Chauhan dynasty

The Chauhans or Chahamana are a clan who ruled parts of northern India in the Middle Ages. The Chauhan gotra is found among the Jats, Rajputs, and Gujars.

Chauhan (Urdu: چوہان) are considered a Punjabi tribe in Pakistan. They are settled in Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.

Chauhans are mentioned in the Jat history also because historians have proved that the Chauhan belong to the Takshak dynasty and some Jat gotras do belong to the Chauhan dynasty.

According to Colonel James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, the ancestor of the Chauhan dynasty was Anhal Raja, who was a Takshak, an old gotra of the Jats.

The Chauhans were, along with the Paramara (Parmar), Pratihara (Parihara), and Solanki (Chaulukya) clans, one of the four Agni Kula or "fire born" Rajput clans. The Agni kula were said to be created by the gods in the agni-kunda or sacrificial fire on Mount Abu to fight against the Asuras or demons.

The Chauhans come from the region around lakes Sambhar and Pushkar in Rajasthan, near Amber and present-day Jaipur. Chauhan dynasties established themselves in several places in northern India, while the Sakhambari branch remained near lake Sambhar and married into the ruling Pratihara clan, who then ruled an empire in northern India. The Chauhans later asserted their independence from the Pratiharas, and in the early 11th century, the Sakhambari king Ajaya-Raja founded the city of Ajaya-meru, now known as Ajmer. In the mid-12th century his successor Vigraharaja enlarged the state to include much of northern Rajasthan as well as Haryana and Delhi. The Chauhan kingdom became the leading Rajput state and a powerful kingdom in northern India under King Prithviraj III (1165-1192). The Chauhan kingdom collapsed after Prithviraj was defeated by Mohammed of Ghor in 1192 at the Second Battle of Tarain, but the Chauhans remained in Ajmer as feudatories of Mohammed of Ghor and the Sultans of Delhi until 1365, when Ajmer was captured by the rulers of Mewar. A branch of the Chauhans, led by Govinda, the grandson of Pritviraj III, established themselves as rulers of Ranthambore from the 13th to the 15th centuries, when Ranthambore was captured by Rana Kumbha of Mewar. The Hadas, another branch of the Chauhans, moved into the Hadoti region in the 12th century, capturing Bundi in 1241, and ruled there until the 20th century.

Chauhans of the Deora branch established the state of Sirohi in southern Rajasthan, and ruled there from the 15th century until Indian Independence.

Chauhan Rulers of Ajmer

• Prithviraja I (Amaraja) (12th century)
• Jagdeva (? - 1152)
• Vigraharaja IV (1152 - 1165)
• Apara Gangeya (1165 - ? )
• Prithviraja II
• Somadeva ( ? - 1179)
• Prithviraj III (1179 - 1192)