The power of summoning the GuruMata, at Amritsar, appertains to the chiefs of the Acalis,* a class of devotees, who with arms as well as exhortations, defended the institutes of Guru Govind against the innovations of the sectary Banda. To distinguish themselves from all other Sikhs, they are dressed in a blue chequered cloth, and wear bracelets of steel round their wrists. other Sikhs, we believe, are not permitted to wear such bracelets; but it is the indispensable duty of all Singhs constantly to wear a sword or dagger. The Acalis have

The

Shah, Guru Govind, and the other saints, to the tune of the Rubab (four stringed instrument), Dotara (two ditto), Sarinda, or Bebec, and the Tublah, transporting the soul to heavenly musings; and although in so different a language from the songs of David, they strike the ear as compositions of the same kind, and are all in praise of the attributes and unity of God."-Tour to Lahore, by an Officer of the Bengal Army. As. Ann. Reg. vol. xi. p. 430, et seq.

"Acali, derived from Acal, a compound term of Cal, death, and the Sanscrit privative a, which means never dying, or immortal."-Sketch of the Sikhs, by General Malcolm.

a place of residence on the bank of the sacred reservoir of Amritsar, where they generally resort. Though they profess poverty, and to subsist by alms only, they however enjoy property, and not only ask donations, but even extort them, by preventing those who refuse to comply with their demands, from performing their ablutions, or other religious ceremonies at the temple, until they have satisfied their claims. To offend an Acali is to incur the resentment of the whole tribe; and a chief, who may have incurred its enmity, is exposed to have his dependants taught, when they come to pay their devotions at Amritsar, not to serve or obey him, until he shall have expiated his fault.

Besides the Acalis, there are two other religious orders among the Sikhs, named Shahed and Nirmala, many of whom also reside at Amritsar; but these are peaceful tribes, and confine their occupations to the duties of worship, and to read and explain their doctrines. They are in general well educated, and some of them learned men.

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Further, there is a third sect called Nanac Pautra, or descendants of Nanac. These also are a mild and inoffensive tribe; and though they do not acknowledge all the institutions of Guru Govind, yet they are revered by his followers, who consider them as the race of their founder. They never carry arms, and, agreeably to the doctrine of Nanac, profess to be at peace with all mankind. Many of them travel about the country as merchants, and are every where protected, even during the most violent internal contests. The institutions of Guru Govind were the necessary consequences of the Sikhs having had recourse to arms, in order to defend themselves; but he, and his followers, ever considered Nanac as their founder, and except in what regards warfare and conquest, adhere to his religious tenets.

The Guru-Mata is summoned only when the nation is threatened with war, or when something may occur to require the combined efforts of the different chiefs. When the assembly has met and the chiefs are

seated, the Adi-Granth* and other sacred writings are placed before them, to which they all bend their heads, taking God to witness their intention to observe what is ordained by them. In commemoration of an injunction of Nanac, to eat, and give to others to eat, a quantity of consecrated cakes, made of flour, butter, and sugar, is then spread before the books of scriptures, and covered with a cloth. All present rise, and bow to them, the Acalis chanting hymns, accompanied with musical instruments. The Acalis then desire the assembly to be seated, when the cakes being uncovered, are presented to, and eaten of by all classes of Sikhs, without any sort of preference or distinction. The chief Acali afterwards exclaims: "Chiefs, this is a Guru-Mata!" on which prayers are again offered to the divinity. When these are ended, the chiefs sit closer, and say to each other," the sacred Granth is betwixt us: let us swear by it to forget all internal disputes, and to be

* See p. 282, supra.

united." The matter on which they are assembled being then exposed, they proceed to deliberate upon it, to adopt plans of conduct, and if in danger of being attacked by any power, or in case of resolving to wage war themselves, they chuse generals to lead their armies.* The army thus assembled, is called the D'al Khalsa, or army of the state.

The chiefs are all descended from Hindū tribes, "and there is no instance of any Sikh of a Mohammedan family attaining any high situation among them." The hatred, entertained by the followers of Guru Govind against his persecutors, exists with all its primitive warmth; the offspring of those who changed Islamism for the Sikh faith, are not regarded with the same cordiality as the Sikhs of Hindū origin; and

* General Malcolm observes, that the first GuruMata was assembled by Guru Govind, and the latest he knew of, in 1805, when the Mahratta chief, Holkar, fled into the Panjab, and the British army, under Lord Lake, went thither in pursuit of him.