History: Story of Rawal Ratnasimha of Chittor (Mewar)

You must know about Amir Khusro (1253-1325). He was a courtier of Jalaluddin Khilji - founder of Khilji dynasty. Amir Khusro had written a book 'Miftah al-Futuh' in 1291 to commemorate the victories of his king Jalaluddin Khilji. Amir Khushrau is known as a Sufi musician, poet and scholar. His real name was Abul Hasan Yaminuddin Khusro.

Jalaluddin Khilji was murdered by his nephew Ali Gurshasp on 19th July, 1296. Ali Gurshasp took the name of Allauddin Khilji after taking the throne; this name rhymed well with his late predecessor's name and his legacy.

Amir Khusro became a courtier of his new ruler Allauddin Khilji and wrote "Khazain ul-Futuh" recording Allauddin's work.

Allauddin Khilji destroyed several Hindu kingdoms in his life, ending several Hindu dynasties. He raided Gujarat (1299), Ranthambore (1301), Chittor (1303), Malwa (1305), Siwana (1308), and Jalore (1311); ending Hindu dynasties of Paramaras, Vaghelas, Chahamanas, and the Rawal branch of the Guhilas. Ratnasimha was the king of Guhila dynasty of Medapata (Mewar), when Allauddin launched an attacked on his kingdom.

Guhila dynasty had ruled the Mewar region of Rajasthan for centuries. After Rawal Ratnasimha’s defeat, who was said to be the 42^nd ruler from the dynasty, the Rawal branch of Guhila dynasty ended.

In 1302, Rawal Ratnasimha had succeeded his father Samarasimha as the Guhila ruler of Medapata (Mewar). He ruled from Chitrakuta fort (now known as Chittorgarh). In a temple in Dariba, a town in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan, his name is inscribed; which mentions that he had gifted 16 coins to the temple. The inscription mentions his title as Maharajakula (Maharawal).

In 1303, very soon after Ratnasimha had become king, Delhi's Alauddin Khilji invaded Chittor (Mewar). Allauddin’s army kept attacking Ratnasimha's Chittor fort but could not break in for 8 months. Finally, on 26th of August, 1303, the invaders managed to enter the fort.

Amir Khusro accompanied Allauddin Khilji during the raid on Rana Ratnasimha's fort and has given several details in his book "Khaza'in ul-Futuh". He does not mention any specific queen called Padmavati or Padmini anywhere.

The fact that Allauddin Khilji's relatively stronger army took 8 months to win over Chittor talks about the Rajput valor.

Inside the fort, thousands of Rajput women were said to have committed 'jauhar'  - self-immolation to avoid capture and dishonor in the enemy's hands.

After winning, Allauddin renamed the city as Khizrabad after his eldest son Khizr Khan.

According to Amir Khusro, 30000 Hindus were killed in cold blood after defeat of Chittor. Amir Khusro mentions "He (Allauddin Khilji) ordered that wherever a green Hindu was found, he was to be cut down like dry grass. Owing to this stern order, thirty thousand Hindus were slain in one day. It seemed that the meadows of Khizrabad had grown men instead of grass."

Amir Khusro mentions that Allauddin Khilji had pardoned and let Rawal Ratnasimha go alive. A lot of historians have corroborated the Muslim chroniclers which mention that Allauddin Khilji had spared Rawal Ratnasimha's life. In several Hindu legends afterwards, Ratnasimha is shown as dying while fighting Khilji. Whatever be the truth, it seems valid that Rawal Ratnasimha and the Rajputs had put up a very brave resistance. Otherwise Allauddin Khilji's army won't have taken 7-8 months to enter their fort. Allauddin’s army was known to be larger and better prepared, but the Rajputs chose death over dishonor.

And if Amir Khusro mentions that 30000 Hindus were killed in Chittor at the order of Allauddin Khilji; it tells how devastating the defeat was. Certainly, if Rawal Ratnasimha lived after losing at Chittor, his life would have been worse than a glorious death.

Actor Shahid Kapoor, son of Pankaj Kapur and Neelima Azeem, plays the character of Rawal Ratnasimha in the upcoming movie "Padmavati". Shahid Kapoor is married to Mira Rajput. Mira's parents are Vikramaditya Rajput and Bela Rajput. Certainly, some 'Rajput' connection.

