2-982-546 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Akalis Tower at Umritzir - from a drawing by W. Carpenter, Jun., 1858. 'For whatever purpose this elegant and fanciful building was erected, its present name is derived from a circumstance in the war of the Sikhs, when a band of Akalis (those furious fanatics, in their blue dresses and bands and chains of steel, who had constituted themseleves the guardians of the tank and temple) were pursued here after the city was taken, and driven from floor to floor till the remnant finally precipitated themselves from the summit rather than yield and confess themselves vanquished'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.