Jayasi's 'Padmavat' an intricate tapestry of love: Book

Malik Muhammad Jayasi's "Padmavat" is a first-rate poetry not a regressive Bollywood extravaganza, says writer and literary historian Purushottam Agrawal, noting that the Sufi poet's masterpiece is an imaginative literature woven around an episode in history.

Agrawal presents his case in a new book "Padmavat An Epic Love Story", months after the release of the controversial Bollywood epic "Padmaavat", which had prompted months of protests across the country by Hindu Rajputs over queen Padmini's portrayal.

"Jayasi's sympathies are clearly with Ratansen, not because he is a Hindu warrior, but because is a love-yogi'. Jayasi's Alauddin is cunning and unfair to Padmavati and Ratansen, yet he is not a monster. Jayasi's characters are not just good guys or bad guys," he says.

"His Padmavat is first-rate poetry, not an opulent, regressive Bollywood extravaganza."
"This fact has been known for decades; no serious scholar takes Padmavat as an allegory any more."