I recount here the historical facts and the popular versions of the story. There are just two historical facts relevant to the story: Khalji’s attack on Chittor and Rana Ratan Singh’s defeat. Untrained to distinguish historical facts from cultural memory, these acquire the status of history for common people. Ramya Sreenivasan has traced the wide circulation and mutation of the story from North India and Rajasthan to Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century in her magnificent book, The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen. In Rajasthan, during the same period, the emphasis changed to the defence of Rajput honour which had come to be invested in Padmini’s body.

Source: Indian Express November 16, 2017 18:22 UTC