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The Blunder Of Prithviraj Chauhan


kdsingh80

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On 22 April 2010 at 4:16 AM, kdsingh80 said:

 

 

That was a myth created by Chand bardai.There is no proof that Ghauri was killed by Chauhan.

Proof ? like Video ? or Audio ? or finger prints ? 

 

C'mon man, its all about whats in the history books. Different history books say different things. if u say u believe the history written by the court of Ghori, but not by the Chauhan's men. who would u trust here ? The Chauhan who died protecting the country ? or the Ghori who killied civilians of our country ?

 

 

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17 hours ago, Guest Rahul said:

Proof ? like Video ? or Audio ? or finger prints ? 

 

C'mon man, its all about whats in the history books. Different history books say different things. if u say u believe the history written by the court of Ghori, but not by the Chauhan's men. who would u trust here ? The Chauhan who died protecting the country ? or the Ghori who killied civilians of our country ?

 

 

There are always historians who will irrespective of whether it suits their religion or their people.3 main problem with the theory that Prithviraj killed Ghauri are 

1) If Chand Bardai was their with prithviraj then he was also killed with him according to story then who wrote this entire history and how did this reach India.Prithviraj Raso should had never been completed because Chand Bardai was killed along with Chauhan.So if Afghans really wanted to bury this history how come Chand Bardai's son knew that Prithviraj killed Ghauri?

2)A blind man killing Sultan in front of hundreds of men will become talk of town and some historians will record that

Prithviraj raso which mention this is considered as semi history , semi legendry account

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithviraj_Raso

Anyway if you people are so sure why not send Indian historians their to study more about Prithviraj?

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The Chauhan clan

 

More than 1400 years ago Kshatriyas belonging to the Chauhan[1] clan established a small kingdom around the town of Sambhar[2]. In the 9th Century, as tributaries of the Imperial Pratihars of Kannauj, the Chauhans fought the Palas of Bengal (in the east) and the Arabs of Sindh (in the west). As their power grew, younger sons of each Chauhan Raja, known as Rajaputras[3], established their own strongholds and principalities around the parent kingdom. 

The Chauhans did not suffer any loss during the 11th Century invasions of Mahmud Ghaznavi but they had several fights with his successors who established their rule in the neighboring region of the Punjab. In the early 12th Century Ajayraj Chauhan built a fort near the Holy Town of Pushkar. The site commanded a strategic gap in the Aravalli hills—to the west was Sambhar and the trade routes leading to the southern ports, while to the east was the fertile basin of the River Ganga and its tributaries. This hill-fort was named Ajay-meru[4] (Ajay’s hill), which with the passage of time was pronounced Ajmer, and which became the site for a new capital city for the Chauhans. 

The descendants of Ajayraj captured the then small town of Delhi[5] from the Tomars and southern Punjab from the Ghaznavi Turks. At the close of the 12th Century Prithviraj III ruled from Ajmer with ambitions in the south (other kingdoms mostly of his own clansmen in southern Rajasthan and Gujarat), in the north (Punjab and the hill-chiefs of Himachal Pradesh[6]), and the south-east (northern Madhya Pradesh). 

Further in the west the Turkish Sultan of Ghor captured Ghazni and deputed his brother, Shihab-ud-din Muhammad, to rule there. The elder brother then turned his energies against other Turk tribes of Iran and Central Asia while the younger led expeditions into India. Passing through Baluchistan Muhammad captured Multan and Uch and then sent a proposal to Prithviraj asking for a joint campaign against the ruler of Gujarat. This proposal was rejected since the Chauhans had enough resources to tackle the Chaulukyas of Gujarat on their own. 

Muhammad Ghori went ahead with his invasion in 1178 but the Chaulukyas, in alliance with the Chauhans of southern Rajasthan, defeated him. Prithviraj, who at that time was a teenager, had resolved to fight the Turk invader first, but his minister Kadambvas suggested that the Ghori - Chaulukya conflict would exhaust both these enemies and leave the field clear for the Kingdom of Ajmer. A few years later Prithviraj embarked on digvijay (conquest in all four directions) and won victories—but no major territory. 

