Sri Akal Takht Sahibਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਸਾਹਿਬ

Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the Throne of the Timeless, is the highest seat of earthly authority in Sikhism. It stands in Amritsar, inside the Golden Temple complex, facing Sri Harmandir Sahib across the waters of the sarovar. Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji founded it in 1606 as the court from which the Sikh community would conduct its worldly affairs in the light of its spiritual faith.

What is the Akal Takht?

Akal means the Timeless One, God beyond the limits of time, and a takht is a throne, so the Akal Takht is the Throne of the Timeless. The shrine was first called the Akal Bunga, the house of the Timeless. It was raised directly across the parikrama from the Harmandir Sahib, and the pairing is deliberate: the Harmandir Sahib is the seat of devotion and prayer, the Akal Takht the seat of counsel, justice and temporal command, so that faith and worldly duty stand face to face. Visitors know it at a glance, because two Nishan Sahibs fly before it where most gurdwaras fly one. The twin flags stand for the same pairing of ideas, miri and piri, temporal and spiritual authority held in balance.

History: a throne raised in 1606

The Takht rose from tragedy. After the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji at Lahore in 1606, his son and successor Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, the sixth Guru, resolved that the community must learn to defend itself as well as to pray. On the mound facing the Harmandir Sahib, with the help of Baba Buddha Ji and Bhai Gurdas Ji, he raised a simple platform and revealed it on 15 June 1606. Seated there, the Guru held court with the insignia of a sovereign: a parasol above him, a fly whisk in attendance, and, most famously, two swords at his waist, one for miri, temporal power, and one for piri, spiritual authority. He directed the Sikhs to bring him the finest horses and weapons as offerings, a clear signal that the community's life would now join devotion with readiness.

From this platform the Guru heard petitions, settled disputes and issued orders to the sangats. The first hukamnama issued from the Akal Takht went out on 30 June 1606, asking Sikhs to offer arms and horses. Bhai Gurdas Ji, the scholar who had helped to raise the platform, became its first custodian, and the office in time grew into that of the Jathedar of the Akal Takht. In the hard centuries that followed, the Sikhs returned here whenever they could: Sarbat Khalsa gatherings of the whole community met at the Akal Takht, especially at Vaisakhi and Diwali, to take collective decisions. The building paid for its importance. During the Afghan invasions of the 1700s, when Ahmad Shah Abdali's forces targeted the complex, the shrine suffered repeated damage along with the rest of the site.

The Takht that visitors see has been rebuilt more than once. In 1774, under the Sikh chief Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the shrine was raised again in brick above its ground floor platform. Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh it grew to five storeys, and his commander Hari Singh Nalwa, governor of Kashmir and a noted builder, enriched it with gold work and its gilded dome. Its inner walls carried murals painted around the middle of the nineteenth century, of which only traces survived the troubles of the twentieth.

The seat of Sikh authority: the Jathedar and the hukamnama

The Akal Takht is the first and highest of the five Takhts, the seats of authority before which the Sikh world brings its gravest questions. Its Jathedar is the supreme spokesperson of the Khalsa Panth, and the hukamnamas issued from this court, on matters of faith, discipline and the community's direction, are binding on Sikhs everywhere. Through them the Takht can summon any Sikh, however senior, to answer a charge. It can acquit, impose a religious penalty called tankhah, or, in the last resort, excommunicate. Under the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the Sikh code of conduct, an appeal against a religious penalty pronounced anywhere else lies to the Akal Takht alone.

For centuries the Jathedar was chosen by the Sarbat Khalsa, the assembly of the whole community. Since 1921, by custom, the appointment has been made by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the elected body that manages Punjab's historic gurdwaras. The office is not beyond dispute: a Sarbat Khalsa convened by several Sikh organisations in 2015 named Jathedars of its own, whom the SGPC does not recognise, and rival claims to the seat continue alongside the SGPC's appointee.

Architecture: five storeys facing the Harmandir Sahib

The present building faces the Darshani Deori and the Harmandir Sahib across the parikrama and the sarovar, and rises to five storeys finished with marble inlay and crowned by a gold-leafed dome. Its spirit is deliberately plainer than its gilded neighbour: not a temple on an island of water, but a raised court on solid ground, built to be looked up at. Each night, in the sukhasan ceremony, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is carried in procession from the Harmandir Sahib to rest at the Akal Takht, and at dawn the Granth returns in the palki procession, the daily rhythm that binds the two buildings into one act of worship. Historic weapons associated with the Gurus are also kept at the Takht and displayed to the congregation in the evening.

1984 and the rebuilding

In June 1984 the Akal Takht stood at the centre of one of the most painful episodes in modern Sikh history. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the leader of the Damdami Taksal, whose armed followers had occupied the Golden Temple complex, had taken up position inside the Akal Takht itself. Between 3 and 8 June 1984, the Indian Army carried out Operation Blue Star to remove them. The Takht, caught in the fighting, was heavily damaged on 6 June, and Bhindranwale was killed. The operation, and the loss of life around it, left wounds in the Sikh community that are still felt today.

The Government of India had the building rebuilt quickly, a work carried out under Baba Santa Singh of the Budha Dal and finished within about two months. Many Sikhs refused to accept it, calling it sarkari seva, government service, rather than an act of the community itself. After resolutions of the Sarbat Khalsa of January 1986, the government-built structure was demolished, on 26 January 1986, and the present building was raised in its place through kar seva, voluntary community service, in the years that followed. The demolition carried a real cost: the previous building's frescoes, its ivory mosaic work and its inlaid stone, jaratkari, were destroyed with it. One thing was saved by protest: the original platform raised by Guru Hargobind Ji, which had been marked for replacement, was preserved and remains in place.

Visiting the Akal Takht

The Akal Takht stands inside the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, and like every gurdwara it is open to people of all faiths: cover your head, leave your shoes at the entrance, and walk the parikrama around the sarovar to reach it. The finest moments to be here are the two processions, at dawn, when Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is carried from the Akal Takht to the Harmandir Sahib, and after dark, when the Granth is brought back to rest for the night. Amritsar is served by trains at Amritsar Junction and by flights at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, and the complex stands on Golden Temple Road in the old walled city, a short ride from either.