Canto 1 The first canto praises the ancient poets
Valmiki,
Vyasa and
Bhasa. It also mentions the contemporary poets Krishna and Vishvaroopa. The poem eulogizes Vishvaroopa, a native of Ajmer, and a friend and guide of the author. The poem then praises the king,
Prithviraja III, who greatly honoured the poet. It mentions that Prithviraja had shown a promise of future greatness during his childhood. It also mentions that the king was proficient in six languages. Next, the poem describes
Pushkar, the place of the poet's residence, and a town near the Chahamana capital
Ajmer. It states that Ajagandha Mahadeva, a temple dedicated to
Shiva, was located at Pushkar. In the poem,
Brahma tells
Vishnu that originally, there were three
yajna-kundas (sacrificial fire pits) at the site, which eventually became lakes. Brahma requests Vishnu to take birth on the earth to "rectify the Muslim desecration of Pushkar", and as a result Prithviraja - whom the text identifies as a form of Vishnu - is born.
Canto 2 Chahamana, the founder of Prithviraja's dynasty, emerged from the orbit of the sun. He was thus a member of the legendary
solar dynasty. His brother Dhananjaya served as his commander-in-chief. King
Vasudeva was born in Chahamana's lineage.
Canto 3-4 During a hunting expedition in a forest, Vasudeva found a magic pill and restored it to its owner, a
vidyadhara (supernatural being). The pleased vidyadhara told him that the goddess
Parvati resided in the forest under the name
Shakambhari. He also magically conjured up a salt lake (the
Sambhar Salt Lake). He told Vasudeva that this lake would always remain in the possession of the king's family, protected by Shakambhari and
Ashapuri (the king's
family deity).
Canto 5 A genealogy of Prithviraja's ancestors is given: The canto also briefly describes the reigns of some of the early Chahamana rulers: • The sister of Govindaraja II (alias Guvaka II) had twelve suitors, but she married the king of
Kanyakubja (Kannauj). He defeated the other suitors, and gave their wealth to his sister. • Chandanaraja's queen Rudrani, also called Atmaprabha or Yogini, installed 1000
Shiva lingams on the banks of the Pushkar lake. These lingams were like lamps that removed darkness. • Vakpatiraja I won 188 battles, and constructed a Shiva temple at Pushkar. • Vigraharaja II defeated
Mularaja, the king of
Gujarat, who had to flee to Kantha-durga (
Kanthkot). Vigraharaja built a temple of the goddess Ashapuri on the banks of the river Rewa (
Narmada). • Vakpatiraja II killed Amba-Prasada, the ruler of Aghat. • Viryarama was killed by
Bhoja of
Malwa. • Chamundaraja erected a Vishnu temple at Narpur (Narwar). • Durlabharaja III died in a battle against the Matangas (Muslims). • Vigraharaja II gave a horse named Saranga to
Udayaditya of Malwa. With help of this horse, Udayaditya defeated the king of Gujarat. • Prithviraja I killed 700
Chaulukyas who had come to rob the Brahmins in Pushkar. He also set up a charitable institution on the road to
Somnath. • Ajayaraja II (alias Salhana) defeated the Muslims as well as Sulhana, the king of Malwa. He filled the world with silver coins, and his queen Somalekha was used to freshly minted coins every day. The queen built a
stepwell in front of a temple. Ajayaraja II established the town of Ajayameru (Ajmer), which was full of temples and rightly deserved to be called
Meru. The poem goes on to eulogize Ajayameru. For example, it states that the legendary great cities like
Lanka and
Dvaraka were not fit even for the maidservants of Ajayameru.
Canto 6 , the lake commissioned by Arnoraja
Arnoraja defeated the Muslim invaders, many of whom were killed by the heroes of Ajayameru. To celebrate the victory, the king commissioned
a lake, and filled it with the water of the Chandra river (now called Bandi river). He also built a Shiva temple, and named it after his father Ajayaraja (now called the Ajaypal Temple). Arnoraja had two wives: Sudhava of Avichi (
Marwar), and Kanchanadevi (the daughter of
Jayasimha Siddharaja of Gujarat). Arnoraja and Sudhava had three sons, who were as different as the three
gunas (qualities). Of these,
Vigraharaja IV was like the
sattva guna (good qualities). The eldest son (
Jagaddeva, not named in the text) rendered the same service to Arnoraja as
Bhrigu's son did to his mother (that is, killed his parent). This son went out like a
wick, leaving behind an evil smell.
Someshvara was the son of Arnoraja and Kanchandevi. Astrologers predicted that Someshvara's son (that is, Prithviraja III) would be an incarnation of the legendary divine hero
Rama. Therefore, Jayasimha took Someshvara to his own court in Gujarat. The poem then describes the legendary
lunar dynasty, including
Soma,
Budha,
Paurava and
Bharata as its members. A portion of the manuscript is missing after these verses. Next, the poem describes the legendary king
Kartavirya, and states that the
Kalachuris of Tripuri (the family of Prithviraja's mother) were descended from him through one Sahasikh ("courageous").
Canto 7 The poem states that
Jayasimha Siddharaja (the maternal grandfather of Prithviraja III) was an incarnation of
Shiva's devotee Kumbodhar. His successor
Kumarapala (literally "protector of a child") kept a young Someshvara close to himself, and thus became worthy of his name. When Someshvara grew up, he beheaded the king of
Konkana during Kumarapala's invasion of that region. Someshvara married Karpura-devi, the princess of
Tripuri. The text then states that Prithviraja was born on the 12th day of the
jyeshtha month. It states the
planetary positions at the time of his birth, although some portions are missing from the only available manuscript.
