Birbal and the Two Claiming Mothers

Two women appeared before the court, both weeping and both insisting with equal conviction that the same infant boy was her own child, lost and now found. There were no witnesses to settle the matter, no records, and both women told their stories with identical, heartfelt certainty, leaving Akbar genuinely unable to decide.

Birbal, asked to resolve it, proposed a simple test: he would have the child placed on the floor between the two women, and whichever of them could pull him to her side first, by force if necessary, would be declared the mother. Akbar agreed, and the two women were told to begin.

One woman seized the child's arm immediately and pulled hard, determined to win. The other, seeing the baby cry out in evident pain and distress, immediately released her grip entirely rather than hurt him further, choosing to lose the contest instead of causing him harm. Birbal at once declared the second woman the true mother, explaining to the puzzled court that only a real mother's love would instinctively prioritize the child's comfort over her own claim, even at the cost of losing him — a truth no amount of tearful insistence could have proven on its own.