5
Akbar promised a prize for the best painting of the unseen; Birbal brought a blank canvas and a bold explanation.
Courtiers painted clouds, winds, and thoughts; Birbal unveiled a spotless cloth. ‘This is the night wind,’ he said, ‘visible only when you close your eyes and feel it.’ The emperor chuckled at the audacity, then grew thoughtful: some truths are not seen but sensed, and art sometimes is the courage to leave space.
