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

BHAGVAN SINGH, BHAI (1881-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was son of Bhai Lahina Singh and Mat Tabo of village Nizampur, in Amritsar district. He lost his mother at the age of three. On the opening of the Lower Chenab Canal Colony during the last decade of the

GARGAJJ AKALI JATHA (gargajj = rever beratingly thunderous) was the name given a dynamic group (jathd) of Akali reformers, especially active in Majha region of the Punjab. The Jatha came into being on 19 April 1921, splintering from the parent body Central Majha Khalsa Diwan. Teja Singh Bhuchchar, Jathedar

KISHAN SINGH GARGAJJ (1886-1926), founder of the Babar Akali movement, was the only son of Fatch Singh of Baring, a village in Jalandhar district in the Punjab. He joined the army as a sepoy in 1906 and rose to be a havildar major in 35th Sikh Battalion. While in the

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

SEVA SINGH THiKRIVALA (1882-1935), one of the founders of the Praja Mandal, a platform for ventilating the grievances of and for an open expression of the political opinion of the inhabitants of territories, mainly in the Punjab, ruled by Indian princes during British times, was born at Thikrivala, a

VADHAVA SINGH, BHAl (d. 1924), son of Bhai Jhanda Singh, Gill Jatt, and Mat Dharam Kaur of village Gharik. He was the only son of his parents. He never married. He was illiterate, and had strong religious inclinations. At the age of 40, he took the vows of the Khalsa

BHAGVAN SINGH LAUNGOVALIA (d. 1944), patriot, Akali activist and one of the founders of the Praja Mandal, a platform meant to provide voice to the people of Indian states ruled by Indian princes during British times to ventilate their grievances and protest against the oppression, misrule and extravagances of

GHULLA SINGH, BHAI (d. 1924), one of the martyrs of Jaito, was born around 1896, the son of Bhai Narain Singh and Mat Kishan Kaur, a Jatt Sikh couple of the village of Bhalur, near Bagha Purana, in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab. Tall and heavily built,

ISHAR SINGH MARHANA (1878-1941), Akali activist and Ghadr revolutionary, was born on 1 January 1878, younger of the two sons of BhaIJind Singh, a SandhuJatt, and Mai Chand Kaur, of farming stock of the village of Marhana, near Tarn Taran, in Ainritsar district of the Punjab. He learnt Gurmukhi

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