PrithviRaj Chauhan

Born : 1168

Died:1192

Father: Someshwar Chauhan

Mother: Kamladevi

Maternal Grand Father: Anangpal

Made King : 1179

Ruled : Ajmer Delhi

Wife: Samyukta

Historical Preface

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Around 1300 A.D. there was a King called Anangpal, a Tunvar Rajput who ruled over Delhi. He had two daughters Kamladevi and Roopsundari. Kamladevi was married to the King of Ajmer called Someshwar Chauhan. King Someshwar had a son called Prithviraj Chauhan. Roopsundari was married to King Vijaypal of Kanoj. He also had a son named Jaychand. Since King Anangpal had no sons, he adopted Prithviraj Chauhan and declared him to be the successor to the throne of Delhi. King Anangpal gave to his other relations the towns under his jurisdiction. He also gave away Pokran and Phaloji and the surrounding four Jojan land to Dheersinh Tunvar who was a close relation to King Anangpal.

Prithviraj Chauhan(1168-1192) was a king of the Rajput Chauhan ruler who ruled a large area of northern india.

He was born in 1168 to king Someshwara Chauhan and his wife Kamladevi.

He was made king in 1179 at the age of just 11

He ruled in Ajmer and Delhi.

His elopement with Samyukta, the daughter of Jai Chandra, the Gahadvala king of Kannauj, is a popular romantic tale in India, and is one of the subjects of the PrithvirajRaso, an epic poem composed by Prithviraj's court poet, ChandBardai. The Chauhan succession had been rather confused since the death of Vigraha-raja in 1165; Prithviraj reconsolidated control of the Chauhan kingdom and conquered several neighboring kingdoms, which made his state the leading Hindu kingdom in northern India. Delhi was captured from the Tomara Rajputs during the early years of his reign, and was renamed Qila Rai Pithora. He campaigned against the Chandela Rajputs of Bundelkhand. His kingdom included much of the present-day Indian states of Rajasthan and Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. To this day, Prithviraj is considered to be a legendary hero and martyr by Hindus, and his lineage appears quite spread out covering vast tracts of Uttar Pradesh, Harayana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Himanchal Pradesh.

Battles of gadha

The Muslim Ghaznavid Empire, which bordered Prithviraj's kingdom to the north, was conquered by the Afghan Muhammad of Ghor towards the end of the 12th century. A dispute over a fortre on the border of 3 kingdoms (thought to be either Sirhind or Bathinda in the Punjab) brought the armies of the 3 kingdoms into conlict at the First Battle of Tarain in 1191. In the First Battle of Taraori in 1191 Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghouri, when he met Ghauri in a personal combat and injured Ghauri. Later both armies attacked each other and Ghauri's army was defeated. Ghauri retreated to Afghanistan. Prithviraj, following the tenets of Rajput warfare of forgiveness, allowed his foe to escape as he was forbidden by Kshatriya rules to attack a retreating enemy. Ghori is said to have vowed not to sleep on a bed or take a bath until he had defetaed Prithviraj. Due to internecine quarrels, Ghori was encouraged and abetted to wage another war on Prithvi Raj Chauhan by petty kingdoms, in which Prithviraj was defeated.

Captivity, revenge and death

As a prisoner in Ghor (Afghanistan), Prithviraj was brought in chains before Mahmud Ghori. He haughtily looked Ghori straight into the eye. Ghori ordered him to lower his eyes, whereupon a defiant Prithviraj scornfully reminded him of how he had treated Ghori when the latter was his prisoner. He declared that the eyelids of a Rajput are lowered only in death. On hearing this, Ghori flew into a rage and ordered that Prithviraj's eyes be burnt with red hot iron rods. The blind Prithviraj was then regularly brought to the presence of the barbaric warlord to be taunted by Ghori and his courtiers.

Prithviraj's former courtier and friend Chand Bardai, who was later to compose the Prithviraj Raso, a ballad-biography of Pritiviraj, came to Ghor to be near Prithviraj in his misery. Chand Bardai came in disguise and secured himself a place in Mahmud's court as a composer of ballads and poems and thus could get access to his friend - Prithvi Raj Chauhan and planned with him on how to seek the revenge.

Killing of Mahmud:

The two got an opportunity when Ghori announced an archery competition. Chand Bardai told Ghori that Prithviraj was so skilled an archer, that he could take aim based only on sound, and did not even need to look at his target. Ghori refused to to believe this; the courtiers taunted Chand Bardai, asking how a blind man could possibly shoot arrows and hit a target. In the spirit of their usual barbaric mockery, they brought the blind and hapless Prithviraj out to the field. Pressing a bow and arrows into his hand, they taunted him to take aim.

Chand Bardai told Ghori that these orders and requests coming from courtiers would be of no avail, for Prithviraj would never follow orders of lowly courtiers. He said that Prithviraj, as an anointed king, would not accept orders from anyone other than Ghori, the king. His ego thus massaged, and in the spirit of the occasion, Mahmud Ghori agreed to personally give Prithviraj the order to shoot. Thus, Chand Bardai ensured Prithviraj of a signal in the form of the voice of Ghori as he was to give the orders to shoot an arrow. To reconfirm the site and distance of the target (Ghori), ChandBardai gave Prithviraj one further and final clue by composing a couplet on the spot and reciting the same to Prithviraj. This couplet, composed in a language understood only by Prithviraj went thus:

"Char bans, chaubis gaj, angul ashta praman, Taa ke upar sultaan hai, mut chooke Chauhan."

(Ten measures ahead of you and twenty four feet away, is seated the Sultan. Do not miss him now, Chauhan).

As Ghori himself ordered Prithviraj to shoot, Prithviraj aimed directly at Ghori having located the origin of the voice and was helped immensely by the Chand Bardai's couplet. His arrow was so well aimed that it went through Ghori's throat killing him on the spot. The friends, Prithvi Raj Chauhan and Chand Bardai, had planned to end their lives themselves rather being subjugated to toture by the enemy, once their king was killed. Thus having avenged the defeat and humiliation, the friends took out their 'Kataars' (hunting knife), and as per the plan, inflicted fatal blow to one another simultaneously. Thus ended the story of the brave and chivalrous PrithvirajChauhan, the last Hindu ruler of Delhi. Since the Indian history was never documented in writing, but was passed down by the word of mouth, this folklore is still prevalent and instils great amount of pride as well as a sense of bereavement.

It is also said that Kayam Singh, a brother of Prithvi Raj Chauhan, was forcibly converted to Islam after Prithvi Raj was defeated and taken a prisoner. The progeny of Kayam Singh are said to be the followers of Islam and are called 'Kayamkhani Muslims'.

A different version, propogated by Muslim historians, says that after defeating Prithviraj, Ghauri killed him and gained control of his kingdom and went on to control northern Rajasthan and the northern part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab.