The princess discovers the dead bodies, with heads severed, of her husband and his Brahman friend, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-fourth Night
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1560
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A princess in a blue robe stands over two headless men. One wears orange, the other white. Blood pools on the floor. Their heads lie nearby, eyes still open. The story says the men killed themselves over her. Later, she puts their heads back—but on the wrong bodies. When they wake, they argue over who’s her real husband. It’s a strange mix of horror and magic. To see more paintings like this, look up mughal india, court of akbar (reigned 1556–1605).
