Rani Padmavati – The Burning Queen By Anuja Chandramouli
When there was so much going in India over the release of the Bollywood movie Padmavat, it made me curious to read the history of Queen Padmavati and then when I searched for fictional books written on Queen Padmavati, I found this one.
Being a lover of historical fiction books, this book didn’t give me a feel-good factor after I finished reading it. It was not a page turner book for me. The keenness to know why Rani Padmavati committed Jauhar was the only reason which made me withstand this book till the end. Other than this, the style of writing failed to hold my interest in reading the book.
Until now every historical fiction book which I have read contains either a family tree chart or a reference page having the list of characters depicting who is whom and how they are related to the lead characters. Major drawback of this book is missing any such mapping or reference, as a result while reading the book, there were characters who were introduced in the beginning of the story but then were referred later and I had to go and search all the way back who the characters were and how they were related to the lead characters.
Other than this, what I feel is missing in the book is its core essence. I am not calling myself a voracious reader but one thing which I feel is the essence of any fictional book is its power in words which makes the reader visualizes the entire scene mentally. But while reading this book, I couldn’t visualize anything whether it involved describing the beauty of Rani Padmavati, or the fierce personality of Khalji, or the palace built by Rawal Ratan Singh for his Queen, or the loving and intimate conversations between Rani Padmavati and Rawal Ratan Singh, and thus, I couldn’t connect with the book wholeheartedly.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. The views and opinions included in this blog post belong to the blogger and do not necessarily mirror the views and opinions of anyone else.
Story in a nutshell:
Alauddin Khalji was married to the daughter (Malika Jahan) of Shah of Delhi. Khalji killed his father-in-law and imprisoned his wife, Malika Jahan, in the dungeon to torture her as he did not want to give her the mercy of quick, clean death. Padmavati (the princess of Siwana) and Rawal Ratan Singh (the king of Mewar) got married for political reasons but they both became the best of friends and loved each other unconditionally.
Raghava Chetana, who served as one of Ratan Singh’s defense ministers, was in love with Menaka whose father chose Dhanpal, Ratan Singh’s senapati, as a groom for her. Chetana, who was desperate to marry Menaka, got Menaka's obscene paintings created by a local artist and sent them to Dhanpal who then called off the marriage. Chetana was thinking this would make Menaka’s father wed his daughter to him but instead Menaka's father throttled his daughter to death and this backfired Chetana's plan of getting married to Menaka. Later, when Rawal came to know about this scandal and found not only Menaka's but other women including Padmavati’s obscene paintings and sketches in Chetana’s home, he was outraged. Rawal ordered the execution of all three: the painter, Menaka's father and Chetana; while striped Dhanpal of his rank.
One day before the execution, one of the royal members helped Chetana in rescuing and asked the guards to take him to Khalji. Chetana then told Khalji everything about his failed love story and how he felt betrayed by Rawal Ratan Singh and asked Khalji to invade Chittor immediately. Chetana also went on and on bragging about the beauty of Rani Padmavati and how she was considered as the reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi in Chittor which bored Khalji as his only purpose was to create the largest empire. Khalji wanted to conquer the whole world and was least interested in going for a war for the sake of a local beauty.
Raghava Chetana, who served as one of Ratan Singh’s defense ministers, was in love with Menaka whose father chose Dhanpal, Ratan Singh’s senapati, as a groom for her. Chetana, who was desperate to marry Menaka, got Menaka's obscene paintings created by a local artist and sent them to Dhanpal who then called off the marriage. Chetana was thinking this would make Menaka’s father wed his daughter to him but instead Menaka's father throttled his daughter to death and this backfired Chetana's plan of getting married to Menaka. Later, when Rawal came to know about this scandal and found not only Menaka's but other women including Padmavati’s obscene paintings and sketches in Chetana’s home, he was outraged. Rawal ordered the execution of all three: the painter, Menaka's father and Chetana; while striped Dhanpal of his rank.
One day before the execution, one of the royal members helped Chetana in rescuing and asked the guards to take him to Khalji. Chetana then told Khalji everything about his failed love story and how he felt betrayed by Rawal Ratan Singh and asked Khalji to invade Chittor immediately. Chetana also went on and on bragging about the beauty of Rani Padmavati and how she was considered as the reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi in Chittor which bored Khalji as his only purpose was to create the largest empire. Khalji wanted to conquer the whole world and was least interested in going for a war for the sake of a local beauty.
In between all this, Khalji remembered that when he conquered Gujarat how Hammira’s daughter, burnt herself alive to avoid being raped and dishonored by her father’s conqueror, which made him angry as he had never touched a woman against her will. And thus this time beforehand, he ordered his men that as walls of the fortress of Chittor would come down, hasten to ensure that the ladies (including Padmavati) could not unnecessarily throw their lives away. Khalji was mainly interested in jewel of Chittor as Chittor was the wealthiest and the most powerful of all the Rajput kingdoms. Making Rani Padmavati part of his harem was secondary on his mind, though he wanted to prove Rani Padmavati that Rawal was a coward and she should be with him rather and not with Rawal.
Meanwhile, most of the Ratan’s army had revolted and demanded Dhanpal to be reinstated at once to which Ratan disagreed. And later due to lack of army troops, Chittor became vulnerable to direct attack and Khalji then ordered to siege Chittor. Siege dragged on for months, sapping the people’s will and draining their strength. Adding to this, cholera struck Chittor and more people died including the royal members and there was scarcity of all kind of resources: food, medicines, water, help.
Meanwhile, most of the Ratan’s army had revolted and demanded Dhanpal to be reinstated at once to which Ratan disagreed. And later due to lack of army troops, Chittor became vulnerable to direct attack and Khalji then ordered to siege Chittor. Siege dragged on for months, sapping the people’s will and draining their strength. Adding to this, cholera struck Chittor and more people died including the royal members and there was scarcity of all kind of resources: food, medicines, water, help.
Ratan when came to know through his spies that Khalji is interested in jewel of Chittor, it was misunderstood as Rani Padmavati was fondly called as 'Jewel of Chittor' by other Rajput kingdoms and by the people of Chittor. Ratan decided to call for a truce and meanwhile, ordered Padmavati to leave Chittor. However, Padmavati decided not to abandon her husband and her people to their fate and thus on her way, ordered her guardians to take her to Gaumukh Kund where she committed Jauhar. Khalji then imprisoned Rawal in a dungeon.
Line(s) which I Liked the most:
‘What is lost can be found again.’
Rating : 2/5
Rating : 2/5