About The Author
A. P. Bhatnagar was born in 1934 in Prayagraj (Allahabad), a city whose literary and intellectual tradition left a lasting influence on his life. Trained as an engineer, he earned his postgraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, USA, and went on to an internationally distinguished career, serving on World Bank projects in Malaysia and leading a United Nations FAO project in Nigeria. He retired in 1994 from Punjab Agricultural University, where he served for nearly three decades as Professor, Head of Department, Dean, and Director. A Fellow of multiple national and Asian engineering institutions and a recipient of several national awards, Prof. Bhatnagar has also pursued a lifelong engagement with history and literature. His first historical work, Delhi and its Fort Palace A Historical Preview, traces the evolution of Delhi through fourteen successive cities, from Indraprastha of the Mahabharata to Mughal Shahjahanabad, with particular attention to the Red Fort and the imperial legacy of the Mughals. Widely read in India and abroad, the book established his interest in viewing history through layered urban, cultural, and political continuities. His second book, The Oudh Nights, re-examines the history of Nawabi Lucknow, challenging colonial-era caricatures of the Nawabs, Kings, and Begums of Oudh. Through careful narrative and documentary detail, it restores figures such as Wajid Ali Shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal, and Birjis Qadr to their rightful historical context, highlighting their cultural contributions, resistance to British rule, and the emergence of the syncretic Ganga-Jamuna culture. In his third book, Maulvi Liaqat Ali: Icon of 1857 Uprising at Allahabad, Prof. Bhatnagar offers a concise yet authoritative account of one of the 1857 Rebellion's most overlooked leaders. Drawing on regional archives and colonial records, the book examines Liaqat Ali's assumption of leadership in Allahabad, his emphasis on order and communal harmony, and his eventual capture and exile, seeking to restore his place in India's national memory. The Padumawati is his fourth historical work and reflects a continuing commitment to disentangling myth, memory, and historical reality through disciplined, source-based inquiry. With The Padumawati, the author invites readers to join him in a careful and rewarding exploration of history as it was written, remembered, and reinterpreted over time.
About The Book
The present work is definitely going to be a milestone in the field of critical study. It has been compiled with a cool, dispassionate, and scientific temper of enquiry covering every aspect of the topic. To begin with, the author has covered, in an unbiased manner, the entire gamut from the popular film to the different narratives and the historical studies in all their dimensions. Thus, both the popular perception and serious academic enquiry have been put to severe tests to come to logical conclusions and acceptable deductions. The organization of the present book is to first acquaint the readers what Jayasi has written in his text on Padmini of Chittor and also what has been specifically written by Rajasthani poets of bygone days on Padmini. This is followed by writings of Muslim writers of medieval period on the subject. The views of modern-day historians have been presented separately. Author has commented on these writings, wherever necessary, marked by "A.N." or Author's Note. The final comments of the author that include discussion, conclusions, and suggestions form the concluding part of the book. A comprehensive index follows towards the end.
Foreword
The present work is definitely going to be a milestone in the field of critical study. It has been compiled with a cool, dispassionate, and scientific temper of enquiry covering every aspect of the topic. The eminent sociologist, Shyama Charan Dube rightly suggested that we use the model of Great tradition' and 'Little tradition' in a different form in India as Ideal' and 'Practical levels. This has been done expertly in this invaluable study on Padmawati To begin with, the author has covered, in an unbiased manner, the entire gamut from the popular film to the different narratives and the historical studies in all their dimensions. Thus, both the popular perception and serious academic enquiry have been put to severe tests to come to logical conclusions and acceptable deductions Comparing the popular perceptions and academic studies the present work weaves a new path of unravelling the medieval saga. In fact, every story has to be retold to the present, but here the author transcends the defined boundaries and definitions by doing a comprehensive and complete study of the corpus in order to locate or siruate it in its totality-a work like Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi's Kabir or Vasudev Sharan Agrawal's commentary on Jayasi's Padmawat. In doing so, the author has successfully intertwined the earlier tradition with the versions and changes that crept into it over time. This is the most important and significant part of the work undertaken with sincerity of purpose. We can now easily understand both the changing contours of connotations down the ages and how the medieval work underwent them from an academic standpoint to the popular perception, as reflected in the film! Throughout this work, the author has shown a keen sense of historical evolution and has also successfully delineated facts from historical sources, both indigenous and those of rulers' courts. For example, in Canto 7, he points out how the term 'Banijara' used herein has been derived from Sanskrit word 'Vanij. This subtlety is generally missed by scholars who jump to the colonial connotation of Banjaras as members of nomadic tribes! In an attempt to unravel the historicity of the story, the author has discussed not only contemporary literary and historical sources, but even later sources have been analysed to Just one example would suffice to make evident his quest for an impartial investigation The author underlines the fact that an eminent historian, Dr. Dashrath Sharma, was wrong un stating that Amir Khusrau had mentioned incidents mdicative of either Padmini or Chittor. That's because the story was neither known to Khusrau nor his works corroborate it! Even the historical study of the Khahis (Khiljis) done by Prof K.S. Lal (History of the Khalius, 1950) asserts that Amur Khusram has not even mentioned the word Padmavat or Padmavati it can be gleaned from any work of Khusrau, whether historical or Malfuzar (Sufi) literature.
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