LatestProducers of a Bollywood period epic have indefinitely delayed its release following countrywide protests by Hindu right-wing and caste groups. The film Padmavati tells the story of a 14th-Century Hindu queen belonging to the high Rajput caste and the Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji. Padmavati is a fictional queen in the epic poem Padmavat by 16th-Century poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. As the recent protests show, Padmavati is deified and held as a symbol of female honour among Rajputs even today. Historian Irfan Habib of Aligarh Muslim University said Padmavati is not a "historical but an imaginary character".

Source: Sunday Times November 22, 2017 10:18 UTC