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The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c23: Appendix B. Site of Muizzuddin's Battle with Prithviraja

The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c23

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Appendix B. Site of Muizzuddin's Battle with Prithviraja

c23.2

Minhaj calls it Tarain (printed text. p. 118). A slight change in the dots over the first letter would make it Narain in Persian script, and both Ferishta and Nizamuddin Bakshi adopt the latter reading. They however, add that it was near Tarai in the district of Sarsuti (*khitta-i-Sarsuti*); Ferishta says that 'Narain' was also known as Tarawari. On the basis of this latter statement Elphinstone (*History of India* p. 355) places the battle field between Karnal anl Thaneswar, evidently identifying Tarain with Azimabad-Tarawari. 14 miles south of Thaneswar; This is accepted in the *Punjab Gazetteer*, (I, p. 318), and by Vaidya (*Downfall of Hindu India*, III, p. 333) and Raverty, (*trans. Tab. Nas.* p. 459, note 7.)

c23.3

This identification, however, is untenable. Yahya Sirhindi, (*TM*, p. 8) makes it clear that it was within the *'Khitta'* Sarsuti. If Sarsuti is modern Sirsa, it should evidently be looked for somewhere on the west. It is hardly likely that Muizzuddin would advance so far into Chauhana territory either from Sirhind or from Bhatinda, (according to whether Tabarhindah is to be taken to refer to either of these two places) to meet the fresh troops of Prithviraja whom he seemed to be anxious to avoid on this occasion. Thaneswar is about 80 miles south of Sirhind and 100 miles east, southeast of Bhatinda. We know that he was on the point of starting on his way back to Ghazni, after capturing Bhatinda, when the Rajputs came up and he was forced to give battle. After defeating him, Prithviraja immediately invested Bhatinda. This would suggest that the battle was fought near the fortress and very possibly to its south. After the second battle fought at the same place, Prithviraja, we are told, was captured as he was flying, near the "limits of Sarsuti" (*hudud*), which is about 100 miles west of Thaneswar or even of Karnal. He would naturally take the shortest route in his flight to his capital. This route from Bhatinda passes through Sirsa, whereas to place the battle field near Thaneswar would mean that he was making a long detour towards the west while flying to pass through Sirsa where, as we know, he was eventually captured. Cunningham's suggestion (*Reports*, XIV, p. 68-69) about the location of Tarain between Bhatinda and Sirsa is more plausible. He identifies it with a village called Torawana, 27 miles from Bhatinda and 20 miles from Sirsa, which clearly would fit the details of the event.

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