Muhammad Ghori rebuilt his armed strength and captured Peshawar from the Ghaznavi Turks—continuing his operations against his fellow Muslims Ghori finally ended the Ghaznavi dynasty in 1186 and came into direct contact with the Kingdom of Ajmer. For a few years he probed the defences of the northern region through cavalry raids—finally in 1190 Muhammad Ghori attacked and captured the frontier fort of Sarhind[7]. While he was busy garrisoning the fort and arranging for his return to Ghazni, Muhammad learnt to his consternation that Prithviraj was already marching against him. 

Muhammad Ghori resolved to strike the first blow and marched south to intercept the Chauhan army. At Tarain, near modern Thanesar, the two armies met in 1191. In the head-on fight the Hindu cavalry charged and enveloped the two wings of the Turk army—the favorite maneuvers and mobile archery of the Turks were impossible in that cramped position. The superior swordsmanship of the Chauhans gave them a rapid victory and the two routed wings of Muhammad Ghori fled for their lives. In the center the Hindu elephants and infantry came up to the contest—a javelin struck Muhammad Ghori in the shoulder and a Khalji soldier carried the swooning Sultan away to safety. When their commander fled the rest of the Muslim center too broke down and fled after him. 

The combined arms (elephants, cavalry, infantry) force of Prithviraj chased after the enemy but the Turkish cavalry easily outpaced them. The Chauhans surrounded the important fort of Sarhind—after 13 months when the food supply ran out the Turk garrison surrendered. Prithviraj returned to his capital, while his generals returned to their forts and towns to rest their army and replenish their equipment, elephants, and horses. They also needed to keep a watch on their neighbors who had taken advantage of the recent battle to encroach on Chauhan lands. 

In all this time Muhammad Ghori collected a fresh army and returned to the Punjab. Once again he captured the bone of contention Sarhind and sent a message to Prithviraj to submit and convert to Islam. The Chauhans were then involved in some other battles but Prithviraj boldly collected an army and marched to Sarhind—Muhammad Ghori again intercepted him at Tarain. Prithviraj had by then learnt of the loss of Sarhind and of the large cavalry with Ghori—he used diplomacy to buy time so that his other generals could join him with their forces. He told Muhammad to be content with Sarhind and withdraw his army to Ghazni. 

Shihab-ud-din went along since the earlier defeat at this same place was heavy on his mind. He pointed out that his brother was the real ruler and without consulting him Muhammad could not take any major political decision—he too was playing for time and for information on the enemy. The two armies camped in sight of each other—one night Muhammad Ghori left the campfires burning and took his army by a roundabout route to attack the Chauhans. But once again the cavalry of Prithviraj met them in a headlong clash and repulsed the Turks. 

Muhammad Ghori’s plan had failed and he retired to his own camp but he now had a correct estimate of Prithviraj’s army and had realized how weak it was. Forming his cavalry into four divisions of 10,000 he sent them to harass the Chauhans from all sides. The Turks were now in their element with hit-and-run cavalry maneuvers and horse archery—the combined arms of the Hindus could not chase after one and repel another division simultaneously. The order of the Chauhan army broke down, along with the communications between its various elements, and Ghori charged with his main division and finally defeated Prithviraj. The Chauhan King was either killed or captured according to the different accounts. 

Why spend so much time discussing this one clan you may ask? 

Because they straddled the gap between the ancient and medieval India and were witness to a momentous turning point in Indian History…also because they were part of an important battle, which changed Indian society and military tactics for the next few centuries. Comparison is also needed with the story in Punjab, Sindh, and Afghanistan, all of which fell earlier and more completely to the assault of Islam. This comparison will come later. 

Sources: 

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 moreinnumerable 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-vijaywritten 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-vijayalso 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. ThePrabandha-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 prisonerbut 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. 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.in/2006/04/chauhan-clan.html

The author of this blog has given great information about the source of Prithviraj's death

Several Hindu historians have also recorded the fact that Prithviraj was killed by Ghauri

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  • 1 month later...

