ALA SINGH, BABA (1691-1765), Sikh mis leader who became the first ruling chief of Patiala, was born in 1691 at Phul, in present day Bathinda district of the Punjab, the third son of Bhai Ram Singh. His grandfather, Baba Phul, had been as a small boy blessed by Guru Hargobind, Nanak VI. Ala Singh\'s father and his uncle, Tilok Singh, had both received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh who conferred on their family the panegyric, "Your house is mine own. "
DHUAN, Punjabi for smoke, is a term which is particularly used for seats of certain monkish orders where a fire is perennially kept alive. In the Sikh context it is employed for the four branches of Udasi Sikhs established by Baba Gurditta (1613-38), on whom the headship of the sect was conferred by Baba Sri Ghand, traditionally considered founder of the sect. The dhuans are generally known after their respective heads who were initially assigned to different regions in north India for preaching the tenets of Sikhism as laid down by Guru Nanak.
