June 1, 2005 - Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World, who was also proclaimed by the world press as the most beautiful woman in the world, has been relegated to number nine in a list released by Harpers & Queen of today’s 50 most beautiful women.

Model and actress Padma Lakshmi, the fourth wife of Salman Rushdie, has been adjudged as the 28th most beautiful woman. She and Rai are the two Indians in the list.

In the first 10, Angelina Jolie tops the list, followed by Christy Turlington, Queen Raina of Jordan, Sofia Coppola, Nigella Lawson, Uma Thurman, Emmanuelle Beart, Kate Moss, Aishwarya Rai and Princess Charlotte of Monaco is at number 10.

Among some other known beauties, Julie Christie is put at 23, Sophie Dahl is at 16, Vanessa Redgrave is at 32 slot, Halle Berry is at 37, Jennifer Lopez at 39, Gwyneth Paltrow is placed at 41and Kate Winslet at lowly 46.

The release of the list has re-ignited a debate on what is beauty. John Keats definition ” Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”, raised some pretty ugly arguments.

The conclusion is that most of the beauties in the list share success. They are touting that most lucrative of commodities, unsatisfied desire. ” They are selling an impossible perfection that, would slip away with the onset of the next style.”

Another argument is that with capitalism beauty has become a cashable commodity. But a cynic said the fact that the finished image of the ship-launching beauty of Helen Troy is lost shows that no one is the most beautiful woman in the world.

Possibly Aishwarya Rai realises the truth of all this. From number one beauty, she has slipped to number nine in the assessment, possibly only because of the new style trends and new ways of assessing the fairest of all.