Prithviraja Vijaya (IAST: Pṛthvīrāja Vijaya, "Prithviraja's Victory") is an eulogistic Sanskrit epic poem on the life of the Indian Chahamana king Prithviraja III (better known as Prithviraj Chauhan in the vernacular folk legends). It is believed to have been composed around 1191-1192 CE by Jayanaka, a Kashmiri poet-historian in the court of Prithviraja.
Some portions of the poem are now lost. Besides Prithviraja's biography, the poem also gives an account of his ancestors.
Manuscript
The only known manuscript of Prithviraja Vijaya is a birch bark manuscript written in Sharada script. It was discovered by Georg Bühler in 1875, when he was searching for Sanskrit manuscripts in Kashmir. The manuscript is highly mutilated, and several parts of the text (including the author's name) are missing from it.
Authorship
Although the author's name is missing from the manuscript, Har Bilas Sarda theorized that the text was composed by Jayanaka, who was a court-poet of Prithviraja. This theory is based on the following points:
Canto 12 of the poem records the entry of the Kashmiri poet Jayanaka in Prithviraja's court In Canto 1, Prithviraja is expected to listen to the poem. This indicates that the poem was composed by one of his court-poets. The author appears to have been a Kashmiri Pandit: The poetic style closely resembles that of the 11th century Kashmiri poet Bilhana The mangalacharana (prayer) and criticism of other poets at the beginning of the text match the ones in Bilhana's Vikramanka-Deva-Charita (another eulogistic poem, on the life of Vikramaditya VI). The poem praises Kashmir in Canto 12 The Kashmiri scholar Jonaraja wrote a commentary on the text The only contemporary known to have quoted the poem was Jayaratha, also a Kashmiri. The manuscript was discovered in Kashmir
Date of composition
The poem is quoted by the Kashmiri scholar Jayaratha in his Vimarshini (c. 1200 CE), so it was definitely composed before this date.
The poem mentions Prithviraja's victory over Muhammad of Ghor in the first Battle of Tarain, but does not cover his defeat in the second battle. This indicates that it was most probably written during 1191-1192 CE, in the period between the two battles. Thus, Prithviraja Vijaya is the only extant literary text from the reign of Prithviraja.
Content
Canto 1
The first canto praises the ancient poets Valmiki, Vyasa and Bhasa. It also mentions the contemporary poets Krishna and Vishvaroopa. The poem eulogizes Vishvaroopa, a native of Ajmer, and a friend and guide of the author.
The poem then praises the king, Prithviraja III, who greatly honoured the poet. It mentions that Prithviraja had shown a promise of future greatness during his childhood. It also mentions that the king was proficient in six languages.
Next, the poem describes Pushkar, the place of the poet's residence, and a town near the Chahamana capital Ajmer. It states that Ajagandha Mahadeva, a temple dedicated to Shiva, was located at Pushkar. In the poem, Brahma tells Vishnu that originally, there were three yajna-kundas (sacrificial fire pits) at the site, which eventually became lakes. Brahma requests Vishnu to take birth on the earth to "rectify the Muslim desecration of Pushkar", and as a result Prithviraja - whom the text identifies as a form of Vishnu - is born.
Canto 2
Chahamana, the founder of Prithviraja's dynasty, emerged from the orbit of the sun. He was thus a member of the legendary solar dynasty. His brother Dhananjaya served as his commander-in-chief. King Vasudeva was born in Chahamana's lineage.
Canto 3-4
During a hunting expedition in a forest, Vasudeva found a magic pill and restored it to its owner, a vidyadhara (supernatural being). The pleased vidyadhara told him that the goddess Parvati resided in the forest under the name Shakambhari. He also magically conjured up a salt lake (the Sambhar Salt Lake). He told Vasudeva that this lake would always remain in the possession of the king's family, protected by Shakambhari and Ashapuri (the king's family deity).
Canto 5
A genealogy of Prithviraja's ancestors is given:
The canto also briefly describes the reigns of some of the early Chahamana rulers: