Its oldest portions are written in Lata Apabhramsha (also called Latiya Apabhramsha) language and style typical of 12th and 13th centuries. It exists in form a manuscript copied in 1610, for a grandson of Kalyanmal, the Rathore ruler of Bikaner. The oldest extant recension of Prithviraj Raso is from the 16th century. This suggests that the Prithiviraj Raso narratives did not exist in the 15th century in oral form, as speculated by some writers. If such episodes were known during the 15th century, the author of Hammira Mahakavya would not have failed to mention them. For example, the 15th century text Hammira Mahakavya, which appears to have been written for a Chauhan patron, does not mention the heroic episodes contained in the Prithviraj Raso. Some episodes contained in Prithviraj Raso (such as the existence of a minister called Kaymas or Prithviraj's defeat by the Ghurid king) are mentioned in the earlier texts, but these earlier texts do not follow the storyline of the Prithviraj Raso. 1587-1597 are essentially summaries of the Prithviraj Raso plot: these narratives are contained in the Persian language text Ain-i-Akbari and the Sanskrit language text Surjana-charita. This theory is based on the fact that two narratives written during c. Scholars such as Narottamdas swami, Namvar Singh, and Cynthia Talbot date the text to the 16th century, during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. This suggests that the shortest recension most probably composed sometime before 1600, towards the end of the 16th century. This manuscript contains the shortest recension of the text, and its language is more archaic than the one found in the other 17th century manuscripts. The earliest extant manuscript of Prithviraj Raso, discovered at Dharanojwali village of Gujarat, is dated 1610. However, some scholars still believe that Chand Bardai was a historical court poet of Prithviraj, and he composed a text that forms the basis of the present version of Prithviraj Raso.
The text's language points to a date much later than the 12th century, and its current recension mentions the 13th century king Samarsi (Samarsimha or Samar Singh), whom it anachronistically describes as a contemporary of Prithviraj. Most modern scholars do not consider Prithviraj Raso to have been composed during Prithviraj's time. The last canto, which narrates the death of Chand Bardai and Prithviraj, is said to have been composed by Chand Bardai's son Jalha (or Jalhan). 6.1 Examples of historical inaccuraciesĪccording to tradition, the Prithviraj Raso was composed by Chand Bardai, Prithviraj's court poet ( raj kavi ), who accompanied the king in all his battles.5.1 Similarities with Prithviraja Prabandha.