After the death of Vijaya Chandra his son Jaya Chandra became the king in 1170 A.D. He ruled for 24 long years. According to Muslim writers, he was the greatest king of India during that period.

There is not much information about the administration of Jaya Chandra. However, it is known that he had a big army. According to Suraj Prakash, his army was comprised of 80,000 soldiers armed with shields, 30,000 cavalry, 3 lakh infantry, 2 lakh archers and 7000 elephants. It is learnt from the book of `Chandra-bardai` that he had attacked king Yadavaraj of Devagir but his army returned when Badavaraj was helped by Prithviraj. One of the inscriptions states that he had once defeated Mohammad Gauri but nothing definite can be said in this regard. `Prithvi raj raso` describes that Jaya Chandra had performed the digvijay and had performed rajasuya yajana. After this yajana, he arranged the svayamvara of his daughter.

The inscriptions of the Bhatas said that there were five prominent rajput dynasties during the reign of Jaya Chandra. Firstly, there was the dynasty of Chandelas. Alaha and Udala were two brave chiefs in the kingdom of Chandela king Parmardi, who ruled in Jaiyankabhukti. Secondly, king Lakshman sena and his successor Vishwarupa Sena of Sena dynasty were rulers over Bengal. Thirdly, king Jaya Singh and his successor Vijaya Singh were the rulers of Kalachuri dynasty. Fourthly, in the Chalukya dynasty, king Bhimadeva was his contemporary. Fifthly, the Chauhana king Prithviraj who was ruling over Delhi. Jaya Chandra had good relations with Kalachuri and Chalukya dynasties. The Chandelas and Gahadvalas considered Prithviraj Chauhana as their enemy but these three dynasties had made a confederation to face the attack of the Muslims. According to `Prithvi raj raso` when Prithviraj attacked Chandela king, Jaya Chandra had sent his army for his help.

Sanyogita Svaymvra: King Prithviraj of Delhi was the most powerful king of that period. In the beginning he had good relations with Jaya Chandra but later on they became enemies. When Jaya Chandra organized the svayamvra of his daughter, thinking of the old enmity, he purposely did not invite Prithviraj. But Sanyogita wanted to make Prithviraj as her husband. When Prithviraj came to know of this he forcibly took away Jaya Chandra`s daughter at the time of svayamvra. According to some historians, this story is the imagination of Chandrabardai.

