ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>AK&#256L&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="AKL*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279AK&#256L&#298, a term now appropriated by members of the dominant Sikh political party, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal, founded in 1920, and groups splitting from it from time to time, was earlier used for Niha&#7749gs (<i>q. v. </i>), an order of armed religious zealots among the baptized Sikhs. The word Niha&#7749g is from the Persian <i>Niha&#7749g</i> meaning crocodile, alligator, shark or water dragon, and signifies qualities of ferocity, and fearlessness. The term Ak&#257l&#299 is originally from Ak&#257l, the Timeless One. Gur&#363 N&#257nak (1469-1539) described God as Ak&#257l M&#363rati, the Eternal Form. Gur&#363 Hargobind (1595-1644), who adopted a royal style, named his seat at Amritsar Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t, the Everlasting Throne. It was, however, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh who popularized the term Ak&#257l as an attributive name of God. A set of his hymns is entitled <i>Ak&#257l Ustati</i> (God's Praises). When he instituted, in 1699, the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, a body of warriors initiated through baptism of the double-edged sword, he gave them the war-cry "Sat Sr&#299 Ak&#257l !" (the True, the Radiant, the Timeless One). It was probably from this war-cry that the Si&#7749ghs or initiated Sikhs, variously called Bhuja&#7749g&#299s and Niha&#7749gs, came also to be known as Ak&#257l&#299s. Although the Niha&#7749gs trace their origin from S&#257hibz&#257d&#257 Fateh Si&#7749gh, the youngest son of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh or from Bh&#257&#299 M&#257n Si&#7749gh, a Sikh of the Tenth Gur&#363, the earliest use of Ak&#257l&#299 as a title appears with the name of Nai&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh, an eighteenth- century Niha&#7749g warrior and a junior leader in the Shah&#299d <i>misl</i>. Ak&#257l&#299 Nai&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh is credited with introducing the tall pyramidal turban common among the Niha&#7749gs to this day. Ak&#257l&#299s became prominent as an organized force under Ak&#257l&#299 Ph&#363l&#257 Si&#7749gh (d. 1823), one time ward and disciple of Nai&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh. Ph&#363l&#257 Si&#7749gh's Ak&#257l&#299s formed the crack brigade in Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's army as well as the custodians of the nation's conscience and morals. After the occupation of the Punjab by the British in 1849, Ak&#257l&#299 regiments were disbanded and, military service being their only career, their numbers dwindled rapidly. In the 1892 census only 1, 376 persons were returned as "Sikh Ak&#257l&#299s or Niha&#7749gs, " and in 1901 this number further came down to a bare 431, besides 136 who registered themselves as Ak&#257l&#299s by caste. Of these 457 were males and 110 females. During the Gurdw&#257r&#257 reform movement (1920-25), the term Ak&#257l&#299 came to be associated with the reformers who organized themselves into a political body, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. Even the reform movement itself was referred to as the Ak&#257l&#299 movement. A rival body set up in mid- 1930's also named itself the Central Ak&#257l&#299 Dal. The Niha&#7749gs are no longer called Ak&#257l&#299s. The last prominent Niha&#7749g known as an Ak&#257l&#299 was Ak&#257l&#299 Kaur Si&#7749gh (1886-1953).</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Gulati, Kailash Chander, <i>The Ak&#257l&#299s: Past and Present</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Cunningham, J. D. , <i> A History of the Sikhs</i>. London, 1849<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>