Pritviraj Chauhan wins the Battle of Tarain

Prithviraj Chauhan, was a Rajput King who controlled Delhi at the end of the 12th century, a pretty impressive warrior King, he had managed to bring most of northern India under his control by 1192, and after beating back Muslim invaders led by Mohammed Ghori at the First Battle of Tarain, it seemed as though things would be okay for him. However, he had not pursued Ghori after that first battle, which led to there being a second battle, which Prithviraj consequently lost, being killed as he tried to escape. This consequently allowed the Delhi Sultanate, and the conquest of Bengal to occur.

What I am wondering is what might the consequences be if Prithviraj had managed to defeat Ghori during the second battle of Tarain, and consequently managed to slay Ghori himself during the course of the fighting. Does the Muslim invasion of India get stuck in its tracks, will they try again? Would Prithviraj try expanding his own Kingdom?
 
Depends on whether or not Chauhan is a second Harsha. His empire could last and have a continued impact, or it could fade away and another Muslim army invades India somewhere down the line.
Chauhan would almost definitelyhave to deal with other Muslim invasions in the future, since the Afghans were converted during Ghori's time, and took over as the chief source of Islamic migrants to India after that.
So building a state that endures after his own death is essential if you want to stave off the Delhi Sultanate permanently.
It might help to instead of rotating between Ajmer and Delhi, choose a single captial in which he can install some kind of administration-- a new Pataliputra of sorts. This will help him greatly in dealing with other Rajputs, with whom he had pretty terrible relations in the 12th century.
 
I think Prithviraj was in the process of establishing a permanent capital at Delhi. The rotation between Ajmer and Delhi was just part of the process as Ajmer was significantly more populated.

And he would also need to get some powerful Rajput allies as stated above. In the folk tale version of the story it was Samyogita's kidnapping that led to Jayachanda's complete alienation, but historically there were many other factors. Finding an ally amongst Mewar or Jaisalmer might prove useful in both the short and long term. Or he can sway Jaychanda if he wins Tarain and he'll have a powerful ally as well as a wife to continue his dynasty with (something Harsha couldn't do).

But honestly there shouldn't have even been a second Tarain. Prithviraj paradoxically had tried to implement an Indian version of chivalry, but by sparing Ghori and sending him back in good order he had strangled the thought in it's cradle. Plus staying on the defence might not be enough, A campaign against Kabul might be necessary to truly deter Islamic invaders into his newly-formed realm.

And this might be a little ASB, but both the Ghorids and Ghaznavids of the time held Samarkand as their jewel, a place to store all their wealth from campaigns. If Prithviraj can conduct a raiding campaign on the city and recover religious heirlooms such as the Somnath Shiv Lingam his legitimacy might be imprinted into Hindustan.
 
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It was absolutely stupid on the part of Prithviraj that he allowed Muhammad Ghori to go free after defeating him in the First Battle of Tarain. Prithviraj should have killed Ghori when he had him in his custody. He could have avoided a second battle at Tarain if he had got rid of Ghori at the first opportunity.
 
All very true, if he does kill Ghori during the second battle of tarain, I suppose it would be logical for him to push forward and actually eradicate any threat in the short term no?
 
All very true, if he does kill Ghori during the second battle of tarain, I suppose it would be logical for him to push forward and actually eradicate any threat in the short term no?

Well logically yes. But it would take time for Prithviraj's manpower reserves to recover from the battle as he has just not only beaten a foreign invader, but also handled Jayachanda and his Rajput foes. He'll need to stabilise the home scene, even if it is only for a few months, before he can head out and conduct a campaign against Ghori.

Also remember that an culturally Indian Raja hasn't conducted a campaign against a foe outside of the sub-continent since the days of the Gupta Empire. This will truly be an enormous undertaking and will decide whether Prithviraj's the next Harshavardhana or not.
 
Hmm indeed, well considering Ghori would be dead, would it not be against whoever is chosen as the man's successor, that Prithviraj would be waging war against?
 
Hmm indeed, well considering Ghori would be dead, would it not be against whoever is chosen as the man's successor, that Prithviraj would be waging war against?

Whoops, you're right. I meant more the Ghorid remnants in general. :hushedface:

Well fact is that Ghori never had any children of his own, he treated his Mamlik/Ghulam slaves as his sons. He educated them as was required for Islamic princes and gave the best of training, but this was only achieved after a long reign in which he carefully delegated different parts of his realm to his different slave-sons.

Without time to do so (I believe Iltutmish, founder of the first Delhi Sultanate dynasty of the Ghulams, is still around 12 years old at the time and thus is still receiving an education) there will be a MASSIVE power vacuum. The Ghorids will implode and explode at the same time, as various generals and ghazis of Mu'izzudin Ghori lay claim and fight amongst each other in Samarkand while many of the recently converted Afghan tribesmen might just revert back to their traditional faiths and those who don't will raid Hindustan and Prithviraj's realm like crazy.

