In 1191, Ghauri, leading an army of 120,000 men, invaded India through the Khyber Pass and was successful in reaching Punjab. Ghauri captured a fortress, either at Sirhind or Bathinda in present-day Punjab state on the northwestern frontier of Prithvīrāj Chauhān's kingdom. Prithviraj's 200,000 strong army led by his vassal prince Govinda-Raja of Delhi, rushed to the defense of the frontier, and the two armies met at the town of Tarain, near Thanesar in present-day Haryana, approximately 150 kilometres north of Delhi. Ghauri's army had been divided into three flanks: left, right and centre with Ghauri himself, on horseback, leading the centre flank. In addition to being almost twice in number, the Hindu Rajput army had another advantage: elephant cavalry comprising of 300 elephants whereas Ghauri's army had no elephants. Many Turk soldiers in Ghauri's army had not even seen elephants before. According to urban myth in contemporary India, the armies clashed first with the charge of the Rajput cavalry. Ghauri's horse cavalry was unable to hold its own against Prithviraj's elephant cavalry, resulted in the defeat of Ghauri's left and right flanks. Two regiments of the Muslim army with Ghauri attacked the center with a body of soldiers; where Ghauri met Govinda-Raja in personal combat. Govinda-Raja, mounted on an elephant, lost his front teeth to Ghauri's lance. As the battle continued, the Ghauri army, exhausted, shorn of water, and unfamiliar with the scale of its opponent, retreated. Ghauri was himself wounded in the battle and was rescued by his Turkic slave, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who went on to become first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Ghauri's defeated army retreated to Lahore and, thereafter, returned to Ghazni. Prithvi Raj ignored the advice of his advisers and did not pursue the retreating army, which was a decision he later regretted.
