Prithviraj Chauhan

About Prithviraj Chauhan-

• Prithviraj belonged to the Chauhan or Chahamana dynasty of Ajmer which emerged after the decline of the Pratihara empire in the 11th century AD. 
• He ascended the throne in 1177 or 1178.
• Prithviraj’s army was able to decisively defeat the invading Ghurids army led by Muhammad Ghori in the First Battle of Tarain in 1191, but was defeated in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192.
• The battle marked a watershed moment in the history of medieval India, paving the way for the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and the beginning of Muslim rule.
• The description of Prithviraj as “the last Hindu emperor” can be traced to the British colonial official James Tod’s ‘Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan’ (1829). 
• The ‘Prithviraja Vijaya’, the earliest Sanskrit ‘mahakavya’, and the Persian ‘Taj al- Ma’asir’ see Prithviraj Chauhan and Muhammad of Ghor as rivals who could never come to terms with one another.
• The image of Prithviraj as a fearless and skilled warrior can be traced back to his depiction in ‘Prithviraj Raso’, a poem in Braj Bhasha attributed to Chand Bardai (composed in the 16th century).
• Other chronicles and texts that mention Prithviraj include Prabandha-Chintamani, Prabandha Kosha and Prithviraja Prabandha, which were composed centuries after his death.
• Prithviraj has also been mentioned in Karatara-Gachha-Pattavali, a Sanskrit text containing biographies of the Kharatara Jain monks. 
• The Alha-Khanda (or Alha Raso) of the Chandela poet Jaganika also provides an exaggerated account of Prithviraj’s war against the Chandelas.
• Only seven inscriptions dated to Prithviraj’s reign are available and none of these were issued by the king himself: Barla or Badla inscription, Phalodi inscription, Madanpur inscriptions, Inscription 1, Inscription 2, Udaipur Victoria Hall Museum inscription and Visalpur inscription.