To what extent was his relation with sanjogita justified ?

I respect him as a great warrior and a patriot but very few people know about why the relation between Prithwi Raj and Sanjogita was objectionable. 

Jaichand was actually Prithviraj's cousen. This makes the relation between Prithwi Raj and Sanjogita objectionable.Jaichand's mother and Prithviraj's mother were sisters by birth. Anangpal Tomer was meternal grandfather of both Prithviraj and Jaichand. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

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The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

Very wrong post, lot of things lifted from third battle of panipat, whc was fought in 1761!!! Also even Muslim scholars have not put such a large number of killed or captured. Sickening and totally inaccurate write up.

 

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On Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

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The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

Very wrong post, lot of things lifted from third battle of panipat, whc was fought in 1761!!! Also even Muslim scholars have not put such a large number of killed or captured. Sickening and totally inaccurate write up.

 

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  • 8 months later...
Guest UNKNOWN

I read couple of books by historians on this topic and if you do so, you can easily tell, these books are trailered towards praising their kings and religion.

Anyway... there is no proof, who killed who, so just keep your belief with you and don't trust what others say, even such old books doesn't tell correct story and has differences on small small things such as how many battles were there between Ghauri and Chouhan, some books says, 21, some says 2, some days 14 etc.

So that is enough to tell you what is the authenticity of these books, I am believing that Prithvi killed Ghauri and no individual or book can change that belief..

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

What happened to Prithviraj's wife sanjukta after his defeat. 

How Mohammad Ghori died.

What is the link between Mouninudin Chisti of Ajmer and M. Ghori

What happened to Jaichand .

 

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  • 1 year later...
Guest Chetan tiwary

even chinese army today has only 25 lakh soldiers , indian army has 13 lakh army soldiers - including paramilitary it will come 35 lakhs - how come in 1192 , 35 lakh rajput soldiers in only Prithviraj's army died and how come 22 lakh slaves ?? any historical account to quote from this data ?? no historian can proove samyukta was raped . Please give any historic evidence for this incident . it will be real help for students like me.

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Guest Simantini Sinha

Prithviraj Chauhan was not only greatest warrior but mastered 14 languages . He was a fluent speaker too. He knew every war tactics. His blunders were making enemies with Bhindeb Solanki and Jai Chamd. Prithviraj had many wives. They were Icchiana kumari, Indravati, Menal, Sasivrata, Chakori, kamlavati, Padmavati. Tilotama, Chitrarekha, Karnataki, Hansavati, Sharmila and Sasivrata

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On 4/20/2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

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The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

Sir,

Pehle aap ye clear kare ki ye aakho dekha haal aap kaha se laaye. Kyoki isme likha hai ki padmavati bhag gayi aur kutub I'd din ne use pakad liya aur ghori ne us se rape kiya...ye kisne dekha avam ye varnan  kisme likha hai,...

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On 4/20/2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

-----------------------------------------------------

The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

aapne Sanyogita ke balatkar ka varnan kiya hai wo kaha se liya hai avam kisme likha hai..

 

 

On 4/20/2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

-----------------------------------------------------

The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

aapne Sanyogita ke balatkar ka varnan kiya hai wo kaha se liya hai avam kisme likha hai...

On 4/20/2010 at 5:22 PM, kdsingh80 said:

The following is interesting account of Defeat of one of the world's most powerful army of that time.This defeat changed india's history forever

 

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The Second Battle of Tarain took place on January 14, 1192 at Tarain (Haryana State, India), about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi. The battle crushed the Rajput Empire. The main battle was fought between the forces under Sultan Shihad-ud-din Muhammed Ghori and the Rajput hosts under Prithviraj Chauhan. It is believed that nearly 10, 00,000 Chauhan soldiers died and many were injured in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 6, 00,000.

The battle pitted the elephants, archers and trained cavalry of the Rajputs against the light cavalry of the Afghans. The scenario would have been slightly in favour of the Rajputs had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely, which lead to their defeat. Rajput forces were so heavily depleted that the Chauhan Empire fell, and the expansion of the Rajput power ended. The battle was most decisive because it crushed the Chauhan Empire's dream of uniting India.

