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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t13: Padmavat

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t13

Language
English

Padmavat

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*Padmavat* is a representative work of the ‘Bhakti Kaal’ of the ‘Nirguna School’ of Devotional Literature in medieval India, also translated as *Padmāvat*, a long love narrative poetry created in Hindi Avadhi dialect by Malik Mohammad Jāyasī, a devotional poet of Sufi. The poetry was created in Persian Masnavi style, and includes more than 600 sections, 18 lines for each section, altogether over 11,000 lines. The poetry has several editions in circulation, of which ‘*Jāyasī Granthāvalī: Padamāvatī Ṭīka Sahita*’, the proofreading edition of Rajnath Sharma, is most complete and deliberative. Main story: Singhala Dvīpa had a very beautiful princess named Princess Padmini. Cittaura’s Crown Prince Ratnasena learned about Princess Padmini from her parrot, so he dressed himself up as a hermit and manages to see the princess. After experiencing all kinds of sufferings, he finally meets the princesses and marries her with the help of the great god. After that, the couple lived happily. But, the prince’s first wife Nāgamatī was sad in Chittor, so she sent a bird carrying a letter to the prince evoking him to think about his homeland. And so Ratnasena takes Padmini with him and returns to his kingdom. Rāghava Cetana, a Brahman tells this news to the Muslim ruler, Alauddin in Delhi. Alauddin sends troops to attack Ratnasena in order to kidnap the princess. He fights bitterly with Ratnasena for eight years and is able to capture and bring him to Delhi by deceit. The princess comes up with a plot to save her husband, and leads the soldiers of Ratnasena to Delhi and saves him. Afterwards, Ratnasena goes to war with a neighbouring state whose king also coveted the beautiful princess. In the end, both die in battle. The princess is forced to burn herself in Sati when Alauddin comes to attack again.

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*Padmāvat* is a widely circulated story among Indians as it absorbs the elements of Indian fork literature and classical literature, integrates folktales and historical stories, emphasises that god loves and expresses the tolerant and equal thoughts of Islamic Sufi.

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Studies on *Padmāvat* in China started in 1980s. *India Hindi Literature History* (1987), *A History of Ancient Indian Literature* (1991) and *Indian Religious Literature in Medieval Times* (2011) have introduced the life story and creation of Malik Mohammad Jāyasī and the contents, artistic characteristics, religious thoughts and influence of *Padmāvat*. Xue Keqiao, a researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published his dissertation, *Malik Mohammad Jāyasī and Lianhua Gongzhu Chuanqi—On Hindi Sufistic Literature in Medieval Times* on the first edition of *South Asian Studies* in 2004 to analyse and discuss Malik Mohammad Jāyasī and ‘*Padmāvat*’.

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(Ren Jing)

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