Khalis repays the prince for his kindness by changing into a snake and sucking the poison from the king’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eighteenth Night
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a prince watching as a snake turns back into a man and sucks poison from a princess’s arm. This painting tells a story from the *Tuti-nama*, a book of parrot tales read at the Mughal court. The snake repays the prince’s kindness—earlier, the prince cut his own flesh to feed the snake and its mate. The scene is packed with tiny details: rich fabrics, patterned carpets, and the worried faces of onlookers. To see more paintings like this, look up Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605).
