A group of vandals shattered the mirrors installed in Padmini Palace situated inside the 13th century Chittorgarh Fort, which has been at the centre of attention after the attack on film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his unit during the shooting for his period movie Padmavati in Jaipur and the subsequent agitation.
Rajput outfit Karni Sena’s activists, who gained access to the palace posing as tourists, are suspected to be responsible for the act of vandalism on Sunday evening. While protesting against Padmavati , Karni Sena had asked the fort authorities to remove the mirror work a few days ago.
Police have registered a first information report against unidentified persons on the complaint lodged by the Archaeological Survey of India officials and launched investigation.
The mirror 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 jahuhar (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.
Karni Sena dismisses the narrative as spurious and insists that Queen Padmini’s face was never shown to the Khilji dynasty ruler.
