the Gahadavala territory, but this invasion may have taken place after Jayachandra's death. Ghurid invasion The Muslim Ghurids invaded Jayachandra's kingdom in the 1193 CE. The Muslim accounts describe Jayachandra as the Rāi of Banaras (King of Banaras). According to Ibn Asir's Kamil ut-Tawarikh, Jayachandra was "the greatest king of India and possessed the largest territory", and his army had a million soldiers and 700 elephants. The Hindu accounts (such as Prithviraj Raso and Vidyapati's Purusha-Pariksha and ) claim that Jayachandra defeated the Ghurids multiple times. The contemporary Muslim accounts, on the other hand, mention only two battles: one relatively minor engagement and the Battle of Chandwar, in which Jayachandra was killed. The Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor had defeated the Chahamana king Prithviraja III in 1192 CE. According to Hasan Nizami's 13th century text Taj-ul-Maasir, he decided to attack the Gahadavala kingdom after taking control of Ajmer, Delhi and Kol. He dispatched a 50,000-strong army commanded by Qutb al-Din Aibak. Nizami states that this army defeated "the army of the enemies of the Religion" (Islam). It appears that the defeated army was not Jayachandra's main army, but only a smaller body of his frontier guards. Jayachandra then himself led a larger army against Muhammad of Ghor who marched from Ghazni with an army of 50,000 cavalry in 1194 CE. According to the 16th century historian Firishta, Jayachandra was seated on an elephant when Qutb al-Din killed him with an arrow. The Ghurids captured 300 elephants alive, and plundered the Gahadavala treasury at the Asni fort. The identification of Asni is not certain, but most historians believe it to be the present-day Asni village in Fatehpur district. Afterwards, the Ghurids ransacked the city of Kashi (Varanasi) and destroyed several temples there. According to Hasan Nizami, "nearly 1000 temples were destroyed and mosques were raised on their foundations". A number of local feudatory chiefs came forward to offer their allegiance to the Ghurids. Jayachandra's son Harishchandra succeeded him on the Gahadavala throne. According to one theory, he was a Ghurid vassal. However, in an 1197 CE Kotwa inscription, he assumes the titles of a sovereign. Prithviraj Raso legend Jayachandra is a prominent character in the Braj language text Prithviraj Raso. According to the text, Jayachandra ("Jaichand") was a cousin of the Chahamana king Prithviraja III ("Prithviraj Chauhan"). Their mothers were sisters born to the Tomara king of Delhi. This claim is