01The hill of Ajaya
Ajayaraja II of the Chahamanas founded Ajayameru, the hill of Ajaya, early in the 12th century and built the fort on the hill above it, later called Taragarh. His son Arnoraja dammed a valley to make the Ana Sagar lake. Vigraharaja IV, also called Visaladeva, who won Delhi for the Chauhans, was a poet as well as a conqueror. He built a college of Sanskrit learning at Ajmer and had dramas cut into its stone slabs, among them his own Harakeli Nataka, dated 1153. Prithviraj III ruled from Ajmer and Delhi until 1192.
02The college that became a mosque
After Prithviraj fell at Tarain, Ajmer was taken by the Ghurids. Vigraharaja’s college was turned into a mosque: its inscription dates the work to 1199, and Iltutmish added the great arched screen c. 1229. The pillars inside are temple pillars, carved with bells, chains and kirtimukhas, set one on another to gain height. The slabs of the Harakeli Nataka and of a second play, the Lalitavigraharaja Nataka, were found in the building and are now in the Ajmer museum. Ajmer later held the dargah of Muinuddin Chishti, and was fought over by Mewar, Marwar, the Mughals and the Marathas, until the Scindias ceded it to the British in 1818.
The life of this place
- early 12th centuryAjayaraja II founds Ajayameru.
- c. 1135–50Arnoraja builds the Ana Sagar lake.
- 1153 (Samvat 1210)The Harakeli Nataka of Vigraharaja IV is inscribed on stone at his college.
- 1192After the second battle of Tarain, Ajmer falls to Muhammad Ghuri.
- 1199The college is converted into the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra mosque.
- c. 1229Iltutmish adds the arched screen.
- 1818Daulat Rao Scindia cedes Ajmer to the British.
The Adhai Din ka Jhonpra is a short walk up from the dargah. Pushkar, with the Brahma temple, is 15 km over the Nag Pahar pass.
