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TUTINAMA
Animal fables form a significant part of popular culture and have fascinated and captured people's imaginations worldwide for centuries. Tutinama, literally implying “Tales of a Parrot”, is a collection of 52 stories in Persian authored by Ziya' al-Din Nakhshabi. The 14th-century Persian text was a redaction of a 12th century Sanskrit anthology titled Sukasaptati or Seventy Tales of the Parrot. Subsequently, Tutinama was beautifully illustrated and commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. The richly illustrated manuscript was of immense significance for historians and scholars of the later centuries; it became a literary and artistic conduit to study the society and the values of the period.
As an anthology of 52 stories, Tutinama follows the narrator: a parrot that narrates 52 stories for 52 nights to his owner Khujasta. It is revealed to the reader that Khujasta's husband, Maimunis was a merchant who, when away on business, left his wife behind in the company of a mynah and a parrot. The illustrated manuscript visually narrates the scene wherein, Khujasta kills the mynah when it advises her against having an illicit relationship. The loyal parrot then employs an indirect way of enthralling her by narrating a fascinating story every night for 52 consecutive nights, thereby diverting her attention from pursuing any adulterous acts. The stories were replete with wit and humour, and the themes centred around animal fables or of women who were able to achieve their goals using their virtue or wit.
Several artists from Emperor Akbar's atelier were involved in the illustration project of the manuscript, including the famous Mughal artists: Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad. It has been argued by several historians, including Pramod Chandra and Sherman Lee, that the illustrated manuscript commissioned by Akbar represented one of the earliest phases of the Mughal school of paintings. The manuscript was painted and written on a thin ivory-coloured paper using vibrant mineral-based pigments. The colours used in the manuscript included arsenic-based yellow, mercury-based red, gold, silver, four white pigments, and different pigments of green and blue shades. Further, the images had calligraphy in the Arabic script called naksh.
The illustrated manuscript of Tutinama is almost entirely housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art. A second version of the Tutinama was also made for Emperor Akbar. Albeit, this version is scattered across several collections, a significant section is available at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
Parrot addressing Khujasta
Eighth Night: The husband berates his wife for purchasing gravel instead of sugar
Seventeenth Night: The old procuress conveys the young man’s message of love to Mansur’s wife
Thirty Second Night: Kaiwan, Latif, and Sharif, accompanied by Utarid, at the place of Khurshid
The primary historical significance of the Tutinama lies in the fact that the manuscript serves as a literary and illustrated conduit to study several aspects of the society in which it was contextualized. The paintings give glimpses of the jewellery, costumes, religious and social customs and practices prevalent at that time. Further, several dance forms have also found representation in the paintings of Tutinama. A wide range of geographical knowledge and international awareness could also be deciphered from the manuscript, as the protagonists of the stories hailed from diverse regions including Eastern Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, and China, amongst others. As one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts of the Mughal era, the paintings of Tutinama set an important precedent for the Mughal style of miniatures later and thus is an invaluable historical source.
Fortieth Night: The parrot addresses Khujasta
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