The Inspiring Incident of the legend Prithviraj Chauhan

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Surveyor name: Neha Ajmera, Laxmi Kanta Saini
Article by: Ms Laxmi Kanta Saini (Wall Painting Directory Jaipur)


Detail image from a wall painting panel depicting Mohd Ghori with an arrow in his head shot by Prithviraj Chauhan with Chandrabadai standing next to him.

"चार बांस चौबीस गज, अंगुल अष्ट प्रमाण
ता उपर सुल्तान है,मत चूको चौहान।।"

The above lines are extracted from the famous medieval epic, “Prithviraj Raso”. This epic is about the life of the 12th century Indian King Prithvi Raj Chauhan (1166-1192 CE) The epic is written by Chandarbardai, who was the court poet of the king. The stanza and the painting above refers to an episode in which the 12th century Chauhan dynasty ruler Prithviraj Chauhan shoots an arrow in the direction of Muhammad Ghori killing him.

 

The above-presented painting panel is made in tempera style (pigment applied on dry lime plaster with the help of binder), it adorns a wall in the Rajmahal of Bhindar, a prominent whereabout of the Shaktawat clan of Sisodiya’s of the Mewar. The panel describes the inspiring incident of the legend Prithviraj Chauhan. 

 

The second battle of the Tarain was fought between Prithviraj Chauhan and Muhammad Ghori in 1192 A.D. In this battle Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated by Muhammad Ghori. Ghori captured Prithviraj alive and took him to Ghazni from India, where he was blinded for not accepting the supremacy of Muhammad Ghori. As described in Prithviraj Raso, when Chandarbardai heard of this, he travelled to Ghazni to save his king. Somehow, he talked to Ghori and informed him that Prithviraj is an excellent archer and could hit any target just by hearing a sound. Ghori agreed, to put on an archery performance, by blind Prithviraj. On the said day, Ghori was sitting in his royal enclosure and Prithviraj was brought to the ground to shoot the target. Just before the ‘performance’ Chandarbardai (who is standing right behind of the archer Prithviraj in the painting) indicated where Ghori was seated to Prithviraj through the following lines:

"चार बांस चौबीस गज, अंगुल अष्ट प्रमाण
ता उपर सुल्तान है,मत चूको चौहान।।"

(Four bamboo lengths in front, then twenty-four hands and eight fingers in height, 
the sultan is sitting, don’t miss him Chauhan.)

Prithviraj turned in the direction from where he heard Ghori's voice, he shot an arrow in the direction of the Ghori and killed him. To escape death by the hands of enemies Prithviraj and Chandarbardai killed each other in a suicidal pact.

The great Prithviraj thus regains his honour. Prithviraj Chauhan was one of the valorous heroes of the Indian history, who adorned the throne of Delhi. 

 

Reference

  1.     Munshi, K.M., Edited By- Majumdar R.C., Pusalker A. D., Majumdar A.K., The History and        Culture of the Indian People- The Struggle for Empire, Volume- 5, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan,          Bombay, 1966.
  2.     गहलोत, डॉ. सुखवीर सिंह., राजस्थान का इतिहास – कोश, राजस्थान हिंदी ग्रंथ अकादमी, जयपुर, 2007
  3.       शर्मा, डॉ. हरिशंकर., मध्यकालीन भारत, मलिक एंड कंपनी, चौडा रास्ता, जयपुर, 1995
  4.       शर्मा, व्यास., मध्ययुगीन भारत – 1000-1761 ई. पंचशील प्रकाशन, चौडा रास्ता, जयपुर, 1993
  5.       शर्मा, व्यास., मध्ययुगीन भारत – 1200-1761 ई. पंचशील प्रकाशन, चौडा रास्ता, जयपुर, 2008
  6.       शर्मा, व्यास., राजस्थान के इतिहास का सर्वेक्षण (प्रारम्भ से 1956 ई.), पंचशील प्रकाशन, चौडा रास्ता, जयपुर, 1999

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