The most awesome historical get away (True Story)

The year was 1185 CE. India was in turmoil with many feudal states at loggerheads.

The Gahadvala king Jaichand ( who ruled the pratihara/Kannauj Kingdom) organised a Swayamwar for his daughter Sanyogita to get married off to another Prince/King.

Swayamwar- An old Indian ceremony where many kings/princes were invited as suitors and would then be chosen by the princess to get married.

King Jaichand invited many leading kings and princes from the land of Hindustan (India) to the swayamvar to get married to Sanyogita whom was famed for her great beauty throughout Hindustan.

As the leading rulers of India all made their way to the Swayamvar, the greatest of them all, the king of Delhi ,Prithviraj Chauhan was uninvited.
Prithviraj Chauhan was the ruler of the large Chauhan kingdom and was Jaichand's maternal cousin, however, both the cousins did not get along well and were great rivals for land supremacy and power.

Despite not inviting Prithviraj Chauhan, Jaichand had a deadly idea of placing a statue of the great Prithviraj Chauhan on the gate as a doorkeeper of the Swayamvar. A great insult!

Unbeknown to Jaichand, his daughter Sanyogita had secretly fell in love and was bedazzled by the stories of bravery and exploits the great Prithviraj. She wanted to marry no-one but him and proceeded to write a letter telling him about the Swayamvar and her fathers plans.

Meanwhile in Delhi, Prithviraj Chauhan got to know of the heinous news of his insult and hatched a plan of revenge. He got his court poet Chand Bardai to attend the Swayamvar and disguised himself and fifty of his best men as attendants of Chand Bardai.

They proceeded to Kannauj to attend the Swayamvar. As Chand and his retinue arrived in the court of Jaichand, Jaichand received them well and gave them accommodation to stay in.

Finally, on the day of the swayamvar, Sanyogita stepped inside the hallway onto the oncoming crowd of kings and princes who were her suitors.
She held a garland of flowers which she would place on the man she wanted to marry.
As she walked past the many great rulers, one by one, she still had the garland in her hand.
Soon she walked past the row of kings and went towards the door.

To everyones shock and surprise, she went towards the statue of Prithviraj and placed the garland on his statue.

The crowd was horrified and was in for an even bigger shock when Prithviraj sprang up from nowhere with his horse and whisked Sanyogita away. The hall was in chaos and everyone's jaw dropped at the event that occurred. Meanwhile, Prithviraj met up with his retinue of men and rode out of Kannauj.

Jaichand was enraged and after coming out of the shock, he ordered his men to gather to form a force and give chase to the eloped couple. Hundreds of Jaichands men rode out with their horses in pursuit of Prithviraj and Sanyogita.

As Prithviraj and his men rode on, they were immediately faced by a force of Kannauj however, with great courage and bravery, Prithviraj and his men overcame the attack and rode on to Delhi. Many of Prithviraj's best men were sacrificed to escort him to Delhi with his newly wed wife.
Finally, after a hard ride and the sacrifices of the cream of his force, Prithviraj and Sanyogita finally made It to Delhi . Jaichand who then became involved in the chase gave up as he had no heart to face the formidable forces of Delhi.

To Be Continued........

Thank you for reading.