The Parrot Addresses Khujasta at the Beginning of the Tenth Night - Iqbal

A sixteenth-century Mughal miniature from the Tuti-nama, depicting Khujasta and her parrot in a detailed, hand-painted interior scene.

This miniature painting originates from the Tuti-nama, or Tales of a Parrot, a collection of fifty-two stories narrated by a parrot to its owner, Khujasta, to prevent her from committing adultery while her husband is away. Produced during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, this manuscript represents an early phase of the Mughal style, which synthesises Persian aesthetic traditions with indigenous Indian artistic techniques.

The composition depicts Khujasta standing within a domestic interior, gesturing toward a parrot housed in a suspended cage. The architectural elements, including the domed structure on the right, reflect the stylistic conventions of the period, employing a flattened perspective that prioritises narrative clarity over spatial depth. The artist uses a palette of saturated pigments, including vermilion, ochre, and lapis lazuli, applied with precision to define the figures and the patterned textiles of the room. Gold leaf accents provide a decorative quality to the architectural details and the parrot's cage.

Below the illustration, the Persian text is written in a clear nasta'liq script. This script serves as an integral component of the page, balancing the visual weight of the painting above. The work demonstrates the collaborative nature of the imperial atelier, where artists like Iqbal worked under the supervision of master painters to produce manuscripts for the royal library. The figure of Khujasta is rendered with the characteristic profile view and elongated proportions common to sixteenth-century Mughal painting. The attention to the decorative motifs on the floor covering and the architectural tiling indicates the high level of craftsmanship expected in these courtly commissions. This print captures the historical intersection of literary tradition and visual storytelling, offering a view into the artistic output of the early Mughal court.