Prithviraj Chauhan or popularly known as ‘Rai Pithora‘ was one of the greatest Rajput rulers who ruled the present-day Ajmer and Delhi. He was a gallant and skilled warrior who fought mettlesome battles in an attempt to stop the Islamic adversaries.
Now his inexplicable reminiscents are becoming vogue all over the Internet as a movie with the title ‘Samrat Prithviraj‘ led by Akshay Kumar is being celebrated across the country, here is a look at 25 interesting and unknown facts about the life of the legendary Rajput King.
1. Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before Them
Prithviraj began to show hints of his grandeur at a young age. He was born to Someshvara who was the king of Chahamana. He was a very brave and intelligent child with excellent warfare skills. At an early age, he showed a keen interest in learning battle skills and he was a prompt learner hence he was able to quickly learn even the toughest war skills
2. The Shabd Bhedi Baan
He mastered the skills of the “Shabd bhedi”, a technique in archery in which one accurately hits targets with the help of sound and not sight.
3 The King Of Ajmer
When Prithviraj Chauhan was minor when his father Someshvara Chauhan died in a battle therefore he was crowned as King of Ajmer when he was around 11 years old.
4. Fought With Lion
Since childhood, discussions of his bravery were buzzing all over the world. Once as a minor Prithviraj Chauhan killed a monstrous lion on his own without any weapon.
5. Teen Into Throne
He defeated the king of Gujarat and due to his bravery, he was declared the king of Delhi only at an age of 13. He also played a major role in shaping the history of Delhi.
6. The Poetic Life
The Prithviraj Raso is a poem recounting the life of Prithviraj Chauhan written by Chand Bardia, his friend and a poet in his court. Prithviraja Vijaya is another poem on the life of the Indian Chahamana king Prithviraja beautifully written by Jayanaka.
7. The Polyglot
According to Jayanaka in his poem ‘Prithviraja Vijaya’, Prithviraj was a polyglot who studied 6 languages while the ‘Prithviraj Raso’ asserted that he learned 14 languages.
8. The Omniscient
Prithviraj Raso goes on to claim that he had in-depth knowledge of history, mathematics, medicine, military, painting, philosophy and theology.
9 Prithviraj’s Horse
Natyarambha is the name given to the horse ridden by Prithviraj Chauhan. Natyarambha was well trained and had extreme reverence towards prithviraj chauhan
10. The Heavy Spear
Prithviraj Chauhan was one of the strongest warriors in India. He used to carry a spear which was also said to be almost 60 -70 kgs in weight.
11. Father-in-law As Enemy
Prithviraj’s quick glories in the battles caught the envy of his to be father-in-law Jaichandra Gahadwala and both became the biggest adversaries of each other.
12. Epic Love Story
Sanyogita, the daughter of Jaichandra Gahadwala heard the stories of Prithviraj’s bravery and secretly fell in love with him. It is said that they fell in love when a painter from Prithviraj’s court, showed his paintings to Sanyogita.
13. The Swayamwar
Jaichandra got information about this affair and he reprimanded her daughter and announced ‘Swayamwar‘ to denigrate Prithviraj.
14. Dwarpal Statue
To insult Prithviraj, Jaichandra on ‘Swayamwar’ day made a statue of Prithviraj and kept him as a dwarpal at the gate.
15. Sanyogita’s Love
On Swayamwar’s day When Sanyogita was asked to put a garland around the neck of the king or prince who she liked the most but she passed all the kings and princes, ignoring all of them, sheut the garland around the neck of Prithviraj’s statue.
16. A Quick Escape
When Sanyogita showed her true love and dedication towards Prithviraj. he suddenly popped out from behind the statue and took Sanyogita in his arms and eloped her away to Delhi.
17. Prithviraj’s little ones
Prithviraj Chauhan had 6 children named Jhoda, Shaikha, Bhirda, Taikha, Govindaraja IV, and Laikha.
18. Huge Army
Prithviraj Chauhan’s army had 3000 elephants and 3 lakh soldiers, including a large number of cavalries.
19. The First Battle of Tarain ( 1191 )
Muhammad Ghori knew that the Hindu kings always fought on days, between Sunrise and Sunset so he attacked Prithviraj at the night. Prithviraj appealed to Jaichandra for help but he rejected the request however fearless Prithviraj decided to fight with available resources. Muhammad Ghori fail to keep up against the courageous Rajputs and lost the battle.
20. The Real King
When Muhammad Ghori lost the battle he was captured and taken into custody but after taking ghori to his capital courteous Prithviraj respectfully released Ghori and pardoned him as a good gesture.
21. The 17th Battle
Some historians believe that Prithviraj won 16 times against ghori but in The 17th Battle Ghori attacked with a more powerful army and he won as Rajputs were already facing internal conflict and Prithviraj’s army had already gotten many bleeding cuts.
22. Never Gave Up
When Ghori won the battle, he arrested Prithviraj and also made him blind with red hot iron rods. Prithviraj was insulted, tortured and dragged into Ghori court every single day but Prithviraj never asked for forgiveness.
23. Ghori’s Eye
A game of Archery was organised by Ghori and Prithviraj was also allowed to participate in it. Prithviraja asked Ghori to give him a shooting order and so Ghori ordered him to shoot, using his Shabd bhedi skills with his blind eyes he attacked in the direction of the ghori’s voice and killed ghori. later on, he was killed by one of Ghori’s bodyguards.
24. A Hero Died
Some historians believe that he was killed by one of Ghori’s bodyguards but an another theory that prevails is that Chandra bardai and Prithviraj committed suicide to protect themselves from the dirty hands of their enemies. Prithviraj Chauhan’s execution was done when he was only 43 years old.
25. Bring Him Back
The remains of Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan were buried in Afghanistan and to date, we’re unable to bring his ashes back home.
Prithviraj’s life was full of courageous acts and good deeds, he is depicted as a symbol of Indian power and sovereignty. It is not possible to describe Prithviraj Chauhan’s all achievements and anecdotes in words but we have tried our best to cover aspects that we could and if we have missed something or you have something to say we’ll love to hear you in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions :-
1) Prithviraj Chauhan born date
1166 CE
According to ‘Prithviraja Vijaya‘, by Jayanaka he was born on the 12th day of the Jyeshtha month. So his birth year 1166 CE.
2) How Prithviraj Chauhan died
he was killed by one of Ghori’s bodyguards.
A game of Archery was organised by Ghori and Prithviraj was also allowed to participate in it. Prithviraja asked Ghori to give him a shooting order and so Ghori ordered him to shoot, using his Shabd bhedi skills with his blind eyes he attacked in the direction of the ghori’s voice and killed ghori. later on, he was killed by one of Ghori’s bodyguards.
3) How did Prithviraj Chauhan lost his eyes?
Ghori captured Prithviraj Chauhan and made him blind with red hot iron rods
After winning 17th battle, Ghori captured Prithviraj Chauhan and made him blind with red hot iron rods.
4) How many wives did Prithviraj Chauhan have?
three wives
Samyukta, one of the three wives of Prithviraj Chauhan.
