Padmini is a legendary--some say historical--queen in 14th-century Rajput renowned for her beauty and for immolating herself rather than submit to a suitor. Sreenivasan (history, State U. of New York-Buffalo) traces the multiple narrative traditions about her, and locates them within the historical moments in which they were produced and circulated. The study began as her Ph.D. dissertation at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)