Queens, courtesans, love and lust

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The world has witnessed many an eternal love stories. The world has also seen many a fascinations for beautiful damsels out of which some are pure and some not so pure. The beauty of Helen triggered the famous war of Troy largely depicted through Homer’s Iliad.

The road trip of mine was also witness to history of many an eternal love stories. These stories may not be as famous, but they definitely reshaped the history of the lands in which they occurred. Some of these stories are depicted below.

  1.  Mrignayani and Raja Man Singh Tomar 

Man Singh Tomar, founder of the man mandir palace (also known as the Gwalior Fort) fell in love with a Gurjari on one of his hunting expeditions. The Gurjari was renamed Mrignayani as her eyes seemed to resemble that of a beautiful doe to the king. Alas the love was not without conditions and the king had to settle for her terms in order to marry her. To the dismay of his entire court, the king agreed to gift Mrignayani a separate palace in addition to ensuring a continuous water supply from her beloved River Rai so that her beauty can be maintained for eternity.

Gujari Mahal

  1. Rai Parveen, the Nightingale or Orchha

Her paramour was King Indramani and their romance was folklore in the land of BundelKhand. After Emperor Akbar upon listening of fame of Rai Praveen, summoned her to his court in order to expand his harem. Her response to Akbar has been immortalized at the brilliant Light and Sound show at Raja Mahal in Orchha. Impressed by her loyalty Akbar, sent her back to her beloved Orchha and the Qila Rai Parveen is a testimonial to her love story with Indramani.

Art at Qila Rai Parveen

  1. Rani Roopmati and Baz Bahadur

Baz Bahadur got smitten with Roopmati much like Man Singh did with Mrignayni. Roopmati had a fascination with sighting of River Narmada and moved to Mandu only when promised of a place from where she can sight Narmada daily. Roopmati was married to Baz Bahaudur in accordance to both Hindu and Muslim rituals. When Adham Khan impressed by the tales of Roopmati’s beauty attacked Malwa, Baz Bahadur fled leaving Roopmati to fend for herself. Roopmati poisoned herself before Adham Khan could capture her. Baz Bahadur then returned to Malwa but eventually succumbed to Akbar and was made a mansabdar. Yup, not a heroic end to this love story.

Even today the palace of Rani Roopmati is visited by everybody visiting Mandu to get the glorious view of Narmada.

Rani Roopmati Mahal

4.  Rani Padmini and the lust of Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khilji, the Sultan heard of Rani Padmini’s beauty. His lust aroused he made a dash to Chittor and camped in front of the fort. He somehow managed to pursue King Rawal Ratan Singh of Mewar to allow him to have a glimpse of his queen. Ratan Singh maybe due to fear and in a bid to avert the war agreed to have Khilji a glimpse of Rani Padminin through a series of mirrors. All this did was to fuel the lust of Khilji further. Through deceit Khilji captured Ratan Singh and demanded Rani Padmini to visit his camp to secure the release of the King. Rani Padmini took the matter head on and played deceit with deceit. She sent a huge number of pallanquins from the fort befitting a queen but heavily armed to the teeth. The soldiers managed to rescure Ratan Singh and made a dash back to the fort. Khilji having been caught on the wrong foot managed to regroup and launch a counter attack during which the Chittor forces were defeated and Ratan Singh was killed. Rani Padmini in order to secure her pride decided to perform Jauhar(mass Suicide) along with rest of the Rajput females of the fort. Allaudin’s lust brought a tragic end to the story and all he found upon entering the fort were the ashes. The ruins of Chittor till date bore testimony to the bravery of its womenfolk whenever confronted with a danger to their pride.

Ruins @Chittor

India, a land which celebrates bravery of many of its warriors, also had the women folk of stronger mettle. This post is my tribute to these mighty women the queens and the courtesans who endured all the love and lust of the warriors.

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