Rani Padmini (Padmaavati) was canonically Sri Lankan

Rani Padmini, now infamous from the movie Padmaavat, was canonically from SL. Its hard to say if the lore of Rani Padmini is a historical truth, or story telling, or a legend that comes from a background of truth, its kind of a nice touch to see north Indian works involving SL. Mewar being in present day Rajasthan, and the vague estimates of her lifetime being 13th 14th centuries, putting it in late Polonnaruwa to more likely Dambadeniya/Yapahuwa eras. It was a gentle surprise to come across this lore, and while the history is debated, its good lore nontheless




Upon posting to r/srilanka, u/ariel31103 replied "Once I saw in a podcast prof raj somadeva mentioning that, there was a princess named padmini in dambadeniya kingdom and later she was sent to India.", followed by affirmations. On the other hand u/Backward-Dealer354 replied "But its more likely that she is a myth created by the Sufi Muslims, Hindu Nath and Jains to perpetrate specific agendas about the siege of Chittorgarh of 1303. There is a reason 3 different separate accounts of the siege do not mention her, but she is randomly mentioned by a Sufi historian 200 years later as the focal point of the siege". I don't have the time to follow-up both of these.. but one things for certain, and that is that, the Rani Padmini lore is goated, and its wonderful to have like Dambadeniya/Yapahu era SL mentioned in Dehliite lore.


Posted to r/srilanka as u/The_Cosmic_Learner 


Achinthya Nanayakkara


22.03.2025


Source - Rani Padmini wiki + reddit

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