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Akbar was a man of ecumenical tendencies, and constructed the Diwan-i-Khas,
or Hall of Private Audience, around a Throne Pillar, pictured here. Seated
upon it, as it were, Akbar would hold discussions in this spot with repre-
sentatives of Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and the occasional
Catholic priest from Goa, seeking to synthesize. What he came up with in
the end was a doctrine of divine kingship, with guess-who as the divine king.