Padmavat or Padmawat is an epic poem

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 written in 1540 by Malik Muhammad Jayasi

Malik Muhammad Jayasi

Malik Muhammad Jayasi was an Indian poet who wrote in the Avadhi dialect of Hindi.He hailed from Jais, presently a city in the Rae Bareli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh...

 in the Awadhi language

Awadhi language

Awadhi is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the Hindi-Urdu continuum. It is spoken chiefly in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, although its speakers are also found in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Nepal. Furthermore, the Fiji Hindi dialect spoken by Indo-Fijians is considered a variant of Awadhi,...

. It is the first important work in Awadhi.

Theme

This epic poem is a fictionalized version of the historic siege of Chittor

Chittorgarh

Chittorgarh is a city and a municipality in Rajasthan state of western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgharh District and a former capital of the Sisodia clans of Rajputs of Mewar...

 by Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khilji

Ali Gurshap Khan better known by his titular name as Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji was the second ruler of the Turko-Afghan Khilji dynasty in India.He was a well and capable ruler. He belonged to the Afghanized Turkic tribe of the Khiljis...

 in 1303 AD, who attacks Chittor after hearing of the beauty of Queen Rani Padmini

Rani Padmini

Rani Padmini was the queen of Chittor and the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh. She features in Padmavat, an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540.- Jauhar :...

, the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh

Rawal Ratan Singh

Rawal Ratan Singh was the 42nd ruler of Mewar, a state that then covered part of the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He ruled from 1302-03 AD. Singh was a rajput belonging to the Guhilot clan.-Wars:...

.

According to Jayasi, Chitor stood for body, Raja for mind, Ceylon for heart, Padmini for wisdom and Alauddin for lust.

Jayasi imagined Padmavat as the world and the ruler as desire. The whole story was built around this figment of imagination.

Some part of the work is dedicated to Sher Shah

Sher Shah Suri

Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...

 (1486–1545).

Cultural influence

The poem is the ultimate source of Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

's opera Padmâvatî

Padmâvatî (opera)

Padmâvatî is an opera in two acts by the French composer Albert Roussel. The libretto, by Louis Laloy, is based on Théodore-Marie Pavie's La légende de Padmanî, reine de Tchitor, which retells the legend recounted in Malik Muhammad Jayasi's poem Padmavat . It was first performed at the Paris Opéra...

(1923).