The most popular accounts about Prithviraj were written centuries later by a Muslim (the book
Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi by
Ferishta) and by a Hindu (the book
Prithviraj Raso by
Chand Bardai). Both of these are full of exaggerations and myth.
According to Ferishta Prithviraj had an army of 300,000 cavalry (!), 3000 elephants (!), and innumerable infantry (what could be
more innumerable after 300,000 horsemen? The entire population of the Kingdom of Ajmer?). Later Rajput Kingdoms (when cavalry had become the most important formation in the army) of a similar large size had
at the most 20,000 cavalry. By this comparison Prithviraj could not have had more than 10,000 horsemen.
Chand Bardai states that after the first Battle of Tarain Prithviraj fell in love with, carried away, and married Sanyogita, daughter of Jaychand Rathor of Kannuaj. His love for her caused the defeat in the second battle, which is not borne out by the facts related above. According to contemporary literature, inscriptions, and coins the rulers of Kannauj were Gahadvals…the Rathors of Badaun were their tributaries. There is no record of a conflict between Ajmer and Kannauj for the simple reason that they did not have a common border.
Tarain I was fought in early 1191, for thirteen months after this Prithviraj was busy in the siege of Sarhind (early 1192); Tarain II was fought only a few months later. When did Prithviraj have the time to correspond with a princess, admit his love to her, and make arrangements to carry her away from a place hundreds of miles in the east
[9]?
The more contemporary, and accurate, account is the
Prithviraj-vijay written by
Jayank. This man was a Kashmiri who had settled down in Ajmer and was a poet in Prithviraj's court. The names of the Chauhan Kingdom's ministers and generals are given here—interestingly one of these generals, named Udayraj, was from Bengal. The
Prithviraj-vijay also describes the early communications between Ghori and the Chauhans, and the advice given to Prithviraj by the minister Kadambvas.
There are two other books that mention these events in passing. The
Prabandha-chintamani by
Merutunga Acharya claims that Prithviraj was taken prisoner but was restored to the throne of Ajmer by Ghori. On a visit to Ajmer the Turk chief happened to see a wall
painting in the palace that showed the Muslim soldiers being crushed by a charging horde of wild boar
[8]. The humiliated Ghori had Prithviraj killed.
The
Viruddhavidhi-vidhvamsa by
Laksmidhar describes the absence of the main Chauhan general Skanda in another battle (the enemy is not described). But it goes on to say that Prithviraj was killed by the Turushkas
[10] and his brother, the Rajaputra Hariraj became King.
The
Hammir-Mahakavya of
Nayachandra Suri is a later work but it was written on commission from the Chauhans of Ranthambhor (who will be described in later posts). It has many internal details of the Chauhan clan but exaggerates Prithviraj's victory (it claims several victories) over Ghori by describing the repeated capture and release of the Turk chief. The
Hammir-Mahakavya also claims that Prithviraj was taken prisoner
but to Delhi—the Bengali general Udayraj attacked Delhi to rescue his master but Prithviraj died in captivity and Udayraj was killed in battle. This work confirms that the Rajaputra Hariraj became the next King of Ajmer.
[1] Original pronunciation is Chahaman.
[2] Originally Sakambhari, the town is near a salt lake of the same name. In those days it was a wealthy city located on important trade routes.
[3] Literally King's (Raja) son (putra). The history of this word and its modification into Rajput will be described in another post.
[4] Meru is a Sanskrit word for hill. Sumeru was the good or blessed (Su) hill (meru) of the Vedas.
[5] Known in those times as Dhillika. After its capture by Muslims it was also called Yoginipura, the city of witches.
[6] According to the Prithviraj-raso Kangra and its mountain chiefs were allies of the Tomars of Delhi.
[7] The Muslim historians call this place Tabarhind or Tarrhind.
[8] The wild boar is regarded as the bravest animal in Rajasthani lore.
[9] The Prithviraj Raso in complete departure from all other accounts states that the Chauhan King was taken to Ghazni. When he refused to lower his eyes in front of Shihab-ud-din the latter had him blinded. While demonstrating his skill in archery the blind Hindu King shot an arrow into the throat of Muhammad Ghori and killed him. After this the author of the Raso and Prithviraj killed each other.
[10] The ancient word for the Turks. According to Indian tradition one of the sons of Bharat, named Turvasu, had migrated to Central Asia and his descendants (Turvasu-ka) became the Turks. This remains mere conjecture and speculation since there is no material evidence to back this story—somewhat similar to the speculations of the Aryan Theory.