The Nihangs are the standing armed order of the Khalsa, in blue, with the tall conical dumalla wound with chakars, and edged weapons carried openly. Their origin is placed at Anandpur in the Guru's own period and the order was formalised as the Shaheedan misl.
They fought as shock troops through the eighteenth century, under Akali Phula Singh Ji at Multan, Peshawar and Naushera. Their independence from any state was and is the point of them, and it made them difficult for Ranjit Singh Ji and impossible for the British, who classified them as a problem.
The Budha Dal and the Taruna Dal survive as the two main formations. Hola Mohalla at Anandpur, the day after Holi, is their gathering, with horsemanship, gatka and the marching of the dals.
They keep their own rehat, their own vocabulary, and their own preparation of sukha or degh, a cannabis drink, which is contested inside the Panth and defended by them as tradition.
They are the most photographed Sikhs in the world and among the least written about with any accuracy.
The Nihangs wear blue, carry arms, keep their own maryada and their own deras, and trace themselves to the armed body of the eighteenth century.
They held the shrines and the tradition through the period when nobody else could, and Akali Phula Singh's authority over Ranjit Singh Ji is the high point of that standing.
They are now a small and internally divided set of orders. Their practice differs from the mainstream maryada in several particulars and the disagreements are old and are not going to be settled.