Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 262

236
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ DECEMBER, 1930
marches to Dehly, was admitted without interruption. It was night when the party arrived, and, by the king's especial permission, the littets were allowed to be carried into the prison, the attendants, having taken their stations without. No sooner were they within the walls, than the armed men leaping out of the litters, put the king's guards to the sword, and carried off the Raja. Horses being already prepared for his flight, he mounted one, and rushing with his attendants through the city, before opposition could be made, fled to his own country among the hills, where his family were concealed. Thus, by the exertions of his ingenious daughter, the Raja effected his escape, and from that day continued to ravage the country then in possession of the Mahomedang. At length, finding it of no use to retain Chittoor, the king ordered the Prince Khirr Khan to evacuate it, and to make it over to the nephew of the Raja. This Hindu prince, in a short time, restored the principality to its former condition, and retained the tract of Chittoor as tributary to Alla-ood-Deen during the rest of this reign. He sent annually large sums of money, besides valuable presents, and always joined the imperial standard in the field with 5,000 horse and 10,000 foot."46
Now. As regards the account given by Col. Tod, it may be stated that Lakhamsi was not the ruler of Mewar when Chitor was attacked by 'Alau'd-dîn. He was the ruler of an estate called Sisod& in Mewar and was subordinate to Ratnasimha. He was killed fighting along with his seven sons against 'Alau'd-dîn at the siege of Chitor.47 Bhimai (Bhîmasiṁha) was not the uncle, but the grandfather 48 of Lakhamsi (Lakşmaņasimha), and must have died many years before the attack on Chitor; for his grandson, Lakhamsi, being a father of eight sons, seems to have reached an advanced age at the time of the siege. Chitor was attacked only once 49 by 'Alau'd-din, and at that time its ruler was Ratansen (Ratnasimha), as is rightly stated by Firishta. But Firishta is certainly wrong in saying that 'Alau'd-din asked Ratnasimha to deliver one of his daughters to him and that the Raja (Ratnasimha) effected his escape from prison at Delhi through the exertions of his daughter. Padmini was the wife of Ratnasimha, though her parentage is yet unknown, and she was not the object for which 'Alau'd-dîn attacked Chitor: it was his warlike spirit and desire for conquest which led him to besiege Chitor, Ranthambhor, JAlor and other places in Rajpûtånd. Both Col. Tod and Firishta are mistaken in stating that Ratnasimha was taken prisoner to Delhi by 'Alau'd-din, and that Padmini went there to effect the escape of her husband or father by & stratagem, in which she succeeded. Neither Ratnasinha nor Padmini went to Delhi : the former met his death in the fighting at Chitor, and the latter in the flames of jauhar after her husband had been killed, as is correctly stated by Col. Tod. There was no king of Ceylon named Hamir Sank,' who was contemporary with Rawal Ratnasimha of Mewar. 50
The story narrated by Col. Tod and Firishta about the attack of 'Alau'd-dîn on Chitor may also be found in earlier compilations. For instance, the Hindi poem 51 on Padmavati oompiled by Mahmud Jayass in the first half of the sixteenth century A.D. gives, more or less, the same account. The purport of the story is given below:
Ratansen, son of Chitrasen, king of Chitor, having learnt through a parrot of the extraordinary beauty of Padmini, the daughter of Champavati, the queen of the king Gandhravasen of Sirhhaladvipa (Ceylon), went to Ceylon in the guise of a mendicant to obtain a sight of her. They accidentally met in a Siva temple and fell in love with each other. Subsequently, on the growth of an intense love between them, they were married by Padmini's father. After spending some time in Ceylon, Ratansen returned to Chitor with Padmini. At Chitor there was a Brahmana named Raghavachetana, who incurred the displeasure of the Rana and was banished from the kingdom. He went direct to Sultan 'Alau'd-dîn of Delhi and informed 48 Briggs' Feriahta, vol. I, pp. 362-63.
17 Rajpatånd Museum Report, 1925-26, p. 2. 48 MM, Rai Bahadur G. H. Ojha's History of Rdjputand (in Hindi), vol. I, p. 522.
Briggs' Perishta, vol. I, p. 353. Elliot : History of India, vol. III, pp. 76-77. 60 Duft's Chronology, p. 321; H. W. Codrington, A Short History of Ceylon, pp. xviii, 78-80. 61 Manuooi, Storia do Mogor, vol. IV, p. 419. Also as in note 48 above, pp. 487-491.