The Journey through History—5
It is a bleak irony that the medieval history of Bharat has been penned by those who, at heart, did not belong to this land. Western historians, Islamic conquerors, and later the left-leaning historians, and hence, the glorious history of Bharat has been presented in dissension.
The medieval Islamic historians point out that there was only one or two battles fought between Prithviraj Chauhan and Muhammad of Ghor. The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and Tarikh-i-Firishta mention only two battles of Tarain. The Jami-ul-Hikayat and Taj-ul-Maasir very conveniently refer to only the second battle of Tarain, in which Prithviraj was defeated and captured!
However, Hindu and Jain writers have narrated a poised account of the warfare between the two. Their historical evaluation speaks about multiple battles – around twenty-one to twenty-two battles fought in between the two battles of Tarain.
The defeated Muhammad Ghori, after returning to Ghazni post the first battle of Tarain, prepared to avenge his defeat and began gathering a huge armed force in the next few months.
Prithviraj Chauhan, too, marshalled a sizable army and wrote a letter to Muhammad Ghori, ensuring him no harm if he decided to return to his own country.
As quoted by the Persian historian Firishta, named Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astrabadi, Prithviraj replied to Muhammad Ghori’s message in a typical Rajput manner: full of confidence, manifesting prowess but showering forgiveness.
He wrote to the Ghurid king from the battlefield: “To the bravery of our soldiers, we believe you are no stranger. And, to our great superiority in numbers, which daily increases, your eyes bear witness… You will repent in time of the rash resolution you have taken, and we shall permit you to retreat in safety; but if you are determined to brave your destiny, we have sworn by our God to advance upon you with our rank-breaking elephants, our plain-trampling horses, and bloodthirsty soldiers, early in the morning, to crush the army which your ambition has led to ruin.”
At the end of the first battle of Tarain, Prithviraj Chauhan could have consummated his victory had he chased and destroyed his already defeated army. But, as it has been the misfortune of the Hindustani rulers, they won by the sword but lost in strategy…
Instead, he allowed this ruthless enemy to return back safely to his ‘heaven’!!!
The Hindu kings of the era had discerned nobility as a virtue as conferred by the Sanatan Shastras, but it turned out to be completely unsuitable against the callous enemy.
Muhammad replied back that he needed to consult his brother, Ghiyath-al-Din, ruling in Firozkoh. As per the Islamic historian Firishta, Muhammad agreed upon a truce until he received an answer from his brother.
In reality, this deception was strategically planned. According to Jawami-ul-Hikayat, the fire in Muhammad’s camp was deliberately kept burning all night, pretending there was ongoing activity within, while he marched off in the opposite direction with a large section of his army.
Reaching a little away, Muhammad formed four sections of his army, with ten thousand archers each. The rest of his army was kept as a reserve force.
The four divisions were instructed to strike the Chahamana camp.
When the dawn was approaching, the four divisions of the Ghurid army attacked the Chahamana camp and caught Prithviraj unaware and asleep.
Post a brief fight, the Ghurid divisions pretended a retreat, that was pre-planned. Prithviraj was inveigled into giving a befitting reply and hence, he was forced to chase the retreating Ghurid army.
By noon, the Chahamana army of Prithviraj was exhausted, and then, the reserve armed force of the Ghurids attacked Prithviraj, defeating him.
This victory of Muhammad Ghori can be attributed to his accurate strategic planning more than the inherent strength of his forces, but the final outcome was Prithviraj Chauhan’s defeat, and it overturned the history of the coming centuries. Delhi, the heart of Bharat, came under Islamic rule.
As per the Taj-ul-Massir, the Chahamana camp lost around one lakh of its army. Prithviraj Chauhan himself tried to escape on a horse but was caught near the Saraswati fort (current Sirsa in Haryana).
Muhammad Ghori assassinated a huge population of Ajmer and destroyed several Hindu shrines there.
