# Seven men disputing possession of a woman bring her before the Tree of Justice into which she is absorbed, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Sixth Night

- Date: c. 1560
- Medium: gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Painting only: 10.4 x 9.8 cm (4 1/8 x 3 7/8 in.); Overall: 20 x 14.3 cm (7 7/8 x 5 5/8 in.)
- Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Credit line: Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.42.a)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1962.279.42.a/1962.279.42.a_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Talking trees that predict the future or administer justice recur in medieval Indo-Iranian literature. Here, the blossoming Tree of Justice settled a dispute. Seven different men wanted to marry a woman who had been carved as a wooden statue by the carpenter (lower right in red) and brought to life by the holy man (lower left in green). A sliver of the woman’s body is seen merging with the trunk. The Tree of Justice decided to absorb her, and as she disappeared the tree proclaimed: “Everything must revert to its own origin.”