Padmini, also known as Padmavati, was a 13th–14th century Rani (queen) of the Mewar kingdom of present-day India. Several medieval texts mention her, although these versions are disparate and many modern historians question the extent of overall authenticity.

The Jayasi text describes her story as follows: Padmavati was an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Sinhalese kingdom (in Sri Lanka). Ratan Sen, the Rajput ruler of Chittor Fort, heard about her beauty from a talking parrot named Hiraman. After an adventurous quest, he won her hand in marriage and brought her to Chittor. Ratan Sen was captured and imprisoned by Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi. While Ratan Sen was in prison, the king of Kumbhalner Devapal became enamoured with Padmavati's beauty and proposed to marry her. Ratan Sen returned to Chittor and entered into a duel with Devapal, in which both died. Alauddin Khalji laid siege to Chittor to obtain Padmavati. Facing a defeat against Khalji, before Chittor was captured, she and her companions committed Jauhar (self-immolation) thereby defeating Khalji's aim and protecting their honour. Coupled to the Jauhar, the Rajput men died fighting on the battlefield.

Versions of the legend

Several 16th-century texts survive that offer varying accounts of Rani Padmini's life. Of these, the earliest is the Awadhi language Padmavat (1540 CE) of the Sufi composer Malik Muhammad Jayasi, likely composed originally in the Persian script. The 14th-century accounts written by Muslim court historians that describe Alauddin Khalji's 1302 CE conquest of Chittorgarh make no mention of this queen. Jain texts between 14th and 16th century – Nabinandan Jenudhar, Chitai Charitra and Rayan Sehra have mentioned Rani Padmini.

Subsequently, many literary works mentioning her story were produced; these can be divided into four major categories:

Persian and Urdu adaptions — Between the 16th and 19th centuries, at least 12 Persian and Urdu translations or adaptations of Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat were produced. More Urdu versions appeared in the 20th century, all adhering to Jayasi's love poetry tradition.
Rajput ballads — In 1589 CE, Hemratan composed Gora Badal Padmini Chaupai, the first Rajput adaption of the legend, presenting it as a "true tale". Between 16th and 18th centuries, more Rajput versions of the Padmavati legend were compiled in present-day Rajasthan, under the patronage of the Rajput chiefs. Unlike Jayasi's theme of courting and marriage, the Rajput adaptions emphasized their honour in defending their kingdom against Alauddin Khalji.
James Tod's version — During 1829–32, James Tod included a colonial re-telling of the legend in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han. His version was based on the information compiled from the oral and textual traditions of writers employed by the Rajput chiefs.
Bengali adaptions — The epic poem Padmavati was written by the medieval Bengali poet Alaol. From the late 19th century onward, several Bengali versions of the legend were produced, when James Tod's work reached Calcutta, the capital of British India. These Bengali narratives portrayed Padmavati as a Hindu queen who immolated herself to protect her honour against a Muslim invader.
In addition to these various literary accounts, a variety of legends are located in vernacular oral traditions from about 1500 or later; these have evolved over time. The oral legends and the literary accounts share the same characters and general plot, but diverge in the specifics and how they express the details. The oral versions narrate the social group's perspective while the early literary versions narrate the author's court-centric context. According to Ramya Sreenivasan, the oral and written legends about Rani Padmini likely fed each other, each version of her life affected by the sensitivities of the audience or the patron, with Muslim versions narrating the conquest of Chitor by Delhi Sultanate under Alauddin Khalji, while the Hindu and Jain versions narrating the local resistance to the sultan of Delhi exemplified in the life of Padmini.

Accounts

Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat (1540 CE)

In the Jayasi version, states Ramya Sreenivasan, Padmavati is described as the daughter of Gandharvsen, the king of the island kingdom of Sinhala (Singhal kingdom, Sri Lanka). A parrot tells Chittor's king Ratansen of Padmavati and her beauty. Ratansen is so moved by the parrot's description that he renounces his kingdom, becomes an ascetic, follows the parrot as the bird leads him across seven seas to the island kingdom. There he meets Padmavati, overcomes obstacles and risks his life to win her. He succeeds, marries her and brings his wife to Chittor where he becomes king again. Ratansen expels a Brahmin scholar for misconduct, who then reaches Sultan Alauddin and tells him about the beautiful Padmavati. The sultan lusts for Padmavati, and invades Chittor in his quest for her. Ratansen, meanwhile, dies in another battle with a rival Rajput ruler. Padmavati immolates herself. Alauddin thus conquers Chitor for the Islamic state, but Alauddin fails in his personal quest.

This earliest known literary version is attributed to Jayasi, whose year of birth and death are unclear. He lived during the rule of Babur, the Islamic emperor who started the Mughal Empire after ending the Delhi Sultanate. Jayasi's compositions spread in the Sufi tradition across the Indian subcontinent. Variants derived from Jayasi's work on Padmavati were composed between the 16th and 19th centuries and these manuscripts exist in the Sufi tradition. In one, princess Padmavati became close friends with a talking parrot named Hiraman. She and the parrot together studied the Vedas – the Hindu scriptures. Her father resented the parrot's closeness to his daughter, and ordered the bird to be killed. The panicked parrot bade goodbye to the princess and flew away to save its life. It was trapped by a bird catcher, and sold to a Brahmin. The Brahmin bought it to Chittor, where the local king Ratan Sen purchased it, impressed by its ability to talk.

