The black devnagari inscription below states that the picture is a portrait of a Qalandar, or ascetic. The gold inscription above however refers to a man claiming to be prophet, of whom someone enquired what he had eaten to have so lost his mind, and from whom they received the reply that it was because he had not eaten that he was acting strangely.

For other pictures using marbling see: Zebrowski,M.: Deccani Painting, London 1983, pp.135-8