SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 21 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

In which of the following battles did Muhammad of Ghor defeat Jayachandra of Gahadavala dynasty in 1194 AD?

(a)First battle of Tarain
(b)Battle of Chandawar
(c)Battle of Anhilwara
(d)Second battle of Tarain

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The Battle of Chandawar, fought in 1194, is where Muhammad of Ghor defeated Jayachandra of the Gahadavala dynasty.

Chandawar stands on the Yamuna near modern Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. Coming two years after Tarain, the victory broke the second great Rajput power of the north and handed the Ghurids the Ganga-Yamuna doab.

Kannauj and Varanasi, the Gahadavala centres, went with it.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
First battle of Tarain — The First Battle of Tarain, 1191, went the other way — Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad of Ghor. Wrong year, wrong outcome and wrong opponent for this question.
(c)
Battle of Anhilwara — Anhilwara was the Chaulukya capital in Gujarat, and Ghurid fighting there was against the Chaulukyas, not against the Gahadavalas of Kannauj.
(d)
Second battle of Tarain — The Second Battle of Tarain, 1192, was Ghor's victory over Prithviraj Chauhan, not over Jayachandra. The name of the defeated king is what separates it from Chandawar.

Concept

Muhammad of Ghor's conquest of northern India came in three strokes, and SSC tests the sequence rather than the campaign.

1191, Tarain: Prithviraj Chauhan defeats him.
1192, Tarain again: he defeats Prithviraj Chauhan and takes Delhi and Ajmer.
1194, Chandawar: he defeats Jayachandra of Kannauj and takes the doab.

Each battle is fixed by a year and a defeated king, so it is the pair — battle plus opponent — that the question rewards.

Jayachandra's defeat ended Gahadavala rule over Kannauj and Varanasi.

Key facts

The Battle of Chandawar was fought in 1194 between Muhammad of Ghor and Jayachandra.
Chandawar lies on the Yamuna near present-day Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Prithviraj Chauhan won the First Battle of Tarain in 1191 and lost the second in 1192.
The Gahadavalas ruled from Kannauj and held Varanasi.

Study next

Qutb-ud-din Aibak and the founding of the Delhi SultanateThe Chahamanas of Ajmer, and Prithviraj Raso as a source for themMuhammad of Ghor's early reverse in Gujarat against the Chaulukyas

Common traps

Reversing the two battles of Tarain, which differ by one year and by the winner
Attaching Jayachandra to Tarain because he and Prithviraj Chauhan are taught together

SSC asks the battle from either end — name the winner, or name the battle. Prithviraj Chauhan returns at General Awareness Q.1 of the 12 Sep 2024, 12:30 paper, which wants Chand Bardai's Prithviraj Raso.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.