RAS question
The Second Battle of Tarain (1192) was fought between:
Correct answer: (B) Muhammad Ghori and Prithviraj Chauhan.
The Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 was fought between Muhammad Ghori and Prithviraj Chauhan III, and Muhammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj on the same field where he had lost in 1191.
Explanation
The Second Battle of Tarain was the 1192 encounter between Muhammad Ghori, identified by Britannica as Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam of Ghur, and Prithviraj Chauhan III, the Chauhan Rajput ruler of Ajmer and Delhi. The context matters: Prithviraj had defeated Muhammad in 1191 at Tarain, but Muhammad returned the next year. Britannica records that in 1192 he defeated and killed Prithviraj on the same field, with Ghurid cavalry tactics baffling the Rajputs before the centre was crushed by Muhammad's main force. That is why the battle is treated as decisive: it opened the way for Muslim conquests in north India, with Delhi occupied in 1192-93.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Mahmud of Ghazni and Jayapala belong to an earlier 11th-century Ghaznavid-Shahi conflict, not the 1192 Tarain battle.
- (C) Muhammad Ghori's fight with Jayachandra is tied to Chandawar in 1194, whereas Tarain in 1192 was against Prithviraj Chauhan III.
- (D) Bhimdev II of Gujarat was a separate opponent of Muhammad Ghori, not the Rajput ruler defeated at Tarain in 1192.
Concept
This tests the medieval Indian history theme of Turkish invasions and Rajput resistance. RAS repeats Tarain because it marks a political turning point from Prithviraj's 1191 victory to Muhammad Ghori's decisive 1192 success and the opening of north India to Muslim control.