The Jain scriptures have narrated it differently. The fifteenth-century Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri has mentioned that the Ghurid king coached a fresh army and they marched to Delhi. He bribed the master of Prithviraj’s horses and his musicians with gold coins. The master had tutored Prithviraj’s horse to flounce on the uproarious sound of the drumbeats. The Ghurid army attacked the Chahamana camp just before dawn. Prithviraj, in a deep sleep, attempted to escape on his horse, but his musicians sounded the drums. On hearing it, the horse began strutting, and the invaders captured him without any difficulty.
Muhammad Ghori, while marching to conquer Prithviraj and take revenge for the defeat in the first battle of Tarain, passed on a message, asking Prithviraj to embrace Islam (the Muslim faith) and also to accept his supremacy…
There are several different interpretations of his death.
Most medieval sources like Prabandha Chintamani, as well as a few of the Islamic historians, claim that he was taken away to Ajmer, but their versions vary in interpreting what happened later.
Some coins bearing the names of both Muhammad and Prithviraj, with the symbol of a horse and a bullman, were issued from the mint of Delhi, and these numismatic evidences were found, indicating that Muhammad had re-instated Prithviraj as a Ghurid vassal. There is a possibility that the Ghurid ruler would have issued and used the Chahamana-styled coinage to ensure greater acceptability in the Chahamana kingdom.
The Prithviraj Prabandha (15th century) mentions that Prithviraj was brought to Delhi, confined in gold chains. He insisted to the Ghurid king to follow his own example of releasing the defeated and thus captured king, as it was the warfare ethics and the privilege of the defeated ruler.
Some days later, when brought to Ajmer as a war prisoner, Prithviraj contacted his former minister, Kaimbasa, for his bow and arrow, as he strategized to assassinate the Ghurid king while he was seated in the court, in front of the house that he was imprisoned in. The perfidious minister of Prithviraj spilled the beans about his intention to Muhammad Ghori. Aware and alert, Muhammad switched his seating place and placed a metal idol of his. Prithviraj executed his plan, and his arrow broke the statue into two, fragmenting the idol. Muhammad was saved but he punished Prithviraj for this disloyalty towards his conqueror and ordered him to be stoned to death.
Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem penned by the court poet of Prithviraj, named Chand Bardai, narrates Prithviraj’s heroic death. The poetic version speaks of Prithviraj being blinded and taken to Ghazni as a prisoner. As soon as this news reached Delhi, Chand Bardai immediately voyaged to reach Ghazni. On reaching Muhammad Ghori’s court in Ghazni, Chand Bardai presented a poetic acclaim of Prithviraj’s exemplary proficiency in archery and deceived Muhammad into viewing an archery performance by the blinded Prithviraj.
Prithviraj Chauhan, the veteran and skillful archer, shot the arrow in the direction of Muhammad’s voice and killed him. And, immediately, shot himself and Chand Bardai.
Prithviraj Raso is considered a ‘Bhagavad Gita’ illustrating Rajput bravery, but Islamic historians especially repudiate its authenticity on the pretext that the year of death of Muhammad does not match with the Prithviraj Raso’s narrative, and they describe it as fiction.
With his untimely death at barely twenty-six years, the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan ended. And, with his end, Islamic rule entered Bharatvarsh. The invasions that were vanquished successfully for more than four centuries gave way to Islamic rule in Bharat’s heart – Delhi.
Of course, there were Hindu rulers who thrived to overthrow Islamic rule in various parts of Bharat, but the death of Prithviraj Chauhan carved the path for Islamic invaders to enter Bharat via Delhi.
The Qila Rai Pithora, in Mehrauli in Delhi, which was originally fortified by Anangpal Tomar II who built the Lal Kot, was renamed as Qila Rai Pithora when the Chahamana ruler conquered Delhi. Post Prithviraj’s demise, his son Govindaraja was appointed as a Ghurid vassal for a brief period.
दिल्लीपति पृथ्वीराज चौहान एवम उनका युग
डॉ. बिनध्यराज चौहान कृत
महान राजा पृथ्वीराज चौहान
राजवीर सिंह दार्शनिक कृत
चौहान पृथ्वीराज तृतीया और उनका युग
दशरथ शर्मा कृत
History of Mediaeval Hindu India
By C V Vaidya
प्राचीन भारत का इतिहास
वीं डी महाजन कृत
