Second battle of Tarain

Welcome back readers to my second blog which is in continuation of my first blog about the battle of tarain. The second battle of tarain took place just a year after the first battle of tarain in the year 1192. In my previous blog, we learned how the ignition for battle took place by the first move of Mohammad Ghori, and due to his overconfidence and weak army, he lost against the Chauhan. Now the second battle was inevitable as Ghori wanted the north Indian territory for expansion. 

• A few months before the second battle of tarain the Chauhan empire had spread its boundaries and took control over tomars, candelas, paramars, and gurjara-pratiharas. The chauhans also annexed back their fort of bathinda which was taken by the ghurids during 1191. Also the king Prithviraj chauhan was farsighted so he tried many times to form an alliance with jai chandra who was the king of gahadavala empire so that they could together defeat the ghurid empire but no response and support came from them.
• As a result prithviraj chauhan constantly was troubled by the thought of two front war, one attack from the ghurid empire and the second attack from the gahadavala. 
• If gahadavalas and chauhans fought together against the external power of the ghurids then they could have definitely defeated the ghurids and we have been possibly studying different histories but it could not happen. There are several reasons why the gahadavala empire didn't form an alliance with Chauhan.
• According to the legends of prithaviraja vijaya, once prithviraj also had a conflict with the most prominent king of the gahadavala kingdom, jayachandra.
• The heroic tales of Prithviraj's valour reached in the ears of Sanyogita who was the daughter of the king of kannauj Jaya Chand. But before love could even flourish between the two, the relationship between Prithviraj and Jai Chand was strained.
• Jaichand also wanted to assert his supremacy over the other Rajput kings and hence he decided to do a rajsuya Yagya. Prithviraj, however, refused to accept the supremacy of king Jaichand and this marked the beginning of their enmity. 
• But Jai Chand was disgruntled by Prithviraj's refusal to accept jaichand as the supreme ruler/king, his daughter sanyogita was smitten. She had heard about chauhan’s heroic expeditions and was completely in love with the king of chauhans ie. Prithviraj Chauhan. 
• According to a legend, they fell in love when a painter from the court of prithviraj named as panna ray, visited kannauj and there he shown his painting of the king to the princess. The same painter after returning from there painted the picture of sanyogita and showed that to prithviraj and they fell for each other.
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      Source: Wikipedia

• At this moment Jai Chand decided to arrange a swayamvar for his daughter. As a result, he invited all the kings except prithviraj. To add more in this insult jaichand got a statue of prithviraj made and installed it as a doorman of his court. But Sanyogita already has given her heart to him.
• When she came to know that he was not even invited to the swayamwar, she was distressed and she wrote a letter to him in which she squeezed out her desire to marry him. Answering to this prithviraj promised that he will come to the swayamwar.
• On the day of swayamvar, Sanyogita walked by all the kings rejecting them, and she finally reached the statue of Prithviraj. At that moment,Chauhan, who was hiding until then suddenly came out and sanyogita put the garland around his neck.
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               Source: Wikipedia

• After his defeat at the hands of Prithvi Raj Chauhan during the first battle of tarain in 1191, Muhammad Ghori returned to Ghazni. In front of the whole public he mortified and abandoned the figurehead and commanders of his forces who showed timidity at Tarain and took a pledge to surrender all luxuries until he requited his defeat. Keeping this thing in mind he set about reconstructing his forces by laying greater importance on firepower, mobility, and discipline.
• He encamped once again near Tarain and attacked them during the night on the opposition which was against the norms of that time. Once again Prithviraj Chauhan fought a vicious battle against the ghurid empire. Initially, the Chauhan were achieving favorable outcomes against the ghurids but ultimately they were defeated due to the improved warfare of Ghori, and prithviraj was taken to afghanistan and killed by them there only. 

 

    Source: Wikipedia

    Caracole War Technique 

• Mohammad Ghori used the caracole tactic to defeat the chauhans which was at that time a very revolutionary concept. This tactic was very irritating, annoying and frustrating but effective for the opposition.
• V.A. Smith has written about it that, “The second battle of Tarain in A.D. 1192 may be regarded as the decisive contest which ensured the ultimate success of the Mohammedan attack on Hindustan.