The Mewar region in north-western India was ruled by the Guhila dynasty, whose seat was located at the Chittor Fort (Chittorgarh).

[6] However, Padmini does not find a mention in the earliest records of Alauddin's conquest of Chittor, such as the chronicles by Amir Khusrau, Barani and Isami.

[10] Conversely, Banarsi Prasad Saxena states that the figure of 30,000 is probably an exaggeration and inaccurate as three and thirty are presented similarly in Persian annals.

[12][13] While the exact site of where the Jauhar was committed is unknown, Historian R.V Somani speculated that it took place near Gaumukh Kund or inside the palaces.

The early Muslim chroniclers such as Amir Khusrau, Ziauddin Barani and Isami, state that the unnamed ruler ("Rai") of Chittor surrendered to Alauddin and was pardoned.

[17] The Kumbhalgarh prashasti (eulogistic inscription) of 1460 CE, which is the earliest Hindu record of the siege, states that Ratnasimha "departed" from the battlefield, after which Lakshmasimha died defending the fort because only the cowards forsake "the established traditions of the family", while "those who are valorous and steady do not give up their pursuit.

"[18][19] Modern historians have interpreted the word "departed" (tasmin gate in Sanskrit) variously, either meaning that Ratnasimha died fighting on the battlefield or deserted the defenders and surrendered.

[20] The Padmavat legend claims that Ratnasimha ("Ratan Sen") died in a combat with the ruler of Kumbhalner, before Alauddin's conquest of the fort.

[6] An important inscription at Chittor dated 13 May 1310, recording Alauddin as the ruler, indicates that the place had not been evacuated by the Khaljis till that period.

[23] As Khizr Khan was only a child, the actual administration was handed over to a slave named Malik Shahin, who held the office of naib-i barbek (deputy in-charge of the royal court), and whom Alauddin called his son.

[15] According to the 14th-century chronicler Isami, Malik Shahin fled the fort sometime later because he was afraid of the Vaghela king Karna, who had managed to recapture the neighbouring Gujarat region after Alauddin's 1299 invasion.

[24] However, historian Peter Jackson believes that the fort remained under the control of the governors dispatched from Delhi, even during the reigns of the first two Tughluq rulers (1321–1350), as suggested by epigraphic evidence.