Chand Bardai

He was declared the king of Ajmer. At that time, he shifted from Gujarat to Rajasthan.

At the age of 11, Prithviraj Chauhan had to scatter his father's ashes and handle the throne alongside his mother and court ministers. He had extended a kingdom from Sthanvishvara in the north to Mewar in the south. Along with the kingdom's Chief Minister and Karpura Devi's uncle, young Prithviraj started extending his empire from Ajmer to the whole of India. It was after 3 years of his coronation that he started handling the administration of his kingdom in 1180 CE. 

After Raja Someshwara's death, the coronation of Prithviraj Chauhan started prickling in his own family. Someshwara's brother, Vigraharaja IV's Nagarjun, was not happy with Prithviraj on the throne of Ajmer. He revolted against the same by getting hold of the fort at Gudapura, only to be suppressed by the new mighty king of Ajmer. Slowly, all the small rulers started integrating under the Chahaman dynasty, and they won over those who didn’t want to shake hands with Prithviraj. Among the rivals, one of them was Kannauj's Gahadavalas. Kannauj's king, Jayachand, wanted to capture the Rajput king and his kingdoms and that is why he tried to own ‘Rajsuya Yagya’.

According to this Yaga, a king gets the title of an emperor and his kingdom starts seeing him as a God. But Prithviraj disagreed with this plan of Jayachand. He refused to accept him as his to-be-emperor and that is why a rift was created between both of them. 

All this while, Afghanistan's Mohammad Ghori had captured Multan in 1178 CE and had attempted to invade the Chalukya kingdom that extended from Gujarat and the northern part of Rajasthan. The Chalukya kingdom defeated Ghori, but after some years, they captured Peshawar, Sindh, and Punjab, residing in the west of the Chahamana kingdom, and were successful in making their military base camp from Ghazna, Afghanistan to Punjab. Ghori's increasing terrorism had reached Prithviraj's court in the form of an ambassador. He wanted to shake hands with Prithviraj Chauhan, but he recognised his evil intentions, and Prithviraj Chauhan refused this offer. In 1190 CE, Ghori captured Bhatinda, which was a major part of Prithviraj's kingdom. As the number of violent invasions increased, Prithviraj's Delhi representative appealed to the king himself to fight this evil.Ghori kidnapped Bhatinda and handed it over to Tulak's Qazi, Zia-ud-din.When Mohammad Ghori was giving Bhatinda.

This news reached Prithviraj Chauhan, so he formed an army and marched in that direction.

Both armies battled each other in Thanesar's Taraori. In this battle, Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Mohammad Ghori, and once again, after 13 months, he was in control of Bhatinda. Ghori was taken to the capital, Pithoragarh, and he was kept in jail there. He had only one way to escape from there, which was to beg for mercy in front of Prithviraj Chauhan, and this is exactly what he did. Even when Chand Bardai refused, Prithviraj Chauhan released him with a heavy heart just to see him attack his territory again and again.

Historically, there have been only two battles between Mohammad Ghori and Prithviraj Chauhan. According to Chand Bardai's poems, there were a total of 17 attacks that Mohammad Ghori made on Prithviraj Chauhan. When Kannauj's princess heard about these brave episodes of Prithviraj Chauhan, at that time, both her heart and mind were captured. One day, Prithviraj's court painter showed Kannauj's princess his painting, and after returning from there, he showed Sanyogita's painting to Prithviraj, and this is how they fell in love. But, this blossoming love story wasn't accepted by the princess's father. Do you remember Raja Jayachand, who wanted to do ‘Rajsuya Yagya'?
Chand Bardai stated in Prithviraj Raso that his marriage was the reason for his downfall. He had become so enamoured with his wife, Sanyogita, that he had lost interest in state issues. In a conflict, Mohammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan, but he couldn't defeat the patriot within him since, even in Ghori's prison, Prithviraj refused to kneel in front of Mohammad Ghori, and when this happened, he was beaten with hot iron. Chand Bardai was imprisoned in Afghanistan when he travelled there to meet his king.

Yes, the one Prithviraj refused to recognise as his future Emperor.Sanyogita was Jayachand's daughter. When Jayachand got to know of this blooming love for Sanyogita at that time, he organised Sanyogita's Swayamwar just to humiliate Prithviraj Chauhan. Many noble kings had come to Kannauj to ask for Sanyogita's hand, but Prithviraj Chauhan wasn't invited to this. If this humiliation wasn't enough, Jayachand kept a statue of Prithviraj Chauhan outside his court just to indicate that he was his doorman. When Sanyogita got to know that Prithviraj wasn't called for the Swayamwar, at that time she wrote a letter in which she said that she had already accepted herself as the wife of Prithviraj Chauhan. After reading this letter, Prithviraj Chauhan went toward Kannauj. 

Everyone was surprised when, as the Swayamwar began, Sanyogita seized the varmala and hurried towards the entrance, leaving all the great kings behind, because the one who held her heart was standing at the door in the guise of a statue. But she had no idea that the real Prithviraj Chauhan was hiding behind the monument. Jayachand was challenged by Prithviraj to steal his daughter, who was now his wife. After hearing this, Jayachand became enraged, but he couldn't do anything because Prithviraj Chauhan's entire army was present.

"Dushman ki dushman dost hota hai," says the narrator. This is a line we've all heard before.

And this is exactly what Jayachand did with Prithviraj Chauhan. He went and shook hands with Mohammad Ghori, who had been defeated by Prithviraj Chauhan 16 times. Mohammad Ghori took this as an opportunity to attack Prithviraj Chauhan for the 17th time, thinking that this would be the final one. Ghori was provided with military support by Jayachand and with Turkish soldiers. Ghori again came to Taraori, where Prithviraj Chauhan and his army were waiting for him. They lost this war, and he is now a prisoner in Ghor, Afghanistan.

One day, Chand Bardai heard the soldiers there say that Mohammad Ghori was planning to organise a game of "Tirandaaji" in his court. Taking advantage of this, Bardai told Sultan Ghori that Prithviraj Chauhan would also take part in this game. Ghori couldn't stop laughing because he couldn't believe a blind king who had been turned into a prisoner could shoot arrows. But he had no idea that Prithviraj Chauhan was a sound-focused archer rather than an ordinary one. On the day of the game, Chand Bardai requested Ghori to give the order for aiming the arrow. Ghori took pride in this, not knowing what lay ahead.

Just as Ghori gave the order to shoot the arrow, at that time, to take revenge for his defeat, Prithviraj Chauhan shot the arrow right at Mohammad Ghori, and Mohammad Ghori was dead at exactly the place where he said to shoot the arrow from. After that, Chand Bardai and Prithviraj Chauhan attacked themselves and saved themselves from dying at the hands of their enemies. And in such a way, ends Chand Bardai's poem "Prithviraj Raso". But, many scholars say that if Chand Bardai and Prithviraj Chauhan died together, then how did Chand Bardai end his Prithviraj Raso?

Many people also say that Chand Bardai's son witnessed this whole event and he was the one who completed it. But this version, with its beautiful storytelling and political, military, and social-economic structure, is very popular in India. And it is being passed on from one generation to another.