The Second Battle of Tarain was fought in 1192 between the
Ghurid forces of
Muhammad Ghuri and the
Rajput Confederacy of
Prithviraj Chauhan
Prithviraja III ( IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in presen ...
. It took place near Tarain (modern
Taraori
Taraori, or Tarori or Tarawari, as it is sometimes called in the local dialect, is a town ( Municipal committee) in Nilokheri Tehsil of Karnal district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is situated off NH-44, 14 km north of Karnal. The ...
), which is , north of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the invading Ghurids and their successful penetration in north Indian plain.
The battle is regarded as a watershed event in Medieval India history as it led to the destruction of Rajput powers for a while and laid the foundation of Muslim rule in North India, which led to the establishment of
Delhi Sultanate.
Background
Prithviraj Chauhan's forces had defeated the Ghurids at the
First Battle of Tarain
The First Battle of Tarain, also spelt as the First Battle of Taroari, was fought in 1191 between the invading Ghurid army led by Muhammad of Ghor and the Rajput confederacy led by Prithviraj Chauhan, near Tarain (modern Taraori in Haryana, In ...
in 1191. The Ghurid king Mu'izz al-Din, who was seriously injured in the battle, returned to Ghazni, and made preparations to avenge his defeat.
Historians generally date the second battle of Tarain to 1192, although there is a possibility that it happened in late 1191.
Size of the forces
According to the 16th-17th century writer
Firishta
Firishta or Ferešte ( fa, ), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi ( fa, مُحَمَّد قاسِم هِندو شاہ), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He was ...
, the battle, "the Chauhan army consisted of 3,000 elephants, 300,000 cavalry and infantry", which is considered an exaggeration by modern historians. According to Satish Chandra the figures were exaggerated in order to "emphasise the challenge faced by Muizzuddin and the scale of his victory". Kaushik Roy similarly notes that Muslim chroniclers regularly exaggerated Hindu military strength to glorify the Muslim kings, and 300,000 was probably the theoretical number that could potentially be mobilized by all the Rajput kingdoms at the time.
According to Indian sources like Hammir Mahakavya and Prithviraj Raso, Chahamana army was simultaneously engaged on multiple fronts and Prithviraj had only a part of his army at the battlefield. His other army was about to reach Prithviraj but the fate was already decided in favour of Muizuddin.
According to
Minhaj-i-Siraj
Minhaj-al-Din Abu Amr Othman ibn Siraj-al-Din Muhammad Juzjani (born 1193), simply known as Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani, was a 13th-century Persian historian born in the region of Ghur.
In 1227, Juzjani migrated to Ucch then to Delhi. Juzjani was ...
, Mu'izz al-Din brought 120,000 fully armored men to battle, He personally commanded an elite cavalry force of 40,000 men. According to historian Kaushik Roy, while the real strength of the armies is not certain, it can be speculated that Prithviraj's army was numerically superior.
Battle
The battle occurred in the same field as the first one. Knowing the Chahamana forces were well-disciplined, the Ghurids did not want to engage in
melee
A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...
combat with them. Instead the Ghurids army was formed into five units, and four units were sent to attack the enemy flanks and rear.
According to
Minhaj, Mu'izz ad-Din directed a
light cavalry force of 10,000
mounted archers, divided into four divisions, to surround the Chahamana forces on the four sides. He instructed these soldiers not to engage in combat when the enemy advanced to attack, and instead feign retreat in order to exhaust the Chahamana elephants, horses, and infantry.
In hopes of causing a break in the enemy lines, Mu'izz al-Din ordered his fifth unit to feign retreat. The Chahamana forces charged the fleeing Ghurid unit, as the Ghurids expected. The Ghurids then sent a fresh cavalry unit of 12,000 and they managed to throw back the enemy advance. The remaining Ghurid forces then attacked and the Chahamana troops fled in panic. According to Minhaj, Mu'izz ad-Din's strategy "exhausted and wearied the unbelievers", ultimately resulting in a "victory to Islam".
Aftermath
Minhaj states that Prithviraj ("Rae Pithora") dismounted from his elephant, and fled from the battlefield on a horse. He was, however, captured in the neighbourhood of Sursuti, and later "dispatched to hell". Most medieval sources state that Prithviraj was taken to the Chahamana capital
Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...
, where Muhammad planned to reinstate him as a Ghurid
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
. Sometime later, Prithviraj rebelled against Muhammad, and was killed for 'treason'.
The Ghurid forces subjugated the entire Chahamana territory of "Siwalikh" (or Sawalakh, that is,
Sapadalaksha
The Chahamanas of Shakambhari (IAST: Cāhamāna), colloquially known as the Chauhans of Sambhar or Chauhans of Ajmer, were an Indian dynasty that ruled parts of the present-day Rajasthan and neighbouring areas in India, between the 6th and 12th ...
). The Ghurids then appointed his son
Govindaraja IV
Govindaraja IV (r. c. 1192 CE ) was an Indian king belonging to the Chahamana dynasty, which ruled the Sapadalaksha country in present-day north-western India. The Ghurid invaders defeated and killed his father Prithviraja III, while he was sti ...
on the throne of Ajmer as their vassal. Prithviraj's younger brother
Hariraja
Hariraja (r. c. 1193–1194 CE ) was a king from the Chahamana (Chauhan) dynasty who ruled parts of his ancestral kingdom (in present-day Rajasthan, India) for a brief period, before being defeated by the Ghurids. After the Ghurid invaders def ...
dethroned Govindaraja, and recaptured a part of his ancestral kingdom, but was later defeated by the Ghurid general
Qutb al-Din Aibak
Qutb ud-Din Aibak ( fa, قطبالدین ایبک), (1150 – 14 November 1210) was a Turkic general of the Ghurid king Muhammad Ghori. He was in charge of the Ghurid territories in northern India, and after Muhammad Ghori's assassination in ...
. The Ghurids subsequently defeated another powerful king -
Jayachandra
Jaya-chandra (IAST: Jayacandra, r. c. 1170–1194 CE) was a king from the Gahadavala dynasty of northern India. He is also known as Jayachchandra (IAST: Jayaccandra) in inscriptions, and Jaichand in vernacular legends. He ruled the Antarvedi c ...
of
Gahadavala
The Gahadavala dynasty (IAST: Gāhaḍavālas), also Gahadavalas of Kanauj, was a Rajput dynasty that ruled parts of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during 11th and 12th centuries. Their capital was located at Varana ...
dynasty - at the
Battle of Chandawar
The Battle of Chandawar was fought in 1194 between Muhammad of Ghor and Jayachandra of the Gahadavala dynasty. It took place at Chandawar (modern Chandawal near Firozabad), on the Yamuna River close to Agra. The victory of this battle gave Muha ...
, and conquered parts of northern India as far as
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
.
See also
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Battles fought in Rajasthan
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battles Of Tarain
Islamic rule in the Indian subcontinent
Tarain 1191
12th century in India
Battles involving the Ghurids
Tarain
Taraori, or Tarori or Tarawari, as it is sometimes called in the local dialect, is a town (Municipal committee) in Nilokheri Tehsil of Karnal district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is situated off NH-44, 14 km north of Karnal. The n ...
Conflicts in 1191
Conflicts in 1192
1191 in Asia
1192 in Asia
Karnal district