The Rajputs had gained control of a considerable chunk of India in the intervening period (1107-1187). A large Rajput force restablised the Delhi administration after the invading Ghazni army retreated. After his invasion in 1024, Muhmud Ghazni had left the Rajputs in nominal control which however, proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control over the conquered territories. Soon the local population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Rajputs. Prithviraj Chauhan, the famed Rajput leader raised a powerful army consisting of one million Rajputs, and was successful in ousting Ghazni and his court from India. Ghazni`s fleeing army was defeated at various stations. The Rajputs chased him right up to Attock, at the base of the Khyber Pass, and Punjab was brought under their dominion.

Muhammed Ghori could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1191 raised an army from the Ghori tribes with help from Ghazni, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Rajputs continued to pour into the conflict and by 1192 had formed a single army of over 10, 00,000 to block him.

There followed much manoeuvring, with skirmishes fought at Karnal, Kunjapura. After the Rajputs failed to prevent Ghori's forces crossing the Saraswati river, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Tarain, thereby blocking Ghori's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Ghori slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Rajput Army's supply lines. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Rajputs then moved in almost 150 pieces of Hindu archery groups. With a range of several kilometres, these archers were some of the best of the times.

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1191 to find the Rajputs in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ghori continued to receive supplies from Ghazni. The Rajputs, however, had no difficulty in securing supplies, the local population having become hostile to Muslims. In their policy of intolerance towards non-muslims, Afghans had pillaged the surrounding Hindu population. This offense resulted in the Jats and other hindus joining on Prithviraj’s army in the war, and thus the Afghans were left without resupply in the battle zone. This battle zone was probably between Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road of today. The Afghan lines probably were a few metres to the south of Sanauli road. Rajput lines began a little to the north of Kaalaa Aamb. They had thus blocked the northward path of Ghori's troops and at the same time they themselves were blocked by the latter from the south which was the direction to Delhi, where they could get badly needed supplies.

Realizing the situation was not in their favour, the Rajputs under Prithviraj Chauhan decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverise the enemy formations with archery fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they had their supplies.

The line would be formed up some 26km across, with the bowmen in front, protected by infantry and elephants. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the elephants and bowmen, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 3, 00,000 young Rajput soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 3, 00,000 civilians entrained. Many were middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan Land). The civilians were irrationally confident of the Rajput army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Before dawn on January 14, 1192 the Rajput forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the archers into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ghori positioned his 60 archer groups and opened arrow fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Rajput lines remained untouched. Ghori then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive arrow attack of the Rajputs went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Rajput bowmen and elephants, along with some famed Rajput generals stationed close to the archery positions. The second and subsequent arrow attacks were fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. The resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The Chauhan-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Rajputs then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the elephants. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 1,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle.

At this stage it looked as though Prithviraj would clinch victory for the Rajputs once again. However, some of the Rajput lieutenants, particularly Govind Rai and Khandae Rai, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Rajput horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralised Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Rajput horses exhausted long before they had travelled the two kilometres to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Rajput cavalry collided with the Afgan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousand of Afghani troops.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Ghori sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his cavalry of archers and spear-men on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could throw their spears over the heads of their own infantry and at the Rajput cavalry, who were unable to withstand the cavalry and camel-mounted spears of the Afghans. Ghori had 2000 such spear-men. They could be fired without the rider having to dismount and were especially effective against fast moving cavalry.

With their own men in the firing line, the Rajput archers could not respond, and about 70,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Rajput infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, though protected by armoured leather jackets.

The Rajput army had captured some afghan slaves earlier during the siege of Bhatinda. They had not been trusted to be in the front line because their loyalty was suspect. As they were captured slaves, saw an opportunity to avenge the humiliation. They started fighting the Rajput army from the inside. This brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Rajput soldiers, who thought that the enemy had attacked from behind.

