
Cleveland Museum of Art
The vizier dissuades the king of Bahilistan from executing the dervish who asks for his daughter’s hand in marriage, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventh Night
- Date
- c. 1560
- Medium
- gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Culture
- Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
A poor dervish, wearing a fur cap and short brown lower garment, stands captive before the furious king of Bahilistan. Before he can kill the dervish, a vizier reminds him that it is beneath a king to stain his sword with the blood of a mendicant. The dervish is ordered to prove his worth by offering the king’s daughter an elephant laden with gold. Bahilistan was once an independent state in India.
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