Hemratan's Gora Badal Padmini Chaupai (1589 CE)

Ratan Sen, the Rajput king of Chitrakot (Chittor) had a wife named Prabhavati, who was a great cook. One day, the king expressed dissatisfaction with the food she had prepared. Prabhavati challenged Ratan Sen to find a woman better than her. Ratan Sen angrily set out to find such a woman, accompanied by an attendant. A Nath Yogi ascetic told him that there were many padmini women on the Singhal island. Ratan Sen crossed the sea with help of another ascetic, and then defeated the king of Singhal in a game of chess. The king of Singhal married his sister Padmini to Ratan Sen, and also gave him a huge dowry which included half of the Singhal kingdom, 4000 horses, 2000 elephants and 2000 companions for Padmini.

In Chittor, while Ratan Sen and Padmini were making love, a Brahmin named Raghav Vyas accidentally interrupted them. Fearing Ratan Sen's anger, he escaped to Delhi, where he was received honourably at the court of Alauddin Khalji. When Alauddin learned about the existence of beautiful padmini women on the island of Singhal, he set out on an expedition to Singhal. However, his soldiers drowned in the sea. Alauddin managed to obtain a tribute from the king of Singhal, but could not obtain any padmini women. Alauddin learned that the only padmini woman on the mainland was Padmavati. So, he gathered an army of 2.7 million soldiers, and besieged Chittor. He deceitfully captured Ratan Sen, after having caught a glimpse of Padmini.

James Tod's version

The 19th-century British writer James Tod compiled a version of the legend in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han. Tod mentioned several manuscripts, inscriptions and persons as his sources for the information compiled in the book. However, he does not name the exact sources that he used to compile the legend of Padmini in particular. He does not mention Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat or any other Sufi adaptions of that work among his sources, and seems to have been unaware of these sources. He does mention Khumman Raso in connection with the legend of Padmini, but he seems to have relied more on the local bardic legends along with Hindu and Jain literary accounts. Tod's version of Padmini's life story was a synthesis of multiple sources and a Jain monk named Gyanchandra assisted Tod in his research of the primary sources relating to Padmini.

According to Tod's version, Padmini was the daughter of Hamir Sank, the Chauhan ruler of Ceylon. The contemporary ruler of Chittor was a minor named Lachhman Singh (alias Lakhamsi or Lakshmanasimha). Padmini was married to Lachhman Singh's uncle and regent Maharana Bhim Singh (alias Bhimsi). She was famous for her beauty, and Alauddin (alias Ala) besieged Chittor to obtain her. After negotiations, Alauddin restricted his demand to merely seeing Padmini's beauty through a mirror and do so alone as a symbol of trust. The Rajputs reciprocate the trust and arrange to have Padmini sit in a room at the edge of a water tank. Alauddin gets a fleeting glimpse of her in a mirror in a building at a distance across the water tank. That glimpse inflamed his lust for her. The unsuspecting Rajput king further reciprocates the trust shown by Alauddin by accompanying the Sultan to his camp so that he returns without harm.

Symbolism

The life story of Rani Padmini appears in some Muslim Sufi, Hindu Nath and Jain tradition manuscripts with embedded notes that the legend is symbolic. Some of these are dated to the 17th-century, and state that Chittor (Chit-aur) symbolizes the human body, the king is the human spirit, the island kingdom of Singhal is the human heart, Padmini is the human mind. The parrot is the guru (teacher) who guides, while Sultan Alauddin symbolizes the Maya (worldly illusion). Such allegorical interpretations of the Rani Padmini's life story are also found in the bardic traditions of the Hindus and Jains in Rajasthan.

In popular culture

Several films based on the legend of Padmini have been made in India. These include Baburao Painter's Sati Padmini (1924), Debaki Bose's Kamonar Agun or Flames of Flesh (1930), Daud Chand's Padmini (1948), and the Hindi language Maharani Padmini (1964).

1954 Hindi film Jagriti, had a patriotic song Aao Bachho Tumhe Dikhaye. It had a line, where Kavi Pradeep refers to Rani Padmini's supreme sacrifice as "Kood padi thi yehan hazaroon Padminiyan angaron main" [To save the honor of Rajasthan, thousands of Padminis had sacrificed themselves here].
In 1963, for the first time, this story was made into film in Tamil as Chittoor Rani Padmini written by C. V. Sridhar and directed by Chitrapu Narayana Rao starring Sivaji Ganesan and Vyjayanthimala in lead roles.
In 1986, Hema Malini played the role of Rani Padmini in one of the episodes of anthology series Tera Panhey.
In 1988, Seema Kelkar played the role of Rani Padmini in an episode of the Hindi drama series Bharat Ek Khoj, which was based on the book The Discovery of India (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru.
In 2009, Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur, a Hindi-language television series aired on Sony TV, in which Tejaswini Lonari played the role of Princess Padmavati.
In 2017, film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali decided to make Hindi-language film Padmavati where Deepika Padukone played the character. The film has been controversial, and led sharply divided populace. Prior to its release, a section of the population felt that the movie presented the Jayasi version and denigrated the Rajput queen. Some political leaders demanded clarification, while others supported its release. Protests spread with groups petitioning a ban, alleging that the movie distorts history by including a romance scene between Khalji and Padmini. The film director clarified that there is no such scene in the movie. The petition to ban the movie was rejected by the Indian Supreme Court, with the ruling that movies are a form of free speech right protected by the Indian constitution. The movie was released in many parts of India in late January 2018 as Padmaavat.