Prithviraj Chauhan, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind, could not move forward his young soldiers as reserves from behind and felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and lead the battle at the head of household troops. He left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his new wife Padmavati, (Very Beautiful Queen know popularly by other names like Sanyogita and Padmini) for he could not tolerate her being dishonoured by the Afghans.

Some Rajput soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Khandae Rai, the big general, had already fallen to a spear shot in the head. Govind Rai and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end but they were massacred by the Muslims. The Rajput leader Prithviraj Chauhan having three horses shot out from under him by afghan archers when he tried to escape from the battle-field was finally butchered by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Ghori’s loyal slave general, near Sirsuti.

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Rajput army, while the Rajput front lines remained largely intact, with some of their archery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Padmavati escaped the battlefield with her bodyguards, but eventually captured by the Qutub-ud-din near Delhi. Ghori raped her and forced her into his harem. Ghori later even married Padmavati and made her his chief Queen by giving her the title Mallik-e-jahan. All other wives of Prithviraj chauhan were also dumped into Ghori’s harem. After Ghori’s death in 1206, Aibak took Padmavati and made her his wife.

Mass of surrendered Rajput soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans to earn blessings for killing Kafirs on account of their families back in Afghanistan.

(“the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two hundred thousand, many of them of the highest aristocratic rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”22)

About 10, 00,000 Rajput soldiers alike were slain this way on 15 January 1192. Many of the fleeing Rajput women jumped into the Tarain wells rather than risk rape and dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the villages near Tarain when even the Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge in fear of Muslims.

The main reason for the failure of Rajputs was that they went to war with their women. Prithviraj Chauhan was just married and so he could not leave his wife alone. During the face-off period of two months Prithviraj had planned nothing to surprise the Muslims. He simply spent the time in honeymoon with his new beautiful bride Padmavati at Tarain. As a result Padmavati became pregnant and the Rajputs even had a festival for this joy just before the battle begun. Following their King, the Rajput soldiers began to enjoy with their women and wine in the face-off period. This is the fatal reason for Rajput defeat. Though their infantry was based on upto date style contingent and had some of the best Hindu made bow and arrow of the times, they failed to organize. They had interfered in the internal affairs of the Muslim states (in far north west) and levied heavy taxes and huge fines on them. Their raids in the Ghazni territory had angered the Ghazni chiefs. Similarly the Jat chiefs, on whom also they had imposed heavy fines, did not trust them. They had, therefore, to fight their enemies alone, except for the weak support of all ranas of Hindustan. Moreover, the Rajput chiefs constantly bickered with one another. Each one of them had ambitions of carving out their independent states and had no interest in fighting against a common enemy.

A conservative estimate places Rajput losses at 35, 00,000 on the Tarain battlefield itself. At least 22, 00,000 women and children were captured as prisoners and slaves. According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a billion people were present there on Panipat town from Maharashtra and on any rate he gives figure of 40, 00,000 prisoners as executed.

To save their own kingdom, allied Rajputs ran to their native places, forgetting that Chauhans had just lost 10, 00,000 men and so many women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Solanki and Gahadwala Rajputs had organised another 10, 00,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. So Ghori left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 5,000 elephants, 15,000 camels, 5, 00,000 horses and at least about 22, 00,000 women and children. Delhi was under the charge of his general Aibak. Hasan Nizami was left in charge of Chauhan capital Ajmer.

The Rajputs remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1192 itself when its last emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was killed by Muhammed Ghori.

The Rajputs expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the Muslims. Their claims to empire were officially ended in 1194.

It is worth noticing the fact the Rajput empire provided the biggest challenge to the Muslims in the erstwhile India keeping in check the influence of Muslim invaders, forced conversions and oppression of the local people.

This Second Battle of Tarain saw an enormous number of casulties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. It was the scene of uncommon valour, unwanted strategic blunders, internal bickerings, murders of prisoners of war, and large scale rapes perpetrated on women.

