Candle Tree
Rani Padmini's Water Palace, Chittorgarh Fort, Chittor, Rajasthan, India - 26.03.09
Shot with Canon EOS 400D
Lens: 18-75mm
Mode: Landscape
Rani Padmini/Padmavati (of Sri Lankan origin) was the queen of Chittor and the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh. Her beauty, life and death has been the subject of many legends, ballads, and films. Many of these accounts are conflicting, and some historians consider her story to be fictional.
In 1303 AD, Alauddin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi besieged Chittor fort, which was under the control of Rana Rawal Ratan Singh. The Rana was imprisoned and held hostage for Padmini (whom the Sultan wanted to add to his harem). Padmini sent misleading information that she would join Alauddin, but she was to come with 700 women as befitted her status. The Rajputs were thus able to infiltrate about 2000 men into Alauddin's camp hidden inside palanquins, each containg 2 soldiers and 4 men for lifting and passed off as Rajput women. Alauddin allowed Padmini one final meeting with her husband, which allowed the Rajputs to whisk Ratan Singh out. Beaten, Alauddin returned to Delhi to come back better equipped early the following year. The Rajput defence failed as a result of this second attack and perished on the battlefield while their womenfolk, led by Maharani Padmini, performed Jauhar.
Jauhar and Saka refer to the voluntary deaths of men and women of the Rajput clan in order to avoid capture and dishonour at the hands of their enemies. This was done sometimes by Hindu and Sikh women, in Mughal times and there are recorded incidences of this on a much smaller scale during the Partition in 1947 when women preferred death to being raped, turned into a slave or being forced into a marriage and to take their enemies' religion.
Jauhar was originally the voluntary death on a funeral pyre of the queens and royal womenfolk of defeated Rajput kingdoms. The term is extended to describe the occasional practice of mass suicide carried out in medieval times by Rajput women and men. This was usually done before or at the same time their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons rode out in a charge to meet their attackers and certain death. The upset caused by the knowledge that their women and younger children were dead, no doubt filled them with rage in this fight to the death called saka.
Chittorgarh Fort is the biggest fort in Asia, situated on a 180m-high hilltop is on about 280 hectare site. It is one of the most historically significant forts not only of Rajasthan but of the whole of North India. It was constructed by the Mauryans in the 7th century AD. It was the citadel of many great Rajput warriors such as Rana Kumbha, Maharana Pratap etc.
Rani Padmini's Water Palace, Chittorgarh Fort, Chittor, Rajasthan, India - 26.03.09
Shot with Canon EOS 400D
Lens: 18-75mm
Mode: Landscape
Rani Padmini/Padmavati (of Sri Lankan origin) was the queen of Chittor and the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh. Her beauty, life and death has been the subject of many legends, ballads, and films. Many of these accounts are conflicting, and some historians consider her story to be fictional.
In 1303 AD, Alauddin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi besieged Chittor fort, which was under the control of Rana Rawal Ratan Singh. The Rana was imprisoned and held hostage for Padmini (whom the Sultan wanted to add to his harem). Padmini sent misleading information that she would join Alauddin, but she was to come with 700 women as befitted her status. The Rajputs were thus able to infiltrate about 2000 men into Alauddin's camp hidden inside palanquins, each containg 2 soldiers and 4 men for lifting and passed off as Rajput women. Alauddin allowed Padmini one final meeting with her husband, which allowed the Rajputs to whisk Ratan Singh out. Beaten, Alauddin returned to Delhi to come back better equipped early the following year. The Rajput defence failed as a result of this second attack and perished on the battlefield while their womenfolk, led by Maharani Padmini, performed Jauhar.
Jauhar and Saka refer to the voluntary deaths of men and women of the Rajput clan in order to avoid capture and dishonour at the hands of their enemies. This was done sometimes by Hindu and Sikh women, in Mughal times and there are recorded incidences of this on a much smaller scale during the Partition in 1947 when women preferred death to being raped, turned into a slave or being forced into a marriage and to take their enemies' religion.
Jauhar was originally the voluntary death on a funeral pyre of the queens and royal womenfolk of defeated Rajput kingdoms. The term is extended to describe the occasional practice of mass suicide carried out in medieval times by Rajput women and men. This was usually done before or at the same time their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons rode out in a charge to meet their attackers and certain death. The upset caused by the knowledge that their women and younger children were dead, no doubt filled them with rage in this fight to the death called saka.
Chittorgarh Fort is the biggest fort in Asia, situated on a 180m-high hilltop is on about 280 hectare site. It is one of the most historically significant forts not only of Rajasthan but of the whole of North India. It was constructed by the Mauryans in the 7th century AD. It was the citadel of many great Rajput warriors such as Rana Kumbha, Maharana Pratap etc.