A group of miscreants shattered mirrors in the Padmini Palace inside the 13th century Chittorgarh Fort of Rajasthan, claiming that the mirrors misrepresent the story of Queen Padmini.
Activists of the Rajput outfit, Karni Sena, who gained access to the palace posing as tourists, allegedly indulged in vandalism on Sunday. The Karni Sena had earlier asked the fort authorities to remove the mirrors.
Three mirrors in the palace, situated adjacent to a small lake, were installed about 50 years ago. The Rajput group claims that the mirrors misrepresent the story of Queen Padmini, who performed Jauhar (self-immolation) rather than submitting to Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji.
The mirrors were shown to tourists as part of a legend that Alauddin Khilji saw Queen Padmini’s face in a mirror while she was seated in a tenement on the other side of the lake, as a compromise with her husband Rana Ratan Singh.
The Karni Sena dismisses the narrative as spurious and insists that the queen’s face was never shown to the Khilji dynasty ruler. Rajput leader and Karni Sena founder Lokendra Singh Kalvi said glass and mirrors were yet to come to India in the 13th century when Alauddin Khilji attacked Chittorgarh. Mr. Kalvi said they had submitted several memoranda to the administration seeking to remove the mirrors, but in vain.
Attack on Bhansali
In January, the Karni Sena activists roughed up film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Jaipur’s Jaigarh Fort and vandalised the Padmavati sets, alleging that the film had distorted history by showing a romantic relationship between the Muslim ruler and the Rajput queen.
The Karni Sena withdrew its protests after the film-maker clarified that there was nothing objectionable in the movie’s script.
