Collection Online as of May 28, 2022
The Raja’s daughter, born with three breasts, accompanies her blind husband and his hunchback guide on a journey, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-second Night
Part of a set. See all set records
Mughal India, court of Akbar
(reigned 1556–1605)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 20.3 x 14 cm (8 x 5 1/2 in.); Painting only: 9.2 x 10.4 cm (3 5/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1962.279.271.a
Location
not on view
Description
The blind man clutches tightly to the hunchback’s staff with one hand and his wife’s arm with the other. At the front of the group, the hunchback points ahead to their ultimate destination—a city far from where the raja’s daughter was born. This image represents a story within the story that is being told by a parrot to the merchant’s son ‘Ubaid in order to cure his infatuation with his wife.