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

JAVAND SINGH, BHAI (1887-1921), one of the martyrs of Nankana Sahib, was born on 22 September 1887, the second of the three sons of Bhal Ala Singh and MaT Bisso of Nijampur village in Amritsar district. His elder brother Gujjar Singh had registered himself as a volunteer for the

MOHAN SINGH NAGOKE, JATHEDAR (1898-1969), Akali politician and Jathedar of the Akal Takht from 1935 to 1948, was born at the village of Nagoke, in Amritsar district, on 25 December 1989. His father, Tahil Singh, was a farmer of modest means, one of whose ancestors had been a soldier

NARAIN SINGH, BHAI (d. 1921), of Chakk No. 55 Burj in Lyallpur district, was originally from Navari Virianh in Amritsar district and had settled here as a colonizer after the opening of Lower Chenab Canal Colony during the 1890`s. He had learnt some Gurmukhi in the Gurdwara of his

NATTHA SINGH, BHAI (d. 1924), son of Bhai Dhanna Singh Randhava of Moga, was one of the martyrs who fell in the firing at Jaito. He had studied up to the sixth class and was engaged in farming. As the Gurdwara Reform movement got underway in the early 1920`s, he