Akbar's visit to Goindval is attested well enough to be treated as history rather than legend, and it is the founding story of langar as a political statement rather than a charity. The rule was that anyone seeking the Guru ate first, seated on the floor in the pangat, with whoever else was there; the emperor of Hindustan complied. Sikh accounts add that Akbar afterwards offered a grant of revenue-free land for the langar and was refused on the grounds that it must be maintained by the sangat's own earnings — a detail that matters, because it establishes the principle that the kitchen is funded by the people who eat in it. Later Gurus did accept land grants, and the Mughal relationship deteriorated sharply within thirty years. The image of the emperor on the floor is on gurdwara walls worldwide.