हिंदीOn this day

Kumarapala’s war with the Chahamana Arnoraja

VictorChaulukyas of GujaratKumarapala
1150vs
Chahamanas of ShakambhariArnoraja

Arnoraja of Ajmer backed a rival to the Chaulukya throne and fought Kumarapala. The Gujarat king won, and Chahamana and Chaulukya inscriptions record it from both sides.

Date: c. 1150 CEWhere: Sapadalaksha, the Chahamana kingdom around AjmerType: Battle
Photo: Jakub Hałun · CC BY-SA 4.0
1 min read WhatsApp
Cite

MLA

“Kumarapala’s war with the Chahamana Arnoraja.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/kumarapala-war-with-arnoraja/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Kumarapala’s war with the Chahamana Arnoraja. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/kumarapala-war-with-arnoraja/

Result

Kumarapala defeated Arnoraja, and peace was sealed with a marriage.

01The war

Kumarapala came to the throne of Anahilavada in 1143 after a contested succession. Arnoraja, the Chahamana king who had married a Chaulukya princess, supported another claimant and invaded. The Chitor inscription of Kumarapala, dated 1150, says he came to Chitrakuta after defeating the lord of Shakambhari, and Jain chronicles of Hemachandra’s circle tell the campaign at length. The Chaulukya victory was followed by a marriage alliance that restored peace between the two Rajput houses.

02Two great kingdoms of the west

Kumarapala, guided by the Jain acharya Hemachandra, rebuilt the Somnath temple and ruled Gujarat at its height. Arnoraja is remembered for building the Ana Sagar lake at Ajmer and for defeating a Turkish raid. The war between them was one of many fought among the Rajput kingdoms in the half century before Tarain. Arnoraja’s son Vigraharaja IV would take Delhi from the Tomaras, and his grandson was Prithviraj Chauhan.

Chahamanas (Chauhans) of Shakambhari and Ajmer
Dynasty · c. 7th century–1192 CE (Ranthambore branch to 1301)Chahamanas (Chauhans) of Shakambhari and AjmerThe Chahamanas grew from chiefs around Sambhar lake into the kings of Ajmer and Delhi. Prithviraj III defeated Muhammad of Ghor at Tarain in 1191 and fell to him there in 1192.Read →
Why it matters

It secured Kumarapala’s throne and fixed the balance between Gujarat and Ajmer for a generation.

People 1

Prithviraj ChauhanRuler
c. 1166–1192 CE; reigned 1178–1192

Prithviraj Chauhan

Chahamana king of Ajmer and Delhi

Places 4

ChittorgarhRuined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Chittorgarh

The hill fortress of Mewar, 180 m above the plain and some 13 km round. It was besieged and taken three times, in 1303, 1535 and 1568, and each time the women chose jauhar. The Vijay Stambh still stands over it.

Anahilwad PatanRuined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Anahilwad Patan

Capital of Gujarat for six centuries under the Chavdas, Chaulukyas and Vaghelas, the city of Siddharaja Jayasimha, Kumarapala and Hemachandra, whose queens built Rani ki Vav. It was sacked in 1197 and 1299, and in 1411 the capital moved to Ahmedabad.

Somnath JyotirlingaRebuilt
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Somnath Jyotirlinga

The first Jyotirlinga, on the shore at Prabhas where the Sarasvati meets the sea. Raided, razed and rebuilt again and again for nine hundred years, it was raised once more by free India in 1951.

Ajmer (Ajayameru)Standing
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Ajmer (Ajayameru)

The Chauhan capital founded by Ajayaraja II, where Vigraharaja IV built a Sanskrit college and had plays carved in stone. After 1192 the college was turned into the mosque called Adhai Din ka Jhonpra.

Places near the battlefield 4

Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, AjmerDestroyed
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, Ajmer

A mosque at Ajmer built after the fall of Prithviraj Chauhan from the pillars and stones of the Chahamana city, on the site where Vigraharaja IV had kept a Sanskrit college. Slabs carved with his own play, the Harakeli Nataka, were dug out of it in the 19th century.

Manibandh (Manivedika) Shakti Peetha, PushkarStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Manibandh (Manivedika) Shakti Peetha, Pushkar

The Shakti Peetha of Pushkar, where by the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s list the wrists of Sati fell. The Devi is Gayatri, the Bhairava Sarvananda; locally the shrine is also called the Chamunda Mata mandir.

Brahma Temple, PushkarRebuilt
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Brahma Temple, Pushkar

The best-known temple of Bhagwan Brahma, beside the lake the Padma Purana says formed where his lotus fell. Pushkar is called Tirtharaja, the king of tirthas.

Savitri Mata Temple, PushkarStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Savitri Mata Temple, Pushkar

Bhagwan Brahma’s temple stands by the lake at Pushkar; his consort Savitri sits apart on the highest hill to the south, where the Padma Purana says she went after the yajna. Pilgrims climb to her after Brahma’s darshan.