The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night

Also known as: Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): Fifth night: The hunter offers the mother parrot to the king of Kamarupa

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About the Artwork

The king of Kamarupa, which ironically means “body of erotic love,” had leprosy. The hunter brought the captured mother parrot to the king, assuring him that the bird knew a cure. The lavish use of gold indicates that this book was a costly production. The figure of the hunter reveals the talents of the artist Basavana, whose name is written in the right margin. Draped in rustic garments shaded to appear softly flowing, the hunter bends forward with a subtle look of shrewd expectancy as the king seems ready to pay a high price for the parrot. The billowing red curtain is one of Basavana’s signature motifs. Beyond is a tantalizing glimpse of the forest to which the parrot will soon escape to rejoin her children.

Inscriptions

'amal basāwan

Provenance

?–1959: Estate of Breckinridge Long [1881–1958], Bowie, MD 1959–1962?: (Harry Burke Antiques, Philadelphia, PA) 1959?–1962: (Bernard Brown Agency, Milwaukee, WI, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from Mrs. A. Dean [Helen Wade Greene] Perry) 1962–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

The Adventures of Hamza. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (June 21-September 29, 2002); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (November 1, 2002-January 26, 2003). Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

Quick Overview

Artist: Basavana (Indian, active c. 1560–1600)
Date: c. 1560
Medium: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions: Overall: 20 x 14.3 cm (7 7/8 x 5 5/8 in.); Painting only: 10.2 x 10.7 cm (4 x 4 3/16 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
Accession no.: 1962.279.36.b

More by Basavana in museum collections

Jain Ascetic Walking Along a Riverbank
Basavana
c. 1600 · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009464
A mendicant bowing before a holy man, from the Prince Salim Album
Basavana
c. 1585; inner border added in Allahabad c. 1602; outer border added probably 1900s · Painting
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009616