Akal Takht Sahib – Punjab

Address

Akal Takht Sahib – Harmandir Sahib, Golden Temple Rd, Atta Mandi, Katra Ahluwalia, Amritsar, Punjab 143006

Diety

Guru Hargobind

Introduction

The Akal Takht (“Throne of the Timeless One”) is one of five takhts (seats of power) of the Sikhs. It is located in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The Akal Takht (originally called Akal Bunga) was built by Shri Guru Hargobind Ji as a place of justice and consideration of temporal issues; the highest seat of earthly authority of the Khalsa (the collective body of the Sikhs) and the place of the Jathedar, the highest spokesman of the Sikhs. The current Jathedar of Akal Takht appointed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is Giani Harpreet Singh, while the Sarbat Khalsa calls for the reinstitution of Jagtar Singh Hawara

Puranic Significance

Originally known as Akal Bunga, the building directly opposite the Harmandir Sahib was founded by sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, as a symbol of political sovereignty and where spiritual and temporal concerns of the Sikh people could be addressed. Along with Baba Buddha and Bhai Gurdas, the sixth Sikh Guru built a 9-foot-high concrete slab. When Guru Hargobind revealed the platform on 15 June 1606, he put on two swords: one indicated his spiritual authority (piri) and the other, his temporal authority (miri). In the 18th century, Ahmed Shah Abdali and Massa Rangar led a series of attacks on the Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib. Takht which is on the first floor was rebuilt in brick between 1770–1780, under Sultan-ul-Qaum Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1718–1783) – the leader of the Sikh Confederacy in Punjab. Hari Singh Nalwa, a general of Ranjit Singh, the maharaja, decorated the Akhal Takht with gold. On 4 June 1984, the Akal Takht was damaged when the Indian Army stormed Harmandir Sahib under the order of Indira Gandhi, then Prime minister of India, during Operation Blue Star. The Indian government began to rebuild the Akal Takht with the initiation by Nihang Baba Santa Singh, the protege of Union minister Buta Singh. Sikhs called the new structure the Sarkari Takht (the word sarkar in Punjabi and Hindi means “government”) to indicate it had built by the government and was not Akal (sacred). The Sikh home minister, Buta Singh, was excommunicated for his role in building the new Takht. He was accepted back into the community after a period of penitence (cleaning the devotees’ utensils and shoes at the Golden Temple) A few years later, Bhindranwale’s successor from Damdami Taksal, Baba Thakar Singh, had the Akal Takht demolished, as it had been rebuilt by Sikhs deemed tankhaiya, or guilty of religious misconduct and was considered impure.