- Rahul Tiwary

[#History] The Founder of Delhi's Khilji Dynasty

Jalaluddin Khilji was the first ruler of Khilji dynasty of Delhi and ruled from 1290 to 1296. He was an ethnic Turk; his ancestors had migrated from Turkestan to Afghanistan. His family migrated from Afghanistan to India and he along with his brother served the Delhi Sultan Balban for several years; rising in the ranks subsequently. After Balban's death in 1287, his teenage grandson got the throne but died under mysterious circumstances amidst conspiracies. After a short bloodied power struggle, Jalaluddin Khilji got the throne in June 1290. Jalaluddin was initially very unpopular but gradually established himself as a popular ruler.

Jalaluddin had appointed his nephew Ali Gurshasp as the governor of Kara (an old town in UP, about 70 km from Allahabad). Ali's father had died when he was young, and Jalaluddin had brought him and his brother Almas Beg up. Jalaluddin had also got two of his daughters married to Ali and Almas.

By 1296, Jalaluddin was quite old. And Ali decided to start a coup against him. Ali and his brother plotted against him for years, making raids on other kingdoms to raise money for a war while keeping Jalaluddin in the dark. After a raid, Ali asked for a meeting with Jalaluddin, seeking pardon for his act, and expressed to consume poison if he was not pardoned by Jalaluddin.

Jalaluddin Khilji went to meet his nephew Ali crossing a river on a boat. Upon meeting, Ali bent on his feet and Jalaluddin raised him with affection, giving a kiss on his cheek. At that point, Ali signaled to his armed guard who assassinated Jalaluddin Khilji.

Thus died the founder of the famous Khilji dynasty of Delhi!

And his nephew Ali Gurshasp, whom he had raised from childhood and gave power, took to his throne calling himself "Alauddin Khilji".

This Alauddin Khilji is the character our favorite actor Ranveer Singh plays in the upcoming movie "Padmavati"

- Rahul 

(to be continued)

History: The Legend of Padmavati and Epic Poem of Malik Muhammad Jayasi

Malik Muhammad Jayasi was a Sufi poet who wrote in Avadhi language. Born in Jayas near Raibareli, UP, he lived during 1477-1542 and wrote an epic poem "Padmavat" in 1540. He wrote it 237 years after the historical event of Alauddin Khilji's conquest of Chittor. Alauddin Khalji (1266-1316) of Khalji dynasty of Delhi Sultanate had invaded Chittor in 1303 which was ruled by Rajput king Ratnasiṃha of Guhila dynasty.

An article by Ruchika Sharma on Scroll.in makes strong points on the actual history. You can read it here.

“I have made up the story and related it,” are the words with which Malik Muhammad Jayasi ends his Awadhi masnavi, Padmavat.

Jayasi’s masnavi, completed in 1540, drew heavily on an earlier source, Nayachandra Suri’s Hammira Mahakavya.

The epic penned by Nayachandra Suri in the 15th century is largely a legendary biography of the 14th-century Chauhana king Hammira Mahadeva. Before Suri committed it to writing, the legend of Hammira’s gallant fight against Khilji’s attack on Chittor was orally transmitted. In the epic, Khilji has to mount a series of three expeditions against Chittor, following Hammira’s refusal to pay tribute to the Delhi sultan, before finally capturing it. The first expedition is inconclusive while the second results in the defeat of the sultanate army by the Rajputs and in the capture of several Muslim women, who are humiliated and forced “to sell buttermilk in every town they pass through”.

Cut to the 16th century, Suri’s dauntless Hammira becomes Jayasi’s Ratan Sen.

Padmavat, however, is not merely a copy of Suri’s work. Jayasi also drew a lot from the current political milieu of his time. For example, Ratan Sen, (1527-’32 AD) who was the rana of Chittor more than 300 years after Khilji’s death, is a contemporary of Jayasi and, hence, his name is borrowed for Padmavat’s hero, a move made perhaps to impress the rana (given the poet’s close association with the Rajputs). Furthermore, captivating tropes employed in the story, such as smuggling Khilji’s army into the Chittor fort through women’s palanquins, was an actual move employed by emperor Sher Shah Suri (Jayasi’s contemporary) in his conquest of Rohtas.

Jayasi quite explicitly mentions that Ratan Sen is an allegory for the human soul, Padmini represents intelligence, Alauddin Khilji is illusion (maya) and Chittor stands for the human body. Thus, the tale is that of the travails that the human soul has to suffer in order to be one with the human mind where both illusion and the human body act as deterrents.

Jayasi’s work is such a marvel of creativity that to claim it as history would be the real “tampering of history”.

Read full article at below link:

https://scroll.in/article/828538/the-epic-poem-padmavat-is-fiction-to-claim-it-as-history-would-be-the-real-tampering-of-history

You can also read the Epic "Padmavat" here on Kavita Kosh. 

- Rahul Tiwary