Prithviraj Chauhan And Sanyogita Epic Love Story Makes Us Believe You’ll Always Have To Fight For Your Love

The history of India is quite rich. We have all the stories of legends and folktales. Since the time we were kids, we have heard and studied about the kings and queens and how their deeds were valiant and how much they loved each other. One of the fewer known stories is mentioned in Prithviraj Raso which is actually an epic on the life of Prithviraj Chauhan, a king from the 12^th century. The book was authored by Chand Bardai.

Prithviraj Chauhan was in love with the princess of Kannauj, princess Sanyogita, and their love story is a fascinating saga of romance, war, and courage.

He ruled under the Chauhan dynasty, in the regions of present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and also some parts of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. He was the last Rajput king that ruled Delhi before the Muslim conquered the subcontinent of India.

Muhammad Ghori was defeated 16 times out of 17 by Prithviraj Chauhan

It is believed that Ghori attacked Delhi over 17 times and was defeated 16 times by Prithviraj Chauhan and his army.

When Prithviraj had defeated Muhammad Ghori, the Sultan of the Ghurid Empire in the first battle of Tarain, his glory reached its pinnacle.

It didn’t take long for the stories of his strength and valor to reach the ears of Sanyogita, the princess of Kannauj. The relationship between them was somewhat bitter before they fell in love with each other.

Sanyogita father Jayachandra was did not liked Prithviraj

Jayachandra, the king of Kannauj, wanted to let the Rajputs know that he was the superior one and thus, did the Rajsuya Yagya. Prithviraj denied to accept his supremacy and then their enmity began.

In the time, Jayachandra was raged that Prithviraj had decided to disagree with the fact that he was the supreme king, Sanyogita had already been madly attracted to Prithviraj.

Falling in love for each other

Sanyogita had heard many stories about the expeditions of Chauhan and she fell in love with him.

The stories say that when Panna Ray, a painter from the court of Prithviraj, had visited Kannauj and had shown the painting of Prithviraj to the king and the princess of Kannauj. When the painter returned, he showed Prithviraj a painting of Sanyogita, that he had painted during the time he was at Kannauj.

No surprise, he was taken aback by her beauty completely.

Sanyogita father organized swayamvara and did not invited Prithviraj

During the same time, a swayamvara was organized for Sanyogita, arranged by her father Jayachandra. Invites were sent to every king in the region except Prithviraj. The funny part is, a statue of Prithviraj was made and was installed as a doorman, to further insult and humiliate him. But it was Prithviraj who had the heart of Sanyogita.

Sanyogita didn’t know that Prithviraj wasn’t invited to the swayamvara until the last moment. When she discovered that he did not come, she was disheartened and wrote a letter to him in which she described her desire to taking him as her husband and staying with him. Then, as a reply, Prithviraj promised her that he would definitely attend her swayamvara and maker her his wife.

Prithviraj married Sanyogita

When the day of swayamvara arrived, Sanyogita walked past all the princes and kings, like they didn’t exist. She rejected everyone present there and when she reached the statue, Prithviraj Chauhan, who was hiding until that moment, appeared suddenly and then Sanyogita put the flower garland around him, therefore accepting him as her husband.

This created an intense situation of anger. Prithviraj then put up his sword and openly challenged the king of Kannauj, to stop this marriage, to stop him from taking his daughter Sanyogita. Jayachandra started to get ablaze by rage and anger as he took that as an insult in front of this huge gathering of kings and princes that he had invited.

Thousands of soldiers sacrificed themselves in the name of their king Prithviraj Chauhan so that he could take his wife Sanyogita safely from Kannauj.

Jayachandra plan to take revenge from Prithviraj

Jayachandra needed vengeance and then he created this alliance along with Muhammad Ghori, the one king who was defeated by Prithviraj 16 times, providing a helping hand to Ghori in attacking Delhi.

Prithviraj lost Second battle of Tarain when Ghori attacked and was captured by him. It is also believed that Prithviraj stopped paying heed to the affairs of the state after his wedding.

After Chauhan was defeated, he still would not bow down to Ghori and thus, was blinded by hot iron rods, by the soldiers of Ghori.

Bardai plan to kill Ghori

Bardai, the poet, that was accompanying Prithviraj in the war, put up a plan and tricked Ghori into arranging a performance of archery, by Prithviraj and the legend says that Prithviraj could hit the target with just the sense of his sound.

Bardai described this archery competition and the exact position of the Sultan, where he was standing. He said in the poem,

“Char bans, chaubis gaj, angul ashta praman, Ta upar sultan hai, chuke mat Chauhan.”

That translates to “Sultan is sitting four measures ahead of you and twenty-four yards away when measured with eight fingers. Don’t miss your target, Chauhan.”

When the Sultan ordered Prithviraj to shoot, he aimed using the hints of Bardai and shot the arrow at the Sultan and therefore killed Ghori.

The poet then stabbed himself and Prithviraj to avoid getting humiliated at the hands of the Sultan’s family and soldiers.

After Bardai dies, his son Jalhan took to complete the epic, as he had also witnessed the war.

The above story is based on Chand Bardai’s Prithviraj Raso. The historians believe that there are many incorrect facts mentioned in the book but be it true or false, the tale is enchanting and proves that everything’s fair in love and war.