in Northern India. A Chauhán Rájput prince, ruling over
Delhi and Ajmere, bore the proud name of Prithwí Rájá or
Suzerain. The Rahtor Rajput king of Kanauj, whose capital
can still be traced across eight square miles of broken bricks and
rubbish in Farukhabád District, celebrated a feast, in the spirit of
the ancient Hindu Horse-Sacrifice (see pp. 68, 70), to proclaim
himself the overlord. At such a feast all menial offices had to
be filled by royal vassals; and the Delhi monarch was summoned
as a gatekeeper, along with the other princes of Hindustan.
During the ceremony, the daughter of the King of Kanauj was
to make her swayam-vara, or ' own-choice ' of a husband, as in
the Sanskrit epics (see pp. 67, 69). The Delhi Rájá loved
the maiden, but he could not brook to stand at another man's
gate. As he did not arrive, the Kanauj king set up a mocking
image of him at the door. When the princess entered the hall
to make her choice, she looked calmly round the circle of kings,
then, stepping proudly past them to the door, threw her bridal
garland over the neck of the ill-shapen image. Forthwith, says
the story, the Delhi monarch rushed in, sprang with the princess
on his horse, and galloped off towards his northern capital. The
outraged father led out his Kanauj army against the runaways,
and, having, according to the legend, called in the Afghans to
attack Delhi on the other side from the west, brought about the
ruin of both the Hindu kingdoms of Delhi and Kanauj.
Distribution of Rájputs, 1193.—The tale serves to record the disputes among the Rájput princes, which prevented a united resistance to Muhammad of Ghor. Muhammad found Delhi occupied by the Tomára clan, Ajmere by the Chauháns, and Kanauj by the Rahtors. These three Rajput States formed the natural breakwaters against invaders from the north-west. But their feuds are said to have left the King of Delhi and Ajmere, then united under one Chauhán overlord, only 64 survivors out of his 108 warrior Chiefs. In 11 93, the Afgháns again swept down on the Punjab. Prithwí Rájá of Delhi and Ajmere was defeated and slain. His heroic queen burned herself on his funeral pile. Muhammad of Ghor, having occupied Delhi, pressed on to Ajmere; and in n 94 overthrew the rival Hindu monarch of Kanauj, whose body was identified on the field of
