Prithviraj Raso written by Chand Bardai

The Prithviraj Raso was composed by Chand Bardai, Prithviraj's court poet, who accompanied the king in all his battles. Chand Bardai belonged to the community known as Charans,whose traditional occupation is to compose poems and ballads in praise of their patrons, based loosely on historical incident; they were poets and scribes who accompanied the armies of their patrons and encouraged and exhorted the warriors to bravery in battle by reciting the great deeds of their illustrious clan forebears.

Overtime, the Prithviraj Raso has been embellished with the interpolations and additions of many other authors. Only a small portion of the existing texts is likely to have been part of the original text. Several versions of the Prithivraj Raso are available, but scholars agree that a small 1300 stanza manuscript in Bikaner is closest to the original text. The longest available version is the Udaipur manuscript, which is an epic comprising of 16,306 stanzas. The language of the texts available today largely appears to be post-15th century.

The Prithviraj Raso is a source of information on the social and clan structure of the Kshattriya communities of northern India.

The story related in the epic

According to the ballad, Prithviraj was a romantic, chivalrous and an extremely fearless king who, after ceaseless military campaigns, extended his original kingdom of Sambhar
(Shakambara) in present-day Rajasthan, to cover Rajasthan, Gujaratand eastern Punjab. He ruled from his twin capitals of Delhi and Ajmer. His fast rise aroused the envy of the then powerful ruler of Kannauj, Jaichand Gahadwala, and caused ill-feeling between the two.

Elopement with Samyogita

The story of Prithviraj's exploits spread far and wide and became the subject of much discussion among the nobility. Samyogita, daughter of Jaichand, fell secretly in love with Prithviraj and began a secret correspondence with him. Her father got wind of this and resolved to have her safely wed at an early date. He arranged a Swayamwara, a ceremony where a maiden selects her husband from a number of suitors who assemble at the invitation of her guardian. Jaichand invited many princes of acceptable rank and heritage, but deliberately failed to invite Prithiviraj. To add insult to injury, Jaichand had a statue of Prithviraj made and placed at the door of the venue, thus parodying Prithviraj as a doorman. Prithviraj came to hear of this. He made his plans and confided the same to his lover, Samyogita.

On the day of the ceremony, Samyogita emerged from an inner chamber, entered the venue of the swayamwara, walked straight down the hall past the assembled suitors, bypassing them all. She reached the door and garlanded the statue of Pritiviraj. The assemblage were stunned at this brash act, but more was to follow: Prithviraj, who had been hiding behind the statue in the garb of a doorman, emerged, put Samyogita upon his steed, and made a fast getaway. Jaichandra and his army gave earnest chase, to no avail. This incident resulted in a string of battles between the two kingdoms and both of them suffered heavily. The Chauhan-Gahadvalafeud led to the weakening of both Rajput kingdoms.

Mahmud of Ghor

While this drama was being enacted, an obscure warlord named Mahmud, hailing from Ghor
in present-day Afghanistan, grew increasingly powerful. He captured Ghazniand subsequently defeated the Ghaznavid governor of Punjab. Mahmud Ghori's domain now touched upon that of PrithvirajChauhan. A clash was inevitable. 

First battle of Tarain (1191 CE):

Mahmud Ghori invaded Prithviraj's domains and laid siege to the fortress of Bhatinda in Punjab, which was at the frontier between the two kingdoms. Prithviraj's appeal for help from his father-in-law was scornfully rejected by the haughty Jaichandra. Undaunted, Prithviraj marched on Bhatinda and gave battle to the invaders at a place called Tarain (also called Taraori) near the town of Thanesar.

In face of the Rajput onslaught, the invading Muslim army broke ranks and fled, leaving their leader, Mahmud Ghori, a prisoner in Prithviraj's hands. Mahmud Ghori was brought in chains to Pithoragarh, Prithviraj's capital. He begged his captor for mercy and release. Prithviraj's ministers advised against pardoning the aggressor. However, the chivalrous and valiant Prithviraj thought otherwise and respectfully released the vanquished Ghori. 

Second battle of Tarain (1192 CE):

The very next year, Ghori repaid Prithviraj's gesture by again invading Prithviraj's kingdom with a stronger army. Again, the two armies met at Tarain. The Hindus incidentally followed a hoary practice of battling only between sunrise and sunset. Ghori attacked the Rajput army before daybreak and thus emerged victorious. The defeated Prithviraj was pursued upto his capital. At the point when annihilation became certain, Samyukta committed suicide by self-immolation rather than face the prospect of personal dishonour at the hands of a barbaric invader. Prithviraj was taken in chains to Ghor in present-day Afghanistan.

Captivity, revenge and death

As a prisoner in Ghor, Prithviraj was brought in chains before Mahmud. 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 a 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. This heinous deed was committed. 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 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 by purveying his skills as a composer of paens. On the one hand, he earned Mahmud's regard; on the other, he took every opportunity to meet with Prithviraj and urge him to avenge Ghori's betrayal and daily insults.

