t is taken from Sir E. Maclagan's account of them:
[392]

"The Akalis came into prominence very early by their stout resistance
to the innovations introduced by the Bairagi 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 Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They
constituted at once the most unruly and the bravest portion of the
very unruly and brave Sikh army. Their headquarters 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 Maharaja, and when there were
specially fierce foes to meet, such as the Pathans beyond the Indus,
the Akalis were always to the front.

"The Akali is distinguished very conspicuously by his dark-blue and
checked dress, his peaked turban, often surmounted with steel quoits,
and by the fact of his strutting about like Ali Baba's prince with
his 'thorax and abdomen festooned with curious cutlery.' He is most
particular in retaining the five _Kakkas_, and in preserving every
outward form prescribed by Guru Govind Singh. Some of the Akalis wear
a yellow turban underneath the blue one, leaving a yellow band across
the forehead. The yellow turban is worn by many Sikhs at the Basant
Panchmi, and the Akalis are fond of wearing it at all times. There
is a couplet by Bhai Gurdas which says:

Siah, Sufed, Surkh, Zardae,
Jo pahne, sot Gurbhai;

or, 'Those that wear black (the Akalis), white (the Nirmalas), red (the
Udasis) or yellow, are all members of the brotherhood of the Sikhs.'

"The Akalis do not, it is true, drink spirits or eat meat as other
Sikhs do, but they are immoderate in the consumption of _bhang_. They
are in other respects such purists that they will avoid Hindu rites
even in their marriage ceremonies.

"The Akali is full of memories of the glorious day of the Khalsa;
and he is nothing if he is not a soldier, a soldier of the Guru. He
dreams of armies, and he thinks in lakhs. If he wishes to imply that
five Akalis are present, he will say that 'five lakhs are before you';
or if he would explain he is alone, he will say that he is with 'one
and a quarter lakhs of the Khalsa.' You ask him how he is, and he
replies that 'The army is well'; you inquire where he has come from,
and he says, 'The troops marche