AKAL TAKHT is the primary seat of Sikh religious authority and central altar for Sikh political assembly. Through hukamnamas, edicts or writes, it may issue decretals providing guidance or clarification on any point of Sikh doctrine or practice referred to it, may lay under penance personages charged with violation of religious discipline or with activity prejudicial to Sikh interests or solidarity and may place on record its appreciation of , outstanding services rendered or sacrifices made by individuals espousing the cause of Sikhism or of the Sikhs.
ANGAD DEV, GURU, (1504-1552), the second of the ten Gurus or prophet teachers of the Sikh faith was born Lahina on Baisakh vadi 1, Sammat 1561 Bikrami, corresponding with 31 March 1504. His father, Bhai Pheru, was a Trehan Khatri and a trader of humble means, whose ancestral home was located near the village of Matte di Sarai, now known as Sarai Nanga, 16 km from Muktsar, in present day district of Faridkot in the Punjab. His mother\'s name is variously given as Sabhirai, Ramo, Daya Kaur and Mansa Devi. In Magh 1576 Bk/January 1520, he was married to Khivi, daughter of Devi Chand, a Marvah Khatri from the village of Sanghar, near Khadur, in Amritsar district.
BELA, pronounced bella, means, in Punjabi usage, a jungle of tall grasses, reeds and assorted shrubbery along the banks of rivers and streams. The word also received a different connotation when an Udasi saint and preacher, Banakhandi, established in AD 1818 a preaching centre on an Island in the River Indus near Sakkhar in Sindh (now in Pakistan) and named it Shri Sadhubela Tirath. This created a new vogue and several other Udasi centres adopted the name Sadhu Bela although they were nowhere near a river.