Tutinama: Paintings of Tales Told by Parrot

Girl with A Parrot Indischer Maler um 1580

On Paper, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

We can count the number of blood-groups available in the world. We can do it by using our hand-fingers. But we cannot count the beliefs of different people living on our great planet, the Earth. 

Look at this. In India, and in the northern part of Asia, it is believed that the parrot has the abilities to talk. This belief has inspired the writers to write stories wherein the parrots talk with their masters. 

In the 12th century, Indian artists painted parrots telling the stories. This style of painting was also popular among the Persian artists of later centuries. Inspired by ancient art, Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542-1605) motivated the artists in his court to paint the parrot stories. And the painting-series, known as Tutinama was the outcome.

In this series of paintings, a parrot tells stories to its master lady. She is alone, as her husband has gone on a long-time business journey. The master lady hears the stories day-by-day and night-by-night. It is believed that there are 52 stories. There are paintings done for the depiction of every story. The paintings showed the parrot telling the stories, and the lady hearing the stories. 

Painting, Tutinama 1560

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

In order to make the paintings more realistic, the artists added several other objects into the frame of the paintings. The paintings were miniature in size. However, the contents of the series told by the parrot mainly remained similar to the stories told in the Persian miniatures. But the Tutinama paintings had added calligraphy into the paintings. This style of painting, the illustration part, was vogue among the artists who painted and illustrated the Sanskrit scriptures. Akbar accepted that practice of illustrations of the Sanskrit books.

Two Persian artists named Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad were the head of the project Tutinama. Emperor Akbar had entrusted them with the project to depict the Indian environment. They were the artists originally belonging to the Persian style of painting. They were brought to India by Akbar’s father Emperor Humayun for the promotion of art in India. Among other projects, they got the Tutinama. Emperor Akbar wanted it. The Emperors had their choices. The artists followed the Emperors' choices. 

Several original copies of the paintings done under the nomenclature and style of Tutinama is displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Arts in Ohio. Some of them are displayed at The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Several other paintings done during the Mughal Emperors' time are displayed in various art museums in India, too. 

Unknown artists; donated by Sir M. Monier-Williams,

 Boden Professor of Sanskrit, Oxford University,

A 19th-century illustrated manuscript from the

Bhagawad Gita composed in Sanskrit ca 400 BC - 200 BC

The Tutinama paintings were not solely based on the style and pattern of the Persian Miniatures. The Mughal Emperor Akbar had told the artists to change the themes. He insisted on the contents of the paintings as per the Indian environment. The artists followed. The artists painted in the style of the ancient Indian paintings which depicted the simple objects remaining in the surrounding areas. The major change was to follow the Sanskrit style of illustrating the books with the paintings of the events of scriptures with the addition of the calligraphy. The Sanskrit Slokas were written to narrate the incidents painted and illustrated.

AnonymousUnknown author

Smithsonian Freer Sackler

Gallery, Washington DC

In addition to the Persian elements, Akbar initiated to include the Indian aspects of the painting into the Tutinama. The artists were encouraged to paint the events of traditional dance forms prevailing in India. So the paintings depicted in Tutinama included the dance paintings. The artists had the freedom to paint the subjects belonging to the pre-Mughal era, too.

Here is one of the paintings done for the Tutinama series of paintings. Parrot addressing Khojasta, a lady in Tutinama (Tales of a parrot). The series of paintings was commissioned by Emperor Akbar, Mughal dynasty. From the year 1556 to 1565, there was the reign of Emperor Akbar, India. The paintings in Tutinama are painted using materials like Opaque watercolour and gold on paper. [All the images are in Public Domain, taken from Wikimedia Commons]