Fire Feared not the Queen!
The Rajput Ratan singh came to the throne
of Chittorgarh, the chivalrous land,
when Khilji, having all the Northern kings won,
turned to West, to put his foes to the brand.
The Turks made a blockade of the fort
to catch Padmini, the marvelous Mewar’s queen,
and take to Khilji’s harem, and to distort
the pride of Rajputs who in war weren’t mean.
By war, the besieging Sultan found no end;
“A glance will turn me to Delhi”, he cried.
To cease the fight, the wise chose to lend
her image, arranging her mien to hide.
On a scaffold amidst a lake
the queen of the martial race was to stand
and the mad Turk from a mirror had to take
the flashed figure of the nymph made by God’s wand.
In killing and blinding his kin Khilji revelled.
He would seize the wives of vanquished kings
and poison his marshals, who his place levelled.
He marred the idols in temples and pulled the strings.
To avoid bloodshed, Ratan agreed to show
a virtual image of the queen to his guest.
But the beard-caressing thief got in to mow,
the image elegant to give his mind rest.
A scoundrel’s hunger is never appeased.
But within the fort his sword never he drew.
The image fair his blazing heart teased.
When the host came out, engulfed him the vile crew.
Ratan got confined in the camp of the tribes
which fought for zan(money) , zenana(women) , zamin(land) and gold.
Khilji lolled his tongue not for precious bribes
but for Padmini, the queen chaste and bold.
The wise queen sent the Sultan, the news to meet
and the bestial Khilji smiled and braced his beard.
But fighters in the guise of maids to beat
the Turk, went in palanquins, with valour weird.
Her uncle Gora ran the blockade and safely freed
the king and fought to his grave with mad dogs.
The frothy beast stormed the fort again with greed
with an added force of looting savage hogs.
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poem by Rajendran Muthiah
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