AKALI

   (Punjabi: timeless one or eternal one), movement in Sikhism; also any member of suicide squads in the armies of the Sikhs. The Akali suicide squads first appeared in about 1690 when the execution of two predecessors and continuing persecution by the Mughals forced Guru Gobind Singh to take up arms. The Akalis were also known as nihangs (Persian: crocodiles; a name first used by the Mughals for their suicide squads) and wore a distinctive blue uniform. Some present-day Akalis continue to wear a blue tunic and conical blue turban and carry a sword.

The Akali name was revived in the 1920s during the gurdwara reform movement as a semi-military corps of volunteers raised to oppose the British government and to gain management of all Sikh shrines. After the Sikhs regained control of their gurdwaras, the Akalis continued to represent the Sikh community in the Punjab and took the lead in the agitation "Punjabi Sakha" for a Punjabi-speaking, Sikh-majority state. This goal was achieved in 1966 with the establishment of the Indian state of Punjab. A major political party of Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal mainly concerns itself with the status of Sikhs in India.