| Chand Bardai | |||||
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The cover of a Prithviraj Raso version published by the Nagari Pracharini Sabha
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| Born | 30 September 1149, Lahore[citation needed] | ||||
| Died | 1200( 50-51 years)[citation needed] | ||||
| Spouse | Kamla , Gauran[citation needed] | ||||
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Chand Bardai was an Indian poet who composed Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem in Brajbhasa about the life of the Chahamana king Prithviraj Chauhan. The poem presents him as a court poet of Prithviraj. According to it, after Prithviraj was defeated at the Second battle of Tarain and taken to GhaznabyMuhammad of Ghor, Chand Bardai travelled to Ghazna and helped Prithviraj kill Muhammad. .[1]
The Prithviraj Raso was embellished with time and quite a few authors added to it. Only parts of the original manuscript are still intact. There are many versions of Raso but scholars agree that the biggest canto is considered the part of original "Prithivraj Raso". In its longest form the poem comprises upwords of 10,000 stanzas. Prithviraj Raso was proved historically unreliable and inaccurate by historians like Georg Bühler, Morrison, GH Ojha and Munshi Devi Prasad.[2]
Chand Bardai was born in Lahore, western Punjab to a Bhatt Brahmin family of Jagati Gotra.[3] Although not much is known about his personal life apart from the various details that are entailed in Prithviraj Raso.
Interestingly, it is this version that today finds popular expression (including in its film rendition) whenever the tale of Prithviraj is retold. As far as historical facts go, however, it is well known that Muhammad of Ghor did not die until 1206, and that too not at the hands of Prithviraj III. Rather, he was assassisnated on 15 March 1206 at Damyak. The assassins, according to some sources, were Hindu Khokars, and according to others, Ismailis
