Battle of Chandawar 1194

The Battle of Chandwar (1194) was fought between Mu'izz al-Din Mohammad Ghori Sultan of the Ghurid Empire and Jaya Chandra (Jaichand) of Kannauj (Raja of Banaras) of the Gahadavala dynasty. It took place at Chandwar (modern Firozabad), on the banks of Jamuna River close to Agra.

Backgound:

Muhammad Ghori was determined to establish his authority over India. In 1191, he proceeded towards Indian Sub-continent through the Khyber Pass and stormed the strategic fortress of Tabarhindah (either Bhatinda or Sirhind), which was situated within the dominion of Prithviraj Chauhan and laid siege to the city, which was the main reason behind the first battle of Tarain  in 1191. Muhammad Ghori was defeated in the hands of Prithviraj Chauhan in this battle. Mohammad Ghori was not disheartened over his defeat. He increased his strength and army power and made preparations to avenge his defeat. He then reappeared in 1192 A.D at Tarain and fought again with Prithvi Raj Chauhan in Second Battle of Tarain. Muhammad Ghori became victorious in this battle and captured Ajmer.

It is said that, due to the conflicts between Jaya Chandra and Prithvi Raj, Jaya Chandra helped Muhammad Ghori against Prithvi Raj Chauhan.

Following the victory Muhammad Ghori went back to Ghazni, leaving Qutb-ud-Din Aibak in-charge of his Indian possessions. In a short time, Qutb-ud-Din conquered Meerut, Kol and Delhi and made Delhi the seat of his government.

According to Hasan Nizami's 13th century text Taj-ul-Maasir, Muhammad Ghori decided to attack the Gahadavala kingdom after taking control of Ajmer, Delhi and Kol. He dispatched a 50,000-strong army commanded by Qutb al-Din Aibak. This army defeated "the army of the enemies of the Religion". It appears that the defeated army was not Jayachandra's main army, but only a smaller body of his frontier guards.

Then it became clear to Jaya Chandra that Muhammad saw himself as a conqueror and not a raider and prepared to fight with Muhammad Ghori. When Ghori came to know the preparations of Jaya Chandra to fight, he came back to India. Then the Muslim army advanced to Kanauj. Muhammad then sent Qutb al-Din Aibak to attack Jaya Chandra and Jayachandra then himself led a larger army against Qutb al-Din Aibak in 1194 CE.

According to the contemporary Muslim accounts, Jayachandra was "the greatest king of India and possessed the largest territory". These accounts describe him as the Raja of Banaras (king of Varanasi). According to Kamil ut-Tawarikh, his army had a million soldiers and 700 elephants.

The Hindu accounts (such as Vidyapati's Purusha-Pariksha and Prithviraj Raso) claim that Jayachandra defeated the Ghurids multiple times. The contemporary Muslim accounts, on the other hand, mention only two battles: one relatively minor engagement and the Battle of Chandwar, in which Jayachandra was killed.

Battle:

The battle was fought at Chandwar (modern Firozabad), on the banks of Jamuna River close to Agra. According to the 16th century historian Firishta, Jaya Chandra’s army was step ahead in the battle, in most accounts the Gahadavalas were close to victory. But suddenly an arrow from Qutb al-Din hit Jaya Chandra in the eye, killing him. He fell off his elephant, and was trampled.  He could only be identified by the gold caps on his teeth after the battle. With the death of their leader the Gahadavala army broke and fled, taking heavy casualties during the pursuit. finally muslim army won the battle.

An alternative tradition says Jaya Chandra escaped from the battlefield and found a new dynasty in the Kurnaon Hills but there is no historical evidence

After the battle:

The Ghurids captured 300 elephants alive, and plundered the Gahadavala treasury and took possession of the Asni fort. After this, the Ghurids advanced to Varanasi, a famous Hindu pilgrim center. He plundered all the temples and enslaved the Hindus. According to Hasan Nizami, "nearly 1000 temples were destroyed and converted into mosques". A number of local feudatory chiefs came forward to offer their allegiance to the Ghurids.

Jayachandra's son Harishchandra succeeded him on the Gahadavala throne. According to one theory, he was a Ghurid vassal till Harishchandra, recovered Kanauj, Jaunpur and Mirzapur in 1197.  And Rajput resistance continued in Kanauj and stayed independent until Iltumish conquered it.