AKAL TAKHT
There is no evidence to show exactly when the Akal Takht was built. From the amplitude of the near cantilever projection of the semi-circular platform onto a large square below, the throne of Akal seems to be a highly dramatised Durbar hall larger than that built by any Mughal Emperor in Delhi or Agra.
It is quite likely that, fighting from a temporal and spiritual kingdom placed in the heartland of Punjab in Amritsar, the Guru, who put on two swords, that of the faith and of the emergent Sikh kingdom, had it built to give audiences to his followers.
At any rate, the convention seems to have been established to address all important gatherings, religious, social and political, from the Akal Takht to the amphitheatre below. This became the practice certainly during the important Gurpurbs, or the birthdays of the Gurus, when a vast congregation would assemble to hear recitations from the scriptures. The elaboration of the structure on marble pillars, as a semi-circular platform with an open view to the courtyard, reminiscent of an air-house, must have grown from the use to which the Durbar hall was put.
The gilding of the ceiling with ornamentations like those in the interior of the Hari Mandir is perhaps later than in the holy of holies. The wall paintings apparently belong to a later period, as there are panels showing Europeans.
The total effect of the Akal Takht is of a unique and noble structure spread out somewhat like an outer court of the piazza Saint Marco in Venice.
All Photographs Copyright © 1999 Gurumustuk Singh Khalsa - http://www.sikhphotos.com - (Unless specified explicitly)
All Text Copyright © 1977 Marg Publications, Army & Navy Building, Fort, Bombay. Published by J.J. Bhabha for Marg Publications - Vol XXX , Number 3, June 1977