page_title: Akali Phula Singh
section_title: The Jathedar of Amritsar
hierarchical_section_title: Akali Phula Singh / Biography / Stay in Amritsar / The Jathedar of Amritsar
caption_attribution_description: Akal Takht illuminated, in Harmandir Sahib complex, Amritsar.
context_page_description: Akali Phula Singh Nihang was an Akali Nihang Sikh leader. He was a saint soldier of the Khalsa Shaheedan Misl and head of the Budha Dal in the early 19th century. He was also a senior general in the Sikh Khalsa Army and commander of the irregular Nihang of the army. He played a role in uniting Sikh misls in Amritsar. He was not afraid of the British who at many times ordered for his arrest but were not successful. During his later years he served for the Sikh Empire as a direct adviser to Maharajah Ranjit Singh. He remained an army general in many famous Sikh battles up until his martyrdom in the battle of Naushera. He was admired by the local people and had a great influence over the land and his settlement was always open to help the poor and helpless. He was well known and was a humble unique leader and prestigious warrior with high character. He was also known for his effort to maintain the values of Gurmat and the Khalsa panth.
context_section_description: Upon hearing of news of lack of maintenance and other neglect by sevadars of the Gurdwaras in Amritsar Akali Phula Singh came to Amritsar in 1800 at this time he had under his leadership a band of about 2,000 Nihangs. He stopped the mismanagement and actively began reforming many Gurdwaras within Amritsar to the point he became responsible and accepted as being in charge of the maintenance of all Gurdwaras in the area. He did Kar Seva at the holy sorawar at Harmindar Sahib and overall cleaning of the complex with the help of about 100,000 pilgrims this lasted for about 2 months.  Later on in his life he did similar improvements to Sri Muktsar Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, and Damdama Sahib. Seeing Akali Phula Singh's high character and dedication the Sangat made him the Jathedar of the Akal Takht which was initiated by the Panj Pyare.
caption: The Akal Bunga (Akal Takht), Amritsar became the headquarters of the Akali jatha.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D70s", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.4.3", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:18 22:30:58", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "272", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1111111/50000000", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:11:24 20:46:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:11:24 20:46:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Tungsten (incandescent light)", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[0, 1, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6366", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "42", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}