Canto 8 The birth of Prithviraja was celebrated with many festivities. A
wet nurse was appointed for his care. To protect him, a tiger's claw and images of
Vishnu's ten incarnations were attached to his necklace. The queen became pregnant again, and gave birth to
Hariraja in the
Magha month.
Vigraharaja IV died a happy man after hearing that the earth had been blessed with the two sons of his brother. The phrase "the friend of poets" disappeared with his death. His unmarried son
Aparagangeya also died.
Prithvibhata, the son of Sudhava's eldest son, also departed, as if to bring back Vigraharaja. The males were dropping like pearls from the line of Sudhava.
Lakshmi (the goddess of fortune) left Sudhava's lineage, and wished to see
Someshvara (Prithviraja's father). Therefore, the Chahamana ministers brought Someshvara to Sapadalaksha (the Chahamana country). Someshvara and Karpura-devi came to Ajayameru with their two sons, Prithviraja and Hariraja. Someshvara became the new Chahamana king, and established a new town where the palaces of Vigraharaja were located. He named this new town after his father Arnoraja, to remove the blot left by killing of Arnoraja by his eldest son. In Ajayameru, Vigraharaja had constructed as many temples as the hill forts he had conquered. In the middle of these temples, Someshvara erected the Vaidyanath (Shiva) temple, which was taller than all of Vigraharaja's temples. He installed images of
Brahma,
Vishnu and
Shiva in this temple. He also placed effigies of his father and himself riding horses in the temple premises. Just like
Meru had five
Kalpavrikshas, Someshvara built five temples in Ajayameru. He built so many temples at other places, that the population of city of gods declined. Someshvara appointed the Queen to protect his young son, and then departed to be with his father in the
heaven. All his predecessors, from Chahamana to Prithvibhata came to welcome him, except Arnoraja's eldest son, who was hiding in the
hell.
Canto 9 During Karpura-devi's regency, the (Ajayameru) city was so densely populated and had so many man-made structures that the sun was not able to see more than a tenth of the land. Prithviraja's minister Kadamba-Vasa served him as
Hanuman served
Rama. He sent the armies in all the directions to add to the glory of the young king. All branches of learning united and came to Prithviraja, and he became knowledgeable about all the arts and sciences that a king should be proficient in.
Kamadeva took service with him to learn archery, and to stop living in fear of
Shiva. Prithviraja and his brother Hariraja were like
Rama and
Lakshmana. Prithviraja's maternal relative Bhuvanaika-Malla came to him to find out how he was able to protect the earth with only two arms. Bhuvanaika-Malla was an audacious warrior, and gave away all his wealth in charity. He wanted to raid
the South, but decided against doing that because the respected sage
Agastya lived there. An incarnation of
Garuda, he served the two brothers loyally, and subdued the Nagas. With support of Kadamba-Vasa and Bhuvanaika-Malla, Prithviraja did many things for the welfare of his people.
Canto 10 When Prithviraja became an adult, many princesses expressed their desire to marry him. His good fortune also presented him with many opportunities to wage wars. When Vigraharaja's son Nagarjuna conquered Gudapura, Prithviraja led an army against him and besieged the Gudapura fort. Nagarjuna relinquished the duty of a warrior, and fled from the fort. Prithviraja killed his warriors and captured the fort. He brought Nagarjuna's wife and mother to Ajmer, and placed the heads of his enemies on the Ajmer fort's battlements. A
beef-eating mlechchha named
Ghori had captured
Garjani in the North-West, where horses abound. His envoy was a bald man with the complexion of a
leper, and spoke like wild birds. When he heard that Prithviraja had vowed to destroy the mlechchhas, he sent an ambassador to the Chahamana capital.
Rajas (feudatory kings) took shelter in their fortresses in his fear. When he captured
Naddula, Prithviraja became angry and vowed to subdue him.
Canto 11 and
Upasunda fight over
Tilottama Prithviraja's minister Kadamba-Vasa advised him not to get angry and not to fight with Ghori. He said that the enemies will destroy themselves, just like
Sunda and
Upasunda ruined themselves over
Tilottama. Just then, a messenger from Gujarat arrived and informed Prithviraja that the king of Gujarat had
defeated Ghori's forces. Prithvibhatta, the chief of the poets, praised Kadambavasa as Ghori had been defeated without any effort from the Chahamana side. He then narrated the story of Tilottama. Prithviraja dismissed the messenger after bestowing gifts upon him. Prithviraja then visited his gallery, where Prithvbhatta showed him illustrations from the
Ramayana, and narrated the king's deeds in his previous birth as
Rama. The king then saw a portrait of Tilottama, and
Kamadeva (the god of love) overpowered him. Prithviraja began to long for Tilottama, and left the gallery at noon, wounded by the arrows of Kamadeva.
Canto 12 As Prithviraja came out of the gallery, he heard someone reciting a verse. The verse declared that a person who strives to get something gets it. Prithviraja asked Padmanabha (a minister of the former king Vigraharaja) who the reciter is. Padmanabha introduced the reciter as Jayanaka, a great poet-scholar from Kashmir, the seat of learning. Jayanaka explained that he came from Kashmir to Ajayameru, because the goddess of learning had asked him to serve the incarnation of
Vishnu: Prithviraja. The only extant manuscript of the text ends abruptly in the twelfth chapter. It is thus incomplete, but it mentions the victory of Prithviraja over Ghori in the
first Battle of Tarain. == Historical reliability ==