Akbar Takes the Plunge

In 1594, Hakim Ali, physician to Mughal Emperor Akbar, exhibited a reservoir with a submerged room that was, he said, quite dry and habitable. A number of Akbar’s courtiers dived in to explore the chamber, though some lost their nerve, and the Emperor himself enjoyed a few minutes of sumptuously-furnished underwater living, while his nobles waited anxiously above.

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