Prithviraj Chauhan defeats the Bhadanakas

01The sources

The Kharatara-gachchha Pattavali, a Jain chronicle that dates events closely, records that in Vikrama 1239, which is 1182, Prithviraj won a victory over the Bhadanakas. The Bhadanakas are known from earlier inscriptions as a power in the Bayana–Alwar region who had fought the Chahamanas and Gahadavalas before. Their land lay on the road between Ajmer, Delhi and the Ganga plain, which made it valuable to whoever held Delhi.

02The same year as Mahoba

The Bhadanaka campaign fell in the same busy year as Prithviraj’s raid on the Chandela kingdom, which is remembered at the Madanpur inscriptions and in the Alha-Khand ballads of Mahoba. These wars against neighbouring Hindu kingdoms enlarged the Chahamana state but also spent its strength and made enemies, among them the Chandelas and the Gahadavalas, who would not stand with Prithviraj at Tarain. The Gahadavala Jayachandra in particular remained his rival to the end.

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 →