Chauhan defeated Gazanvi- unsung heroes of Hindustan

#Unsungheroesofhindustan

Arnoraja chauhan – badly defeated gaznavi king bahram shah.

Arnoraja was an Indian king belonging to the Shakambhari Chahamana dynasty. He He was a son of the king Ajayaraja II and his wife Somalladevi. Also known by various names, including Analadeva, Ānaladeva, Ana, Anna, and Ānāka. Two 1139 CE Revasa inscriptions mention his title as Maharajadhiraja-Parameshvara. An 1141 CE manuscript of Avashyaka-Niryukti mentions his title as Paramabhattaraka-Maharajadhiraja-Shrimad.ruled the Sapadalaksha country, which included parts of present-day Rajasthan in north-western India.He ascended the throne of Ajmer a little before 1133, the probable date of the death of his rival Naravarman .Dates for Arnoraja range from 1139 to 1142. But he can be proved from other sources to have ruled much longer, say for about a period of eighteen years i.e. from 1133 to 1151.’According to the Ajmer prashasti inscription Arnoraja adorned Ajmer with the blood of Turushkas (Turkic people)

The fragmentary Chauhan prasasti of the Ajmer Museum makes

special mention of the following achievements of Arnoraja (in relation to his battle with gaznavis):—

1 . Slaughter of Turuskas near Ajmer.

2. Carrying of Chauhan arms up to the Sindhu and the Sarasvati.

His fight against Turushka i.e. the Yaminis of Lahore and Ghazna was inheritance from his father Very early in Arnoraja’s reign the Muslims had reached as far as Pushkar and in the battle that followed on the plain outside the city, where the anasagara lake was later on excavated and filled with the waters of the river chandra to wash of the stains of the Muslim blood. According to the text, these invaders came through the desert, and had to drink the blood of their horses by striking their shoulders with their weapons. in absence of water.

If we turn to the pages of the Tabakat-i-Nasiri, we feid that Bahram Shah, the king of Ghazni (1117-58 A.D.) made several expeditions to Hindustan.’ One

Muhammad Bahalim, once captured but ultimately liberated by him during his early invasion, is said to have again revolted and built the fort of Nagor in the Siwalik hills. Bahram Shah proceeded to Hindustan to subdue the fort and Muhammad Bahalim marched towards Multan to meet him. He gave battle to the Sultan but fell fighting along with his ten sons, so that no trace of him was left. Bahram Shah then left for Ghazni to fight the king of Ghor.

In this account of Minhaj-us- Siraj the most striking thing is the fort built at Nagor by a Muslim. We know that Nagor continued to be in the possession of the Chahamanas since their earliest days and it is no where

said to have been lost by them. It seems highly probable, therefore,that the once captured and liberated Muhammad

Bahalim, after his next revolt against the authority of the Shah, took shelter in the Chahamana court. The explanation of bahalim shah having built a fort

at Nagor appears to be that the Muslim refugee was given not only shelter but was also awarded the fief of Nagor.This annoyed the gazanavi king who set out with his army of invasion to punish the revolted officer as well as the king of Ajmer who had given protection to the rebel.

After his victory at Multan against Bahalim, the Shah proceeded towards

Ajmer via desert. His aim, apperas to have

been, like that of his great ancestor Mahmud, to plunder the Pushkara Tirtha. But he had to pay heavily for his adventure. A large number of Muslim soldiers were practically slaughtered

by fire heroes of Ajmer.The muslim commander was decisively beaten and fled before the pursuing Chauhana. Many Muslim soldiers died of the exhaustion caused of their heavy armour, and not a few perished of thirst in the waterless desert. Some found their graves in the shifting sand-dunes of Rajasthan, and the bodies of others lying in large numbers along the path leading away from the ajmer were burnt by the villagers who did not like their stinking smell . A large amount of booty consisting mainly of horses, fell into the hands of soldiers of Arnoraja and for some days Ajmer became a scene of festivals held to celebrate this great victory . After defeating these invaders, Arnoraja purified the place of their death by commissioning a lake, which is identified with the modern Ana Sagar. The lake was filled with the water of the Chandra river, identified with the modern Bandi River which takes its rise in the forest of Pushkara (Pushkararanya).

As is usual with Muslim historians, Minhaj seems to have deliberately omitted to

record the defeat of the Shall of Ghazni and hastens to make him return after his victory at Multan.

The poet (of prithviraj vijay ) informs

us that this victory was celebrated in Ajmer with great eclat’’After this victory, he also invaded the sindhu and saraswati region.

In prithviraj vijay, his invasion of sindh has been described as attack on pischas or demons.

“Rendered thirsty”, says the Chauhan “by having remained in the waterless desert and with his thirst unquenched by Prahladakupa (perhaps modern Pallu in the Bikaner State), Arnoraja reached the Sindhu and Sarasvatl”.

The Doyasrayakavya of Hemachandra, a contemporary writer, speaks of Arnoraja being helped by the rulers of Eastern Madra and the towns of the Vahika-

desa. As the result of his expedition to the Sindhu and the Sarasvati, bring some portions of the Eastern Punjab under his subjection. After this victory he assumed the title of udichyaraat.None of the muslim invaders ever dared to attack india during his reign.This was one of the worst defeats ever faced by the islamic invaders in indian soil.

References

1. Early chauhan dynasties by dashratha sharma.

2. History of chahamanas by rb singh.

3. Kshatriya gaurav gatha by ram purohit.