Beauty enchants us. Beauty has the power to sway minds of people. Beautiful women around the world continue to awe the people who catch a glimpse of them. Going down the path of history, there were many historical women who had intoxicating beauty, whole kingdoms got destroyed, and wars were fought in order to win them. Today we will look into some of these enchantresses.
After the film most probably you people would be more familiar with the name Padmavati which is the same person as Rani Padmini. Rani Padmini was the princess of Srilanka and then queen of Chittor Fort of Rajasthan in the 13th-14th Century. The character has its roots in has roots in poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 1540 work of fiction the Padmavat.  Also, there are other variations in Hindu culture. According to the story Alauddin Khilji the ruler of Delhi in that century was so smitten with her beauty that he attacked Chittor Fort to win her for himself. But luck was not on his side while the Rajputs fought valiantly and gave up their lives on the other hand inside the castle Padmini along with other women performed self -immolation called Jauhar in order to save her dignity. Alauddin found bones and ashes and an eerie empty castle instead of the precious flower he wanted to pluck, Padmini was gone forever. The legend of Rani Padmini is a chief folklore and an inspiration for the girls of Rajasthan who refused to submit herself to the enemy and embraced a pure gallant death.
The elusive mysterious Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. The Roman historian Cassius Dio describes Cleopatra as “a woman of surpassing beauty†who was “brilliant to look uponâ€. Cleopatra had a beautiful voice and very attractive character. She had knowledge about astronomy, mathematics, warfare and spoke several languages. She was the first in her line to learn the Egyptian language. Also she was capable of capturing the heart of two most powerful men of her times, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra knew how to make an entrance. As the goes when Julius Caesar was inside Alexandria, Cleopatra smuggled herself inside his private chambers wrapped within a carpet. Caesar was very surprised to find the young queen in his room. Cleopatra was rewarded with support from Caesar and they became lovers. Another story says Cleopatra impressed Antony by portraying herself as Green Goddess Aphrodite sitting under a golden canopy. Mark Antony who considered himself an incarnation of Dionysus was immediately smitten with her.
One of the most popular women of history, Helen didn’t belong to Troy, she was a Spartan queen in actuality. But her beauty which led to destruction of Troy gave her the above name. Helen was the wife of Menelaus of Sparta. Helen eloped with Prince Paris of Troy which led to a brutal battle as Menelaus came to reclaim his wife. The whole incident is narrated in several books like Iliad and Odyssey. The role of Helen during fall of Troy is a bit complicated while in Virgil’s Aeneid Helen is described as at treacherous women who signaled the Greeks with at torch from the tower in Odyssey, Homer writes about a Helen who tortures Greek soldiers by reminding of their loved ones staying within the horse. Also the fate of Helen is unclear too, there are versions where she goes to Olympus and in others she goes back to Sparta.
All these women belonging to different parts of the world whose tales of beauty and grace are shrouded in mysteries of time and history have successfully contained the minds of filmmakers who have tried to recreate the allure, sensuality of these women in several films, the intriguing stories about their beauty and how that became a curse or how she decided to use it haunts generations of people till now. Â
