Originally known as Akal Bunga, the building directly opposite to 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 and the other, his temporal authority. 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 – 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.
Design
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, 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. 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.
Between 3 June and 8 June 1984, the Indian army conducted an operation, ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in order to establish control over the Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar, Punjab. The Akal Takht was heavily damaged during this operation by tanks and heavy artillery. In July 1983, the Sikh political party Akali Dal's President Harcharan Singh Longowal and the jathedar of the Akal Takht had invited the prominent Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was popular in much of rural Punjab, to take up residence in the Golden Temple Complex, later moving to the Akal Takht.
Re-building
The Indian government began to rebuild the Akal Takht with the initiation by NihangBaba Santa Singh, the protege of Union minister Buta Singh. Sikhs called the new structure the Sarkari Takht to indicate it had built by the government and was not Akal. 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. A few years later, Bhindranwale's successor from Damdami Taksal, Baba Thakar Singh, ceremonially commenced the demolition of the Akal Takht. The demolition was carried since it had been rebuilt by Sikhs deemed tankhaiya, or guilty of religious misconduct, like Santa and Buta and hence was considered impure.
