Prithviraj Chauhan And Sanyogita:The Epic saga of love in times of war

Prithviraj Chauhan And Sanyogita Epic Love Story Makes Us Believe You’ll Always Have To Fight For Your Love

The history of India is quite rich. We have all the stories of legends and folktales. Since the time we were kids, we have heard and studied about the kings and queens and how their deeds were valiant and how much they loved each other. One of the fewer known stories is mentioned in Prithviraj Raso which is actually an epic on the life of Prithviraj Chauhan, a king from the 12^th century. The book was authored by Chand Bardai.

Prithviraj Chauhan was in love with the princess of Kannauj, princess Sanyogita, and their love story is a fascinating saga of romance, war, and courage.

He ruled under the Chauhan dynasty, in the regions of present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and also some parts of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. He was the last Rajput king that ruled Delhi before the Muslim conquered the subcontinent of India.

Muhammad Ghori was defeated 16 times out of 17 by Prithviraj Chauhan

It is believed that Ghori attacked Delhi over 17 times and was defeated 16 times by Prithviraj Chauhan and his army.

When Prithviraj had defeated Muhammad Ghori, the Sultan of the Ghurid Empire in the first battle of Tarain, his glory reached its pinnacle.

It didn’t take long for the stories of his strength and valor to reach the ears of Sanyogita, the princess of Kannauj. The relationship between them was somewhat bitter before they fell in love with each other.

Falling in love for each other

Sanyogita had heard many stories about the expeditions of Chauhan and she fell in love with him.

The stories say that when Panna Ray, a painter from the court of Prithviraj, had visited Kannauj and had shown the painting of Prithviraj to the king and the princess of Kannauj. When the painter returned, he showed Prithviraj a painting of Sanyogita, that he had painted during the time he was at Kannauj.

No surprise, he was taken aback by her beauty completely.

Sanyogita father organized swayamvara and did not invited Prithviraj chauhan

During the same time, a swayamvara was organized for Sanyogita, arranged by her father Jayachandra. Invites were sent to every king in the region except Prithviraj. The funny part is, a statue of Prithviraj was made and was installed as a doorman, to further insult and humiliate him. But it was Prithviraj who had the heart of Sanyogita.

Sanyogita didn’t know that Prithviraj chauhan wasn’t invited to the swayamvara until the last moment. When she discovered that he did not come, she was disheartened and wrote a letter to him in which she described her desire to taking him as her husband and staying with him. Then, as a reply, Prithviraj chauhan promised her that he would definitely attend her swayamvara and maker her his wife.

Prithviraj chauhan married Sanyogita

When the day of swayamvara arrived, Sanyogita walked past all the princes and kings, like they didn’t exist. She rejected everyone present there and when she reached the statue, Prithviraj Chauhan, who was hiding until that moment, appeared suddenly and then Sanyogita put the flower garland around him, therefore accepting him as her husband.

This created an intense situation of anger. Prithviraj then put up his sword and openly challenged the king of Kannauj, to stop this marriage, to stop him from taking his daughter Sanyogita. Jayachandra started to get ablaze by rage and anger as he took that as an insult in front of this huge gathering of kings and princes that he had invited.

Thousands of soldiers sacrificed themselves in the name of their king Prithviraj Chauhan so that he could take his wife Sanyogita safely from Kannauj.