The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c14.s8: Prithviraj defeated at Tarain
The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c14.s8
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Prithviraj defeated at Tarain
c14.s8.1
This was Muhammad of Ghur’s second defeat at the hands of the Hindu rulers of Hindustan. It caused him greater humiliation than the one he had suffered at the hands of Bhima Deo II of Anhilwara. On return to Ghazni, he “never slumbered in ease, nor walked but in sorrow and anxiety.” He made furious preparations for avenging the defeat and, when these were complete, he started again for Hindustan at the head of a select force which consisted of one lakh and twenty thousand picked cavalry. On reaching Lahore, he sent an envoy, named Qiwam-ul-mulk, to Prithviraj, asking for his submission. This was done in order to gain time for completing his preparations, to cajole Prithviraj and to keep him off his guard. Muhammad gained his first objective. The brave ruler of the Chauhans could not, however, be easily befooled. He rushed towards Bhatinda and appealed to some of his brother Rajput rulers to hurry up to his assistance. With a combined force numbering, according to Farishta, five lakhs of horse and three thousand elephants (which must be greatly exaggerated), Prithviraj met the invader on the same field (Tarain). Muhammad divided his army into five divisions, four of which were sent to attack the Rajput army on all sides, while the fifth was kept in reserve. “The Sultan,” writes Minhaj-us-Siraj, “drew up in battle array, leaving his main body in the rear, with the banners, canopies and elephants, to the number of several divisions. His plan of attack being formed, he advanced quietly. The light-armed horsemen were made into four divisions of ten thousand and were directed to advance and harass the enemy on all sides, on the right and on the left, in the front and in the rear, with their arrows. When the enemy collected his forces to attack, they were to support each other, and to charge at full speed. By these tactics the infidels were worsted, the Almighty gave us the victory over them, and they fled.” The Rajputs fought with great gallantry, but Muhammad of Ghur’s tactics proved to be too great for them when they were tired as the result of an offensive directed on them from all sides. Muhammad despatched his reserve at the end of the day to launch a vigorous attack on our exhausted troops. This proved to be too much even for the Rajputs who gave way. Prithviraj’s chief lieutenant, Khande Rai, who had been responsible for defeating and wounding Muhammad of Ghur in 1191 A.D., was killed. Prithviraj became dejected. He alighted from his elephant and mounted a horse and made an attempt to escape from the field, but was captured near the town of Sarasuti, and Muhammad of Ghur achieved victory.
c14.s8.2
There is more than one version about the time and manner of Prithviraj’s death. According to Minhaj-us-Siraj, he was captured and ‘sent to Hell’. Hasan Nizami, however, tells us that he was taken to Ajmer where he was put to death sometime after, as he was found guilty of treason. This view seems to be correct. There are in existence some of the coins of Prithviraj which bear the Sanskrit superscription ‘Hammira’, indicating that he had accepted Muhammad’s suzerainty and had lived for some time after the second battle of Tarain. Chand Bardai’s version that he was taken to Ghazni and put to death for having slain Muhammad of Ghur himself has no foundation in fact.