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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Sikh religious site in Amritsar, Punjab, India}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox building<br />
| name = Akal Takht<br />
| alternate_names = Akal Bunga<br />
| status = First [[Panj Takht|Takht]] of the [[Sikh]]s <ref name=AB>{{cite book|last1=Nabha|first1=Kahan Singh|title=Gur Shabad Ratanakar Mahankosh|date=13 April 1930|publisher=Languages Department of Punjab, Patiala|page=ਅਕਾਲਬੁੰਗਾ|edition=1|url=https://searchgurbani.com/mahan_kosh|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819033327/https://searchgurbani.com/mahan_kosh|archive-date=19 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><br />
| image = Akal takhat amritsar.jpg<br />
| image_size = 200px<br />
| caption = Photograph of Akal Takht<br />
| address = Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Golden Temple Rd, [[Amritsar, Punjab]], India<br />
| location_country = <br />
| coordinates = {{coord|31.6206|N|74.8753|E|region:IN-PB|format=dms|display=inline}}<br />
| completion_date = 1995<br />
| destruction_date = <br />
| architect = <br />
| structural_system = <br />
| client = <br />
| logo = Nishan_Sahib.svg<br />
| logo_size = 200px<br />
| logo_caption = [[Nishan Sahib|Flag of Akal Takht]]<br />
| location_city = [[Amritsar]]<br />
| engineer = <br />
| style = [[Sikh architecture]]<br />
| construction_start_date = <br />
| developer = <br />
}}<br />
<br />
The '''Akal Takht''' ("Throne of the Timeless One")<ref name="Fahlbusch 2008"/> is one of five [[Takht (Sikhism)|takhts]] (seats of power) of the [[Sikh]]s. It is located in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in [[Amritsar, Punjab]], India. The Akal Takht (originally called Akal Bunga) was built by [[Guru Hargobind|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 Singh Sahib Giani Harpreet Singh Ji, while the [[Sarbat Khalsa]] calls for the reinstitution of Giani [[Jagtar Singh Hawara]].<ref name="harpreetsinghappointment">{{cite web |title=Giani Harpreet Singh is acting jathedar of Akal Takht |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/amritsar/sgpc-appoints-giani-harpreet-as-acting-jathedar-of-akal-takht/articleshow/66324090.cms? |website=The Times of India |access-date=23 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026211247/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//city/amritsar/sgpc-appoints-giani-harpreet-as-acting-jathedar-of-akal-takht/articleshow/66324090.cms |archive-date=26 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><br />
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== History ==<br />
[[File:Akal Takht illuminated, in Harmandir Sahib complex, Amritsar.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Akal Takht illuminated on [[Guru Nanak Gurpurab]], Harmandir Sahib complex, Amritsar.]]<br />
[[File:Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab, India.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab, India.]]<br />
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Originally known as '''Akal Bunga''',<ref>{{cite web|title=Akal Bunga|url=https://www.thesikhencyclopedia.com/architecture/akal-bunga|website=The Sikh Encyclopedia|publisher=Gateway to Sikhism Foundation|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113053113/https://www.thesikhencyclopedia.com/architecture/akal-bunga|archive-date=13 November 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Fahlbusch 2008">Fahlbusch E. (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=lZUBZlth2qgC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=harmandir+sahib&source=bl&ots=RdAjNWYmKJ&sig=FEqZjqZHo13SSN3Yrzr9TDNfqG8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pbxsUJm2FMjWigL48YGYBg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=harmandir%20sahib&f=false "The encyclopedia of Christianity."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507080515/http://books.google.com/books?id=lZUBZlth2qgC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=harmandir+sahib&source=bl&ots=RdAjNWYmKJ&sig=FEqZjqZHo13SSN3Yrzr9TDNfqG8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pbxsUJm2FMjWigL48YGYBg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=harmandir%20sahib&f=false |date=7 May 2014 }} Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8028-2417-2}}</ref> 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'').<ref>{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Dr Kuldip|title=Akal Takht Ate Khalsa Panth|location=Chandigarh|page=2|url=http://panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=40833&page=1&CategoryID=12&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=1&viewall=1|ref=PL-000788|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021194818/http://panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=40833&page=1&CategoryID=12&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=1&viewall=1|archive-date=21 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Dilgeer|first1=Harjinder Singh|title=The Akal Takht|date=1980|publisher=Sikh University Press|location=Jalandhar}}</ref><br />
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In the 18th century, [[Ahmed Shah Abdali]] and Massa Rangar led a series of attacks on the Akal Takht and [[Harmandir Sahib]].<ref name="Fahlbusch 2008"/> Takht which is on the first floor was rebuilt in brick between 1770 and 1780, under Sultan-ul-Qaum Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1718–1783) – the leader of the [[Sikh Confederacy]] in Punjab.<br />
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[[Hari Singh Nalwa]], a general of [[Ranjit Singh]], the [[maharaja]], decorated the Akhal Takht with gold.<ref>Sohan Lal Suri. 19th century. Umdat-ut-tawarikh, Daftar III, Part 2, trans. V.S. Suri, (1961) 2002, Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, f. 260</ref> 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]].<br />
