TARAORI, BATTLES OF

(1191), Taraori also spelled Tarain, series of engagements that opened all of North India to Muslim control. The battles were fought between Mu'izz-ud-Din Muhammad of Ghur and Prthviraja III, the Cauhan (Cahamana), Rajput ruler of Ajmer and Delhi. The battlefield lay between Karnal, 70 miles north of Delhi, and Thanesar, in the Karnal district of the modern state of Haryana in India. Muhammad had taken Lahore from the last of the Ghaznavids in 1186 and now wished to invade Hindu India. In 1191 he was defeated by a confederate Rajput host, led by Prthviraja and supported by Jai Chand of Kanauj and Banaras (Varanasi). In 1192 he returned and defeated and killed Prthviraja, then unsupported by Jai Chand, on the same field. The Ghurid cavalry tactics baffled the Rajputs until Muhammad was able to crush the centre with his main force. This battle was decisive. Delhi was occupied in 119293, and the whole of North India fell into Muslim hands within 20 years.