As I said before, Prithviraj will need to take time and plan out such a campaign. Only one Indian ruler since Gupta times had conducted a campaign proper outside of what is traditionally recognised as the sub-continent, and that was Lalitaditya Muktapida, the Karkota Emperor. If Prithviraj takes time to read the Ratnangiri, the Chronicles of Lalitaditya by the famous scholar Kalhana, which can be ordered from Nalanda he probably may able to adapt tactics and strategy to better suit warfare against the Turks. Rajput infantry formations were of actually very high quality, but Indian cavalry had always lacked the flare and skill of foreign horsemen and that is one thing that will need to be improved.

In fact all the way into the 1500s Vijaynagara had to import Arabian and Turkic steeds for it's a rimes as well as Turkic officers to lead and train the cavalry.
 
Okay interesting, how long might he need to plan, for a campaign to work?

Four to five months to replenish levies, train up new ones. Six to ten months to actually deal with the shitstorm the Rajput kings were causing for him. Part of the fact Prithviraj lost at 2nd Battle of Tarain is that most of his top quality Rajput infantry had been wrecked in the first battle and the Rajput kings were being super touchy about re-in forcing him by the time the second happened.

You've also got to remember, as folklore-y and ballad-y as the Prithviraj Raso is, Chand Bardai actually paints a pretty good picture of Prithviraj for us. He's shown to be a hopeless romantic in that after he rescues Samyogita in the poem she demands that he re-muster properly and spend time drilling the army, he's simply too enamoured with her to do so. Bardai also writes about how he was ordering a code of honour to be drawn up for all Rajputs in the Kingdom of Delhi-Ajmer, one unlike the Kshatriya code of the Puranic texts in that he was actively trying to break cast boundaries so he may have more fighting men and may arm them like he armed his Rajputs. This was due to the fact in the Puranas it was written that one can not properly arm men of non-warrior descent since it was not their karma or destiny to fight.

This was one of the reasons the Islamic invasions succeeded so quickly; caste forbade the training of hundreds more good quality warriors and thus gave invaders and easier opponent.

But back to the campaign, once such a campaign is put together he can easily march out and push them back past Kabul. He'll need to retain Kabul though and make it a vital part of his realm, it really is the gateway into the Afghan hills from the east. Past that the Ratnangiri writes:

"Here lay the dry grass fields. Lalitaditya was unaccustomed to the ways of the Mlecchas that reside here, their ways of life completely barbaric and their rituals sinful. But despite their ways, the local folk are accustomed to warfare on these open lands and thus Muktapida called upon them to serve along him and teach him the way one might truly master the horse."

Till Prithviraj's new warrior code does not flourish and cavalry warfare does not become better in India, they'll need to rely on superior foreign cavalry. So it comes to the fact once he's reached past Afghanistan he'll need to start recruiting Turkic mercenaries and they'll be hard to find, one does not simply aid the infidel against their countrymen after all! :p
 
Okay interesting, I suppose he might consider training and drilling his men in the art of horse warfare properly as well, and potentially using the rallying cry against the foreign barbarian invaders and their religion as a uniting point
 
I did read once that Islam was quite successful in the area precisely because it gave an alternative belief to the caste system, is that true?

Sorry, it's mostly a message to be able to follow the thread and to thank you guys for the explanation in any of your assertion, even if I can't quite contribute, it's still an entertaining read :)
 
I did read once that Islam was quite successful in the area precisely because it gave an alternative belief to the caste system, is that true?

Sorry, it's mostly a message to be able to follow the thread and to thank you guys for the explanation in any of your assertion, even if I can't quite contribute, it's still an entertaining read :)

Oh yes, definitely. The Brahmins had been quite oppressive in their rule and had slowly strayed from texts such as the Vedas and even the extremely good life lessons that were taught in the Mahabharata, instead favouring the Puranas and the Manu Smriti, one of the most oppressive, misogynistic, judgemental and racist pieces of trash ever written. It's one of the main reasons my grandfather never accepted the farming land he was to inherit and joined the army instead, also deciding not to be married by the traditional Vedic rites dictated by the Manu Smriti, instead choosing the Ghandarva rites, a type of marriage in the Mahbharata that would be considered elopement in English and was considered to be unorthodox and unsavoury by Indian standards in the 50s.

But to get back on point, the conversion to Islam never did the lower castes much good, as soon many high caste people began converting and even though all men were supposed to be brothers in Dar Islam, the same social structures remained in place, except this time the upper echelons of society had no claim to be able to do this. They were just plain oppressive.
 
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I figured that the state he would build would be broadly Hindu in outlook. Am I wrong?

Perhaps, perhaps not. It does depend on how successful he is in dealing with possible invasions, whether or not those on the western coast convert to Islam, in the numbers they did otl. And tbf, being broadly hindu in outlook ain't that different to how things were for India in this period otl either,.
 
I'm more interested with the idea that people are seriously bandying about a Rajput state conquering Afghanistan.

I thought thqt was as impossible as Sealion.

Also more Indian timelines are always a pleasure to read. I've attempted to expand my knowledge to the Far East but I find Indian history makes European dynastic squabbling look like Lord of the Rings compared with Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Its just so different from what I'm used to dealing with, I don't know any of the players or locations like I do in Europe and the Levant.
 
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