All That Hoopla Over Rani Padmavati While Evading Khiliji’s True Sexuality?

So after all the hullaballoo Padmaavat finally got released last month and while a lot of people have praised its direction and the acting, a lot of people are also questioning whether Allaudin Khilji was bisexual or not. Well, it’s not a popular topic and most of us want to stay clear of it but the fact remains that many emperors and kings who ruled earlier were bisexual and indulged in slavery in various forms.

According to the historians, Allaudin Khilji wanted to conquer the land and queen of Chittor, Padmavati but there was still a darker side to his character. Many historians like Devdutt Pattanaik, believe that Khilji was both bisexual and a pedophile, often visiting the slave market ‘Bachha Bazi’ in Gujarat, where he came across Malik Kafur (played by Jim Sarbh) and was mesmerized by his beauty.

In Baccha Bazi, foreign invaders brought child slaves and men who dressed like women for their pleasure and entertainment. Thus, there is a strong possibility that Khilji could have been attracted towards men, women, and children.

It is said that Khilji bought Malik Kafur and then groomed him as his sexual protégé and his chief advisor. While the movie Padmaavat doesn’t show this relationship in detail, we certainly did see a few glimpses of jealousy and intimacy between them with just enough insinuation to make the audience wonder about Allaudin’s sexuality and intentions towards Kafur.

However, this was not just the case with Khilji, historians have claimed that many emperors used to be bisexual and had both male and female slaves for pleasuring them and many also had sexual relations with children as well. In fact, Allaudin Khilji is said to be one of the most lustful rulers who had a harem of thousands of males, females, and children.

Rulers and emperors of earlier times did indulge in slavery and might have had occasional rendezvous with men but such topics have always been a taboo, which is why we see no mention of it in the official documents and even now this is shunted behind closed doors and power influences.