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

ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION, a frequently invoked document of modern Sikhism pronouncing its religious rule as well as its political goal. After having enjoyed power under chief ministers, Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal in the Punjab, newly demarcated in 1966, Sikhs as represented by their premier political party, the Shiromani

DARBARA SINGH, BHAI (d. 1921), still in his teens when he fell a martyr at Nankana Sahib in 1921, was the son of Bhai Kehar Singh and Bibi Ratan Kaur. His father was serving in the Indian army as a havildar (sergeant) and he was born at a cantonment

JATHA, from Sanskrit yutha meaning a herd, flock, multitude, troop, band or host, signifies in the Sikh tradition a band of volunteers coming forth to carry out a specific task, be it armed combat or a peaceful and nonviolent agitation. It is not clear when the term jathd first gained

MORCHA, in Persian murchah or murchal meaning entrenchments, fortification or battlefront, has, apart from its usage in military strategy, entered Indian political vocabulary via the Gurdwara Reform or Akali movement of the early 1920`s. In that prolonged agitation for the liberation of Sikh historical shrines from the control of a

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).

TARASINGH, MASTER (1885-1967), dominant figure on the Sikh political scene for the middle third of the twentieth century, was born as one of four brothers and a sister in a Hindu family in a small village called Haryal, in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan, on 24 June 1885, and was

ANDREWS, CHARLES FREER (1871-1940). Anglican missionary, scholar and educationist, was born to John Edwin Andrews on 12 February 1871 in NewcastleonTyne in Great Britain. His father was a minister of the Evangelical Anglican Church. Andrews grew up in an intense and emotional religious environment. A nearly fatal attack of rheumatic

DHANNA SINGH (1888-1923). a Babar revolutiortary, was born at the village of Bahibalpur, in Hoshiarpur district. His father, Indar Singh, could barely afford to send him to the village primary school where Dhanna Singh learnt to read and write in Punjabi and Urdu. Early in his youth he was

KARTAR SINGH, GIANT (1902-1974), Akali leader who was known for his political astuteness and for his single mindedncss of purpose and who dominated Sikh politics during the 40`s and 50`s of the 20th century, was born the son of Bhagat Singh and MaT Jio on 22 February 1902 at Chakk

MORCHA CHABIAN, campaign for the recovery of the keys of the Golden Temple treasury, marks a dramatic episode in the Sikhs` agitation in the early 1920`s for reforming the management of their places of worship. The Golden Temple at Amritsar, which had a government nominated sarbrdh or controller to manage

SAKA PANJA SAHIB, the heroic event which took place at Hasan Abdal railway station, close to the sacred shrine of Pahja Sahib on the morning of 30 October 1922 and which has since passed into folklore as an instance of Sikh courage and resolution. A nonviolent morcha or agitation to