Prithviraj Chauhan was the last independent Hindu king, before Hemu, to sit upon the throne of Delhi. He succeeded to the throne in 1179 CE at the age of 13, and ruled from the twin capitals of Ajmer and Delhi which he received from his maternal grandfather, Arkpal or Anangpal III of the Tomara dynasty in Delhi. He controlled much of present-day Rajasthan and Haryana, and unified the Rajputs against Turkic invasions.
King of Ajmer and Delhi
Reign - 1166-1192 AD
Predecessor - Anangpal Tomar II
Spouse - Rathore (Gaharwal) rani Samyukta
Issue - Govindraj,Akshay and Rensi and Jodhlakhan
Dynasty - Chauhan
Father - Someshwar Chauhan
Mother - Karpuri Devi
Born - 1149
Popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora was a king from the Chauhan dynasty. He ruled Sapadalaksha, the traditional Chahamana territory, in present-day north-western India. He controlled much of the present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi; and some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. His capital was located at Ajayameru (modern day Ajmer).
Prithviraj was born to the Chahamana king Someshwar and queen Karpuradevi. Both Prithviraj and his younger brother Hariraj were born in Gujarat, where their father Someshwar was brought up at the Chalukya court by his maternal cousins. The year of Prithviraj’s birth was 1166 CE.
He was master of history, mathematics, medicine, military, painting, philosophy (mimamsa), and theology. His father died when Prithviraj was around 11 years old and he ascended throne with his mother as the regent.
Prithviraj was believed to be a brave ruler and a decent general. Around the end of the the 12th century AD, the Turkic invasions started. These were led by Mohammad of Ghor.
During 1190–1191 CE, Muhammad of Ghor invaded the Chahamana territory, and captured Tabarhindah (identified with either Bhatinda or Sirhind). He placed it under the charge of Zia-ud-din, the Qazi of Tulak, supported by 1200 horsemen. When Prithviraj learned about this, marched towards Tabarhindah with his feudatories, including Govindaraja of Delhi.
According to the 16th century Muslim historian Firishta, his force comprised 200,000 horses and 3,000 elephants.
He started his invasion of India through a campaign in the a Gujarat and Sindh region. What followed was a mauling of his army by the Chalukyas. He managed to escape the battle, and plotted his next invasion. He decided to attack the northern part of the country , through which he would come into conflict with the Rajputs.
Muhammad's original plan was to return to his base after conquering Tabarhindah, but when he heard about Prithviraj's march, he decided to put up a fight. He set out with an army, and encountered Prithviraj's forces at Tarain. In the ensuing battle, Prithviraj's army decisively defeated the Ghurids. Muhammad of Ghor was injured and forced to retreat.
Initially, he tasted success by capturing a fort and installing a puppet ruler. Prithviraj Chauhan advanced his army towards the north to siege the fort. The two armies met at Tarain. The numerically and strategically superior army of Prithviraj Chauhan defeated the army of Mohammad of Ghor and the latter once again fled the battlefield. In this battle, Prithviraj had the support of various Rajput clans.
Muhammad of Ghor returned to Ghazna, and made preparations to avenge his defeat. According to Tabaqat-i Nasiri, he gathered a well-equipped army of 120,000 select Afghan, Tajik and Turkic horsemen over the next few months. He then marched towards the Chahamana kingdom via Multan and Lahore, aided by Vijayaraja of Jammu.
In AD 1192, Mohammad of Ghor once again launched an invasion. This resulted in the Second battle of Tarain. Prithviraj didn't have support from other clans due to numerous feuds and his main ally Jaichandra refused to help him, as his daughter Samyuktha eloped with Prithviraj.
According to Jawami ul-Hikayat, Muhammad assigned a few men to keep the fires in his camp burning at night, while he marched off in another direction with the rest of his army. This gave the Chahamanas an impression that the Ghurid army was still encamped, observing the truce. After reaching several miles away, Muhammad formed four divisions, with 10,000 archers each. He kept the rest of his army in reserve. He ordered the four divisions to launch a surprise attack on the Chahamana camp, and then pretend a retreat.
Prithviraj once again decided to move his army forward but he was captured and put to death. And thus, another son of India put down his life.
The "Prithviraj Raso" claims that Prithviraj was taken to Ghazna as a prisoner, and blinded. On hearing this, the poet Chand Bardai traveled to Ghazna and tricked Muhammad of Ghor into watching an archery performance by the blind Prithviraj. During this performance, Prithviraj shot the arrow in the direction of Muhammad's voice and killed him. Shortly after, Prithviraj and Chand Bardai killed each other.
This is a fictional narrative, not supported by historical evidence: Muhammad of Ghor continued to rule for more than a decade after Prithviraj's death.
Later in 1206, Mohammad of Ghor had an interesting death. As he was praying, the Khokars, a Jat clan, who used to be soldiers of Prithviraj‘s army stormed into his camp and decapitated him. That's what you call a dead king taking revenge on his killer.
His body was taken back to Afghanistan and a tomb was built. Prithviraj‘s remains also was near, outside his tomb. Since then the Afghan tradition demanded that the visitors kicked and abused Prithviraj‘s remains as they came to respect Mohammad of Ghor.
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