Akal Takht

Founding

Guru Hargobind raised the Akal Takht — the throne of the timeless one — in 1606, following his father Guru Arjan's execution and his own assumption of the two swords of miri and piri. He built its platform higher than that of any contemporary ruler's seat in the Punjab, a deliberate assertion that no temporal power stood above it.

From it he heard petitions, settled disputes, received envoys and directed the community's temporal affairs, while the Harmandir opposite remained for worship.

Authority

After the line of human Gurus ended, the Akal Takht became the institution through which the collective authority of the Khalsa is exercised. Gurmatas, resolutions of the assembled community taken in the presence of the scripture, were passed here, and its jathedar can issue hukamnamas, directives binding on Sikhs, and can summon individuals to answer for conduct or declare them outside the community.

This authority is moral and communal rather than legal, and its exercise has often been contested — appointments to the office are made by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which is itself elected and politically aligned, and disputes over the legitimacy of particular directives are recurrent.

The five takhts

Four further takhts were later recognised: Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur, where the Khalsa was founded; Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo; Patna Sahib, birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh; and Hazur Sahib at Nanded, where he died. The Akal Takht is first among them.

1984

The Akal Takht was severely damaged during Operation Blue Star in June 1984 when the Indian Army entered the complex. It was subsequently rebuilt by the government, and that reconstruction was demolished by Sikh bodies and rebuilt again through voluntary service, on the grounds that a structure of that standing could not be raised by the state.