Here Are Six Lesser Known Things About Rani Padmavati And Why She Wasn’t The Only Reason For Khilji To Attack Chittor

1. Padmavati was a Sri Lankan

The poem Padmavat, begins with a fanciful description of the kingdom of Simhala-dvipa, where a princess named Padmani lived. Simhala (Sinhala)-dvipa falls in the Ceylon of yesteryears and present day Sri Lanka. Padamavati, according to Jayasi, was a “perfect woman” whose beauty was such that even goddess would envy of. 

2. Padmavati had a talking parrot

Jayasi writes that Padmavati had a talking parrot named Hira-mani who was one of the closest confidantes of the princess. Not only Jayasi’s Padamvat, but many epics or love poems, including Milton’s Paradise Lost and the Arab poem of Hateem Tai have shown animals or birds speaking the language of the main characters. Hira-mani narrated Padmavati's beauty to Chittor King, Ratan Singh. 

Being completely mesmerised by Hira-mani’s account of Padmini, the king longed to marry the princess and managed to do so after a long series of dramatic battles and adventurous trials.

3. King Rana Ratan Singh went to Simhal-dvipa and won her  

Padmavat explains at length that how Rana Ratan Singh, who might not have known about the existence of Simhala-dvipa before the parrot told him went to participate in Swayamvar of Princess Padmavati.

There he defeated many princess and kings who also sought Padmavati hands on several competitions and won the hand of Padmavati.

4. Raghav Chaitanya, the sorcerer who instigated  Khilji

Raghav Chaitanya served in Rana Ratan’s Singh’s court as Raj Purohit. But he was a sorcerer in real who had a great hold on black magic. After Ratan Singh came to know about his reality, he banished Raghav after insulting him.

To avenge his insult, Raghav reached Delhi and told Alauddin Khilji about the beauty of Rani Padmini. Initially, Khilji didn’t buy his story as he had plenty of women already in his harem. But the poetic description of Padmini’s as the most beautiful forced Khilji to think otherwise and he, according to Jayasi, thought of attacking Chittor.

5. Padmavati wasn’t the only reason behind Khilji attacking Chittor

A 1990s documentary serial, Bharat, Ek Khoj talks about five ratnas at length. The episode is loosely based on Khilji siege of Chittor to get Padmavati as told by Jayasi in  Padmavat.

These five ratnas were: A Swan who could sing poems, a gem filled with nectar, a stone called Paras which could turn anything into gold, one hunter named Shardul who could kill any animal at king’s behest and one large yet royal bird Lagna who could kill small animals and birds with ease.