Akal Takht

After Operation Blue Star, the Akal Takht was rebuilt by the Jathedar of Budha Dal, Baba Santa Singh. Santa Singh had been approached by Buta Singh (the then union home minister, dispatched by Indira Gandhi) for the purpose of rebuilding the structure.[14] Buta Singh had approached many Sikh groups to gain their support in the kar seva work but all of them refused to work with the government on the reconstruction work unless government occupation forces vacate from the shrine's premises.[14] However, Santa Singh, alongside Narain Singh, decided to convene a Sarbat Khalsa on 11 August 1984, where it was decided that Santa Singh and his faction of Sikhs would assist with the government-sponsored kar seva work.[14] Many institutions such as the Damdami Taksal, felt that the Nihang Singhs should not have taken money from the government to rebuild the Takht, and thus protested against the effort.[14] Some Sikhs termed the government-sponsored kar seva work by Santa Singh as "sarkari seva" derogatorily since personnel and materials sourced from government departments was used for the rebuilding.[14] The government-sponsored rebuilding was swift, with it being completed in one and a half months.[14] A contract had been given to a private company, Skipper Builders, operated by Tejwant Singh, for the reconstruction effort.[14]

Santa Singh defended his actions by saying the Akal Takht's Jathedar, clergy, and the SGPC had not opposed Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale holing himself and his supporters up in the Takht, which led to the government military operation and the original shrine's destruction in the ensuing conflict.[14] He claimed that he had done a great service for the Sikhs by rebuilding the structure.[14]

A few years later, Bhindranwale's successor from Damdami Taksal, Baba Thakur Singh, had the government-sponsored rebuilt Akal Takht demolished, and rebuilt after resolutions were passed by Sarbat Khalsa 1986.[15][14] The rebuilt Akal Takht under the patronage of Santa Singh was demolished in January 1986.[15][16][14] Santa Singh was excommunicated from the Sikh religion in the aftermath by the Akal Takht's clergy as punishment for violating "Sikh maryada".[14] However, Santa Singh rejoined the religion officially in March 2001.[14]

Originally, wall paintings had existed on the first and second stories of the building.[8] Kanwarjit Singh Kang dates the execution of the wall paintings to the mid-19th century.[8] Of the frescoes dating to the middle of the 19th century that once embellished the walls of the edifice, only 10 fresco panels survived by 1971.[9] These frescoes had survived painted on the walls of the second-story of the structure.[9] Their colours had been bleached and portions of the plaster at various places was peeling-off.[9]

Of the ten surviving murals documented in 1971 on the second-story, three of them depicted themes related to Guru Hargobind.[9] The first was the Guru meeting with Sri Chand, son of Guru Nanak.[9] In this mural was also depicted the five children of the sixth guru, them namely being: Gurditta, Ani Rai, Suraj Mal, Atal Rai, and Tyag Mal (later Guru Tegh Bahadur).[9] The second mural panel depicted a scene of Guru Hargobind listening to music being performed by instrumentalists.[9] The third panel depicted Bidhi Chand presenting the retrieved stolen horses, Dilbagh and Gulbagh, to Guru Hargobind.[9][8] Bhagat Kabir was depicted in the fourth mural taking care of daily chores alongside his family, Bhagat Sain in the fifth is depicted alongside Raja Rana, and saint Dharuva in the sixth.[9][8] The seventh panel portrayed Krishna eating rice that was offered by his childhood friend, Sudama.[9] The eighth panel depicted Rama seated alongside Sita on a couch whilst being attended upon by both Lakshmana and Hanuman.[9] The ninth panel illustrated a scene of a hunting expedition involving a horse and three hunting hounds in an advancing pose.[9] Finally, the last and tenth panel represented a scene of the Vaisakhi events of 1699 at Anandpur, where Guru Gobind Singh prepares Amrit for the newly introduced Amrit Sanchar ceremony whilst Mata Jito appends sugar crystals to the formulae he is stirring, whilst the inaugural Panj Piare watch-on.[9][8]

• Mural panels from the second-story of the original structure
• 
  Panel 1: Guru Hargobind with Sri Chand
• 
  Panel 2: Guru Hargobind with musicians
• 
  Panel 3: Bidhi Chand returns the stolen horses to Guru Hargobind
• 
  Panel 4: Bhagat Kabir
• 
  Panel 5: Bhagat Sain
• 
  Panel 7: Krishna eating rice that was offered by his childhood friend Sudama
• 
  Panel 9: Horses and hounds being led by Sikhs
• 
  Panel 10: Amrit Sanchar of the 1699 Vaisakhi at Anandpur

Fresco of the Sikh gurus together and also Mardana and Bala from the original Akal Takht complex. Destroyed in January 1986 when the structure was completely demolished to make way for the present-day building

After Operation Blue Star, the surviving Akal Takht structure still contained historical artwork dating to the mid-to-late 18th century, such as ivory mosaic work, in-laid stone work (jaratkari), and wall paintings (murals).[15][16] The murals had depicted Indic mythological scenes, deities, and bhagats and had been painted by expert Sikh artisans (naqqashis).[15][16] Of the frescoes, there were depictions of Krishna accepting wet rice from Sudama, Rama, Bhagat Dhanna, Bhagat Dhruv, and of Bhagat Kabir at work as a weaver in a hut alongside Mai Loi (Kabir's wife).[17] There also were lion figurines made of marble.[17] They survived until January 1986, when the Takht was completely demolished to make way for the present-day structure.[15][16]

During the destruction of the historical structure, the original raised platform that Guru Hargobind had erected located at the base of the built-around structure (where the Guru used to address the gathered Sikh congregation from) was also at-risk of being demolished but protest by Giani Mohinder Singh (former SGPC secretary), then an elderly and respected Sikh, whom took the matter up with Gurdev Singh Kaunke, then Jathedar of the Akal Takht, to save it from destruction by ignorant Kar Seva volunteers who had no idea of its importance.[15]

The present-day Akal Takht lacks many of the historical and cultural intangible heritage that was once found in the original structure.[16] Conservators have raised alarms that the present structure was not designed with the traditional Sikh art style in-mind.[16] They further claimed that any present art works within the shrine would not last very long, since they used artificially-sourced pigments and non-traditional methods, as opposed to the naturally-sourced pigments used by the traditional Sikh art school.[16] Amrik Singh, the SGPC supervisor of the kar seva renovations at the Akal Takht, claims the new methods are better than the traditional methods and that the older methods are "impracticable".[16] He further claims that the present-day structure is designed differently from the original one.[16] A kar seva group leader, Jagtar Singh (Dera Baba), was responsible for the renovations of the structure under the instruction of the SGPC.[16] Enamel paint was apparently used in the present structure, Amrik Singh claims only water-based paints were used and they did not fade for over five years.[16] The fresco work of the present structure was mostly carried out by the artist Harbhajan Singh, who also had helped retouch frescoes located in the Golden Temple shrine.[16] However, Sukhdev Singh, the state convener of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) requested that all the kar seva renovators use "old materials and styles, in consonance with what is in the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple".[16] He further criticized the use of synthetic and bright colours, which he decried as being alien to the traditional Sikh school of art.[16]