Akâli; Nihang.—A few of these Sikh devotees are sometimes seen at Benares, Hardwâr, and Prayâg. The best account of them is that of Mr. MacLagan: [158] “The fanatical order of Akâlis or Nihangs owes its origin to the express patronage of Guru Govind Sinh. There are two accounts of the founding of this order. According to one, the Guru, seeing his son, Fateh Sinh, playing before him with his turban peaked in the fashion now adopted by Akâlis, blessed him, and instituted a sect which should follow the same custom. According to the other account, the Akâli dress was started by the Guru as a disguise when he was fleeing from Chamkaur, in Ambâla, to the house of some friendly Pathâns, at Machiwâra, in Samrâla. The name means ‘immortal.’ Some understand the term to apply that the Akâlis are followers of the ‘immortal man’ (Akâl Purukh), that is, of God; others that they are invincible in fight. The former is probably the true derivation. It is said by some that Ajît Sinh, the youngest son of Govind, was the first convert. The Akâlis came into prominence very early by their stout resistance to the invocations introduced by the Bairâgi Banda, after the death of Guru Govind, but they do not appear to have had much influence during the following century until the days of Mahârâja Ranjît Sinh. During the Mahârâja’s reign the celebrated Phûla Sinh entered the Panth, and, being a man of great force of character, induced a number of Sikhs to join it. They constituted at once the most unruly and the bravest portion of the very unruly and brave Sikh army. Their head-quarters were at Amritsar, where they constituted themselves the guardians of the faith, and assumed the right to convoke synods. They levied offerings by force, and were the terror of the Sikh chiefs. Their good qualities were, however, well appreciated by the Mahârâja, and when there were specially fierce foes to meet, such as the Pathâns, beyond the Indus, the Akâlis were always to the front. 2. The Akâli is distinguished very conspicuously by his dark, blue, and checked dress, his peaked turban, often surmounted by steel quoits, and by the fact of his strutting about like Ali Babâ’s prince, ‘with his thorax and abdomen festooned with curious cutlery.’ He is most particular in retaining the five kakkas (kes, or uncut hair; kachh, or short drawers; the kara, or iron bangle; the khanda, or steel dagger, and the kangha, or comb), and in preserving every outward form prescribed by Guru Govind Sinh. Some of the Akâlis wear a yellow turban underneath the blue one, leaving a yellow band across the forehead; the story being that a Delhi Khatri, called Nand Lâl (the author of the Zindagi nâma), having a desire to see the true Guru in yellow, was gratified by Govind Sinh to this extent. The yellow turban is worn by many Sikhs at the Basant Panchami, and the Akâlis are fond of wearing it at all times. There is a couplet by Bhâi Gurdâs, which says:—