Padmini

   A legendry character who was supposed to be the wise and beautiful wife of Rana Ratan Sen at the time of 'Ala al-Din Khalji's attack on Chitor (1303). According to this legend, 'Ala al-Din failed to capture the fort despite a siege of eight years. He is eventually supposed to have seized Ratan Sen by deceit and then made a de-mand for the surrender of Padmini to him. But the Rajput warriors, guided and inspired by Padmini, librated the Rana by resorting to the well-known trick of entering the enemy's citadel disguised as se-cluded ladies. This story, having no historical validity whatsoever, was popularized in the 16th century by Malik Muhammad Jaisi through his versified romance Padmavat (1540), which is written in Awadhi dialect. The earliest manuscript of the book is, however, in-scribed in Persian script adapted to Awadhi phonetics.