12/07/2025
This may look like a normal cat versus mouse encounter, but this Mūshnāmah (Book of the Mouse) tells a tale where the mice get the upper hand.
Mūshnāmah, a mock-epic (d. ca. 1370) attributed to ʻUbayd Zākānī, features a satirical fable concerning a cruel and hypocritical tyrant, symbolically depicted as an evil cat, often associated with the founder of the Muzzafarid Dynasty (1314–1393) Mubāriz al-Dīn Muḥammad (r. 1314–1358), who repeatedly torments a community of virtuous mice.
In the tale, the tyrant is symbolically represented as an evil cat that torments a community of virtuous mice. While this finely transcribed, and whimsically illustrated manuscript lacks a colophon, the style suggests that the commercial atelier (muṣavvirkhānah) of painter Faqīr Chand (ca. 1790–1865), or his son Shīvā Lāl (1817–1887), known as Shāhī Muṣavvir (Royal Painter) illustrated it.
