the guardian of the celebrated Akali Phula Singh (1761-1823) whom he trained in the martial arts. Little is known about his

SADHU SINGH AKALI (d. 1818), known for his daring exploits during the final Sikh assault on Multan under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1818. On 2 June when the fort wall was breached by cannonading, Akali Sadhu Singh accompanied by a few of his companions rushed through the breach and

SADHU SINGH BHAURA, JATHEDAR (1905-1984), Sikh missionary who rose to be the Jathedar or high priest of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar, was born the son of Bhai Ran Singh and Mai Atam Kaur, on 6 June 1905 at Chakk No. 7, a village in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan).

RIYASTI AKALI DAL, representing Sikhs living in the princely states of Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot and Malerkotla, was set up in 1939 as a political forum parallel to the Riyasti Praja Mandal which had been in existence since 1928 and which had till then represented the people living mainly in

REGIONAL FORMULA, one of the several schemes devised to solve the language problem in the Punjab without recasting the state on linguistic lines, was announced by the Indian government in March 1956 following a series of parleys between the Akali Dal leaders and the Central Government. It provided for amalgamation

RAM SINGH, CAPTAIN (1864-1949), soldier and Akali politician, was born the son of Nattha Singh of Sunam, now in Sarigrur district of the Punjab. His father had served in the army of the Sikh rulers of Lahore and later in the British Indian army. Born in 1864, Ram Singh spent

RAJINDER KAUR, DR (1931-1989), journalist and politician, was born at Amritsar on 10 February 1931, the daughter of the famous Akali leader, Master Tara Singh. She was educated at Khalsa College, Amritsar, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Camp College, New Delhi, and attained the degrees of M.A. (Philosophy), B.T. (Bachelor of

PUNJABI SUBA MOVEMENT, a long drawn political agitation launched by the Sikhs demanding the creation of Punjabi Suba or Punjabi speaking state in the Punjab. At Independence it was commonly recognized that the Indian states then comprising the country did not have any rational or scientific basis. They were more

PRITAM SINGH GOJRAN, JATHEDAR (1896-1976), born into a simple rural family, rose, without advantages of education and worldly means, to the position of president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, to be distinguished from the Riydsti Akali Dal (representing only Sikhs living in the princely states of the Punjab), by

PHULA SINGH AKALI (1761-1823), Sikh hero and an eminent religious figure of the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was born in 1761 at the village of Shihari, now in ruins, about 5 km west of Miinak, in present day Sarigrur district of the Punjab. His father, Ishar Singh, an

PANJAB RIYASTI PRAJA MANDAL (riydsti=of the princely states; praja= subjects, people; mandat=society, party), an organization of the people of the Punjab princely states established in 1928 to work for securing to them civil liberties and political rights. In what was then known as British India, the Indian National Congress had

NIHANGS or Nihang Singhs, originally known as Akalis or Akah Niharigs, are endearingly designated the Guru`s Knights or the Guru`s beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized