After discussing the queens of Prithviraj Chauhan in the previous episodes, we move on to the wars and victories of Prithviraj Chauhan. We have discussed that after suppressing the Bhandanakas in AD 1182, there was a wonderful increase in the power of King Prithviraj Chauhan. Prithviraj's age at this time was only 16 years. He used his increased power to increase the boundaries of his empire.
A large number of horse soldiers, hand soldiers and padati soldiers were recruited in the army of Chauhans. At the time of becoming the king of Prithviraj, there were 70 thousand cavalry soldiers in his army. This number kept on increasing over time.
During the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan, the Padihar rulers of Mandore became subordinate to the Chauhans of Ajmer. The audience will remember that during the emergence of Chauhans, the Chauhan rulers of Sapadalaksha used to be under Gurjara-Pratiharas. According to some writers, the Padihar ruler of Mandore, after being defeated by Prithviraj Chauhan, married his daughter Jatan Kanwar with Prithviraj Chauhan. Some references give the name of this king as Chandrasen Padihar.
It is written in the book Tabakate Nasiri that the relations between the ruler of Jammu, Vijayraj and Prithviraj Chauhan were not good. Therefore Prithviraj's army attacked Jammu and plundered the state of Jammu. From this it is estimated that during the time of Prithviraj, the boundaries of Chauhan state had reached far above Delhi to Jammu.
In the Hammir epic, Jammu has been called 'Ghatik Desh'. It is written in the Puran Prabandha collection that Prime Minister Kaimas had explained to King Prithviraj that he should not oppose the Raja of Jammu, but Prithviraj Chauhan did not listen to Prime Minister Kaimas. In some texts the name of the king of Jammu is given as Chakradev.
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It is said in Prithviraj Raso that King Hahuli Rai of Kangra fought on behalf of Muhammad Ghori in the second battle of Tarain. It has been told in some texts that in the second battle of Tarain, the king of Jammu was killed by Chamundarai Dahima, the feudatory of Prithviraj. In some texts, Hahuli Rai has been written as the king of Jammu.
On the basis of these facts it can be said that the king of Jammu or Kangra was hostile to Prithviraj Chauhan and he was killed in the battle field by a general of Prithviraj.
Due to continuous wars and victories, the boundaries of the kingdom of Prithviraj Chauhan joined with the Muslim power in the north-west, the Chaulukyas in the south-west and the Chandelas in the east. The kingdom of Chandelas is also called Bundelkhand State, Jejakabhukti and Mahoba State.
The Chauhan-Chalukya conflict arose again during the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan. The historicity of the reasons given behind this conflict in Prithviraj Raso has been proved wrong. Whatever may have been the reasons for this conflict, the reality was that the enmity between the Chauhans and the Chaulukyas was going on for the last several centuries and due to the policy of expansion of the kingdom of Prithviraj Chauhan, the borders of both the states started touching each other around Abu. .
Here the Chauhan ruler Prithviraj (III) and the Chaulukya ruler Bhimdev (II) both were ambitious kings. Therefore a war between the two was inevitable. In Khatragachh Pattawali, there is a description of Prithviraj's campaign to Gujarat in AD 1187. This campaign is confirmed by the Veeraval inscription. Some evidence gives the date of this battle to AD 1184. The Chaulukyas were defeated in this war.
With great difficulty, due to the efforts of Chaulukyas General Secretary Jagdev Pratihar, a treaty was made between the Chauhans and the Chaulukyas. According to the terms of the treaty, the Chaulukyas gave Prithviraj Chauhan a lot of money as indemnity for the war.
According to Khatragachchh Pattawali, once after this war some wealthy people of Ajmer state went to Gujarat. On this the Dandanayak of Gujarat tried to recover huge amount from those traders. When the Chaulukyas' general secretary Jagdev Pratihar came to know about this, he reprimanded Dandanayak because due to Jagdev's efforts, there was a treaty between the Chaulukyas and the Chauhans and he did not want this treaty to be broken.
That's why Jagdev threatened Dandanayak that if you harass the citizens of Chauhan Empire, then I will get you sewn in the stomach of a donkey. It is proved from this episode that during this period it became extremely necessary for the Chaulukyas to maintain peace with the Chauhans.
In the article of Jagdev Pratihar of V.No.1244 found from Veeraval, it is proved to be defeated by Prithviraj many times before. In this campaign, in AD 1187, Prithviraj Chauhan also defeated the Parmar ruler of Abu, Dharavarsha.
Watch in the next episode- Vultures sat on the chest of King Prithviraj Chauhan and started eating meat.
-Doctor. Mohanlal Gupta