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 disdained to believe this; the courtiers guffawed and taunted Chand Bardai, asking how a blind man could possibly shoot arrows. 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 this taunting would avail nothing, for Prithviraj would never do as some sundry courtiers bade him do. He said that Prithviraj, as an anointed king, would not accept orders from anyone other than another 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 provided Prithviraj with an aural indication of where Ghori was seated. He gave Prithviraj one further indication of the same, by composing a couplet on the spot and reciting the same in Prithviraj's hearing. The couplet, composed in a language understood only by Prithviraj went thus:

"Char bans, chaubis gaj, angul ashta praman,
Ete pai hai Sultan, (Taa Upar hai Sultan),
ab mat chuko hey Chauhan."


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

Ghori then ordered Prithviraj to shoot. Prithviraj turned in the direction from where he heard Ghori speak, and, taking aim based only on the voice and on Chand Bardai's couplet, he sent an arrow racing to Ghori's throat. Ghori was thus stuck dead by Prithviraj.

Naturally, after this deed, Prithviraj was killed by Mahmud's courtiers. But the brave Rajput had avenged the betrayals and humiliations suffered by him. Thus ended the story of the brave and chivalrous Prithviraj Chauhan, the last Hindu ruler of Delhi. 

Muhammad of Ghor
(Persian:ãÍãÏ ÔÀÇÈ ÇáÏیä ÛæÑی) also Muhammad Ghori,Mohammad Ghauri, etc., originally named Mu'izz-ad-din, b.1162 - d.1206, was a Ghurid emperor and the governor of Ghazni from 1173 to 1206.

Muhammad was the brother of the Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Muhammad of Ghor , a region of what is now a province in Afghanistan. Ghor lay on the western boundary of the Ghaznevidempire. Before 1160, the Ghaznevid empire covered an area running from central Afghanistanto the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazniand Lahore.

In 1160, the Ghorids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznevids, and in 1173 Muhammad was made governor of Ghazni. In 1186-87 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznevid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control.

Muhammad attacked the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent many times. The first time he was routed in present-day Gujaratby Rajputs.A battle was fought at Kayadara near Mount Abu, where Ghauri'sadvance was defeated. Gujarat later fell to Muhammad Ghori's armies in 1197.

In the First Battle of Taraori in 1191 PrithviRaj Chauhandefeated Muhammad Ghouri. Prithviraj met Ghori in a personal combat and injured him. Later both armies attacked each other and Ghori's army was defetaed. Ghori took his army back to North India and started preparing for another battle. Prithviraj, following the rules of engagement of Rajputwarfare, allowed his foe to escape as he was forbidden by Kshatriya rules to attack an enemy wishing to retreat. It is said that he vowed not to sleep on a bed or take a bath until he had defetaed Prithviraj. Next year, he again reached Taroro and challenged Prithviraj, defeated him and seized control of his kingdom.

One account recounts that after taking him prisoner, Ghori ordered the eyes of Prithviraj to be gouged out and made the blind Prithviraj a subject of ridicule in his court.

After some time, an archery competition was held in Ghori's kingdom. Prithviraj, being a skilled archer of repute was also brought for this competition and asked to compete to ridicule him further. Prithviraj refused to shoot his arrow on the orders of Ghori's generals, being a king himself. As such, Ghori himself asked Prithviraj to shoot at the target. Prithviraj, instead, turned around and locating the source of the voice, shot his arrow straight into Ghori's throat, killing him instantly. The valorous Prithviraj was thus able to avenge his defeat at the hands of Ghori. It was as a result of this that Qutb-ud-din-Aybak, one of Ghori's generals, was able to succeed him and control his empire.

A different version, propogated by Muslim historians, says that after defeating Prithviraj Ghori killed him and gained control of his kingdom and went on to control northern Rajasthan
and the northern part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab. Allegedly, Muhammad Ghori returned east to Ghazni to deal with the threat to his western frontiers from the Turksand Mongols, but his armies, mostly under Turkish generals, continued to advance through northern India, raiding as far east as Bengal.

Muhammad returned to Lahore after 1200to deal with a revolt of the Gakhartribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Gakharraid on his camp on the Jhelum Riverin 1206.

Legacy

Upon his death, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Muhammad Ghori's most capable general, took control of Muhammad's Indian conquests and declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi. Muhammad's former territory in Afghanistan was conquered by the Mongols.

Muhammad, like his predecessors, routinely killed non-Muslim priests and destroyed non-Muslim temples and towns while his armies pillaged and raped their way across the Indus. In Bihari folklore, it is said that his invading armies often destroyed entire towns only to find valuable scrolls and manuscripts in town libraries useless as all inhabitants who could read and write in the language were slaughtered.

The tomb of Pir Sultan Muhammad Ghori is located at Punjab, Pakistan. Pakistan considers Sultan Muhammad Ghori as a hero, and has named its intermediate-range ballistic missile
the Ghauri missile in his honor.