Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/374

 330 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH from the materials of which the Mohammedans after- ward constructed the great mosque. Anangapala, who seems to have come from Kanauj, ruled a principality of modest dimensions, extending to Agra on the south, Ajmir on the west, Hansi on the north, and the Ganges on the east. His dynasty lasted for just a century, until 1151 A. D., when it was sup- planted by the Chauhan chief, Visala-deva of Ajmir. The grandson of Visala-deva was Prithivi Raja, or Rai Pithora, famous in song and legend as a chivalrous lover and doughty champion, in whose person the lord- ships of Ajmir and Delhi were united. His fame as a bold lover rests upon his daring abduction of the not unwilling daughter of Jayachchandra (Jaichand), the Gaharwar Raja of Kanauj, which occurred in or about 1175. His reputation as a warrior is securely founded upon the story of his defeat of the Chandella raja and the capture of Mahoba in 1182, as well as upon gallant resistance to the flood of Mohammedan invasion. Rai Pithora may indeed be fairly described as the popular hero of Northern India, and his exploits in love and war are to this day the subject of rude epics and bardic lays. The dread of the victorious Mussulman host led by Shihab-ud-din, who was now undisputed master of the Pan jab, constrained the jarring states of Upper India to lay aside their quarrels and combine for a moment against the common foe. At first fortune favoured the Hindus, and in 1191 Prithivi Raja succeeded in inflict- ing a severe defeat upon the invaders at Tirauri, be-