battles of Tarain

Tarain, battles of (1191-2), also known as the battles of Taraori, a series of engagements, the last of which resulted in a decisive Muslim victory which opened all of northern India to Muslim conquest. Sent forth by his elder brother Ghiyas al-Din to extend their Ghur territories, Muizz al-Din Muhammad was soon drawn to the vast wealth of India. He proclaimed a jihad against the infidel Hindus and his initial campaigns met with considerable success, capturing Sind in 1182 and Lahore and the Punjab in 1186.

He was checked for the first time on the plain of Tarain, about 62 miles (100 km) north of Delhi, in 1191. The Hindu Rajputs seeing the common threat Muhammad posed, for once managed to unite and put a vastly superior force into the field. Led by Prithviraja, king of Delhi, and supported by Jai Chand of Kanoaj, the Rajput coalition soundly defeated Muhammad who was to fortunate to escape the battlefield with his life.

Muhammad returned to the plains of Tarain with a new army the following year. Once again he was heavily outnumbered, his 12, 000 men facing an alleged 100, 000 Hindus. Muhammad conducted a masterly mobile battle against the largely static defenders. Employing Turkish tactics to which the Hindus had no adequate response, his cavalry harried the Rajput flanks and showered their ranks with arrows while eschewing the hand-to-hand combat at which the Rajputs excelled. The Hindus were unable to chase the elusive cavalry without dangerously exposing themselves and thus were forced to endure the attrition of the Muslim arrows. When Muhammad finally judged his enemy sufficiently worn down, he charged their centre and routed them. Prithviraja died in the mêlée. The battle proved decisive and Delhi was captured in 1192-3. The whole of northern India fell to the Muslims within twenty years.

— Chris Mann