The historical record states that a large number of prisoners, mostly female civilians fleeing the battle, were taken as slaves to Afghanistan. It is likely that many of these prisoners died, unaccustomed, as they were, to the climatic conditions of Afghanistan. However, a large portion of people in Rajasthan (a State in India where Rajputs live in large numbers) feel that some of the Rajput prisoners could have survived and settled in Afghanistan. They believe even now, after 644 years (circa 2006), that the enslaved descendants of prisoners of war can still be found at least Balochistan in Bugti and Marri tribal areas. Moreover, the belief holds that the Rajput Bugtis and Marri in Balochistan have become a separated social group - perhaps even a dedicated caste - under Islamic rule. This ethnic group would claim descent from Rajputs captives of war brought back by members of the Bugti tribe, who served the armies of Muhammed Ghori after the fateful battle of Tarain. In time these descendents most likely intermarried and converted to Islam, though they were once considered bonded labour and prohibited from buying or owning land. Unsurprisingly, a rumor exists among some Rajputs that, till a generation ago, Rajput-descended Bugtis and Marri could be 'bought' for twenty or thirty rupees. Rumors also circulate that, even today, Rajputs-descended women living in Pakistan occupied Balochistan remain "fair game" for Bugtis and Marris. This has raised tensions between the Rajputs of India and the Fanatic Muslims of Pakistan, making the Tarain War a politically sensitive issue, over 640 years after its conclusion.

The Rajputs and Marri Bugtis took jobs as unskilled labourers, which their tribal overlords disdained. Over the years some of them have come to occupy higher positions. However they are still targeted and remain to be rescued. It is interesting to note that this caste-like phenomenon has endured for more than two centuries, even in a region largely devoid of Hindus.

After their defeat at Tarain, many Rajput women & children took refuge with local Ghazni chieftains, possibly intermarrying with their hosts, and converting to Islam. It has been noted that women in the family trees of several Islamic families, have Rajput names like Gajanabai, Tukabai or Indumati. This raises the possibility that these women came from Rajput roots. Unfortunately for researchers, after the Partitioning of India, access to the Punjab province of the newly created Pakistan was restricted, and confirmination of any Islam-Rajput lineage became difficult. Nonetheless, several Jat familes acknowledge about mixing of Rajput lineage, especially those settled around Panipat, Tarain & Karnal.

The fate of the descendants of Rajput prisoners taken to Afghanistan remains a poorly-understood to this day, and is likely to remain so for some time. Neither the Rajput nation nor Chauhan leadership recognise the existence of Chauhan descendants in Afganistan, nor is there much support for the rescue of these descendents, if they do indeed exist.

In the year 1429-30, Qutb khan, son of Hasan Khan, held the fief of Rapri which was resumed by Mubarak Shah ( 1421-1434, the successor of Khizr Khan, in 1429-30 , when the former’s complicity was suspected in the series of revolts organised by the Rajput chiefs against the authority of the sultan. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah 1444-1450) Rapri came again into the possession of Qutb Khan and Rai pratap or pratap Rudra Chauhan held Bhongaon. Rai pratap Chauhan according to Sir H.E. Elliott was a son of Raja Sangat, the great grandson of Chatir Deo, the brother of Prithvi Raj, the last chauhan king of Delhi, who was vanquished in 1193 by shihab-ud-din Ghuri. The father of the Emperor's vizier, Hamid Khan had some years before, carried off the wife of Rai Pratap and plundered his estates, The Rajput chief, implacable in his vendetta, offered support to Ala-ud-din who needed assistance to strengthen his position as a ruler. The demanded as the price of his help the death of Hamid Khan. Ala-ud-din unwisely embraced the injured husband's cause and gave order for Hamid Khan's execution, but the vizier escaped and seizing Delhi offered it to Bahlul Lodi. Ala-ud-din retired to Budaun and soon after resigned his crown to Bahlul, who,in 1450, assumed the imperial title. Thus the abduction of the Chauhan Rani of Bhongaon was an important cause of the downfall of the Saiyed dynasty. Rai Pratap soon collected a large army of Rajputs and attacked Hamid Khan to rescue his beautiful wife. But Hamid Khan killed him in the battle. With the death of Rai Pratap, Chauhan dynasty perished from the world.

Aapki theeses jordar hai but iska pranam kya hai

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