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Padminis Palace in Chittorgarh gives this city its recognition as land of warriors. Chittorgarh, which was Chittor during 7th to 16th century, was the capital of Mewar ruled by Rajputs. Chittorgarh has been famous for heroic deeds of not only its warriors but also the women of the city. Chittor is the pride and glory of the Rajasthan in olden times and now in modern India an important industrial town.
Chittorgarh has many glorious forts, splendid palaces and chattris but now all are in ruins due to repeated invasion by foreign invaders. But still ruins too tell the story of valor and romance of the people once lived and ruled Chittorgarh. Padminis Palace is too such an old ruined structure but still adored because of its past.
In the south of Chittorgarh there stands a structure called Padminis Palace. Padminis palace is a characteristically feminine structure built besides a pool with a pavilion in its center. This pool and this palace are related to a legend still sung by bards in Rajasthan.
The legend goes like this that Rani Padmini was the beautiful queen of Raja Rattan Singh, who ruled Chittorgarh around 1300 A.D. Alaudin Khilji was showed the glimpses of Rani Padmini in a mirror when sat beside this pool. Smitten by her beauty, he invaded Chittor to posses her. Legendry tale ended with tragedy as Rani Padmini sacrificed by jumping into a lit pyre rather than dishonoring herself in the hands of that lustful invader. This glorified sacrifice is called Jauhar and denotes the heroic spirit of Rajputs. This followed many Jauhars by other womenfolk of Chittor. This palace signifies the glorified valor of the womenfolk of Chittor. It was further attacked by the Mughals and the bronze gates of this pavilion were carried off by the Akbar and placed at a fort in Agra.
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