276 SOME GARDEN CONTRASTS 



must be a religious one. This truth is cut deep 

 in the edicts of Asoka. It was a rehgious ideal 

 that inspired the Moslem reverence for the older 

 Badshahi. It was Hindu bhakti that strengthened 

 Akbar's throne. 



Religion, high politics, and statecraft may seem 

 far enough away from gardens, but sound art 

 makes for sound politics, and their affinity in 

 India is curiously close. Akbar's pillar in his 

 hall of private audience at Fatehpur Sikri is an 

 instance of this in its strange beauty and its direct 

 connection with the old ideas embodied in the 

 sacred Mount, the Tree, and the Snake. On the 

 outside the Diwan-i-Khas appears to be a two- 

 storied building, but on entering it is seen to 

 consist of a single vaulted hall, surrounded half- 

 way up by a gallery. Standing alone in the centre 

 of the chamber is a magnificently carved column, 

 with a huge bracket capital which carried the 

 Emperor's throne. The pillar supports four 

 railed passages leading to the four corners of the 

 gallery, where there were seats for the principal 

 ministers. Here the Mount and the Tree are 

 one, meeting in Vishnu's symbol of the Tree or 

 Pillar of the Universe, whereon the Emperor as 

 Vishnu's Regent sat enthroned ; while the io^xr 