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== Design ==<br />
The Akal Takht was built on a site where there existed only a high mound of earth across a wide-open space. It was a place where Guru Hargobind played as a child. The original Takht was a simple platform, {{convert|3.5|m|ft}} high, on which Guru Hargobind would sit in court to receive petitions and administer justice. He was surrounded by insignia of royalty such as the parasol and the flywhisk. Later, there was an open-air semi-circular structure built on marble pillars and a gilded interior section. There were also painted wall panels depicting Europeans.<ref name=GS>{{cite book|title=Sikh shrines in India|last=G.S.|first=Randhir|year=1990|publisher=The Director of Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India|location=New Delhi|pages=13–14}}</ref><br />
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The modern building is a five-story structure with marble inlay and a gold-leafed dome. Three of the stories were added by Ranjit Singh in the 1700s. Contemporary restoration work found a layer of paint decorated lime plaster that might have been part of the original structure but later than the time of Harminder.<br />
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== Operation Blue Star ==<br />
{{Main|Operation Blue Star}}<br />
In July 1983, the Sikh political party [[Akali Dal]]'s President [[Harcharan Singh Longowal]] and the [[jathedar of the Akal Takht]] invited the fourteenth jathedar of Damdami taksal [[Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale]], who was on the run for radicalized militancy in Punjab, popular in much of rural Punjab,<ref name="IT_TakhtRebuilt">{{cite news|date=15 December 2011|title=Bhindranwale's rise from a small-time priest was meteoric|publisher=India Today|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/india-today-35th-anniversary/story/20111226-india-today-newsmake-of-1980s-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-750018-2011-12-15|url-status=live|access-date=10 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104014724/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/india-today-35th-anniversary/story/20111226-india-today-newsmake-of-1980s-jarnail-singh-bhindranwale-750018-2011-12-15|archive-date=4 November 2019}}</ref> to hide in the [[Golden Temple|Golden Temple Complex]], later moving to the Akal Takht to protect himself from getting arrested.<ref>Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume II: 1839-2004, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 337.</ref> Between 3 June and 8 June 1984, the [[Indian army]] conducted a counter-insurgency operation, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to arrest Bhindranwale . The Akal Takht was heavily damaged during this operation by the Indian Army. Bhindranwale was killed in action during exchange of fire between the armed Militants and the Indian Army.<br />
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== Re-building ==<br />
[[File:Interior of Akal Takht.jpg|thumb|Interior of Akal Takht]]<br />
After Operation Blue Star, the Akal Takht was rebuilt by the Jathedar of Budha Dal, Baba Santa Singh. Many institutions such as the Damdami Taksal felt that the Nihang Singhs should not have taken money from the government to rebuild the Takht.<br />
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A few years later, Bhindranwale's successor from [[Damdami Taksal]], Baba Thakur Singh, had the Akal Takht demolished, and rebuilt after resolutions were passed by Sarbat Khalsa 1986.<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== Sources ==<br />
* Harjinder Singh Dilgeer ''The Akal Takht'', Sikh University Press, 1980.<br />
* Harjinder Singh Dilgeer ''Sikh Twareekh Vich Akal Takht Sahib Da Role'', Sikh University Press 2005.<br />
* Harjinder Singh Dilgeer ''Akal Takht Sahib, concept and role'', Sikh University Press 2005.<br />
* Harjinder Singh Dilgeer ''Sikh Twareekh'', Sikh University Press 2008.<br />
* Mohinder Singh Josh ''Akal Takht Tay is da Jathedar'' 2005.<br />
* Darshi A. R. ''The Gallant Defender''<br />
* Singh P. ''The Golden Temple''. South Asia Books 1989. {{ISBN|978-962-7375-01-2}}.<br />
* Singh K. (ed.) ''New insights into Sikh art.'' Marg Publications. 2003. {{ISBN|978-81-85026-60-2}}.<br />
* Nomination of Sri Harimandir Sahib for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List Vol.1 Nomination Dossier, India 2003.<br />
* Macauliffe, M. A. ''The Sikh religion: Its gurus sacred writings and authors'' Low Price Publications, 1903. {{ISBN|978-81-7536-132-4}}.<br />
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== External links ==<br />
{{Commons category|Akal Takht}}<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160817112715/http://worldgurudwara.com/2-july-akal-takht-anniversary/ WorldGurudwara.com Akal Takht, Amritsar established in 1606]<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080829153317/http://www.sgpc.net/holy%20takhat/akaltakhat_1.asp Takht Sri Darbar Sahib Akal Takht]<br />
* [http://www.centralsikhmuseum.com/gallery/Gurdwaras/akaltkhat/ Shri Akaal Takhat images]<br />
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{{Sikhism}}<br />
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{{coord|31|37|14|N|74|52|31|E|region:IN-PB_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=title}}<br />
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Amritsar]]<br />
[[Category:Gurdwaras in Punjab, India]]<br />
[[Category:Sikh places]]<br />
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Amritsar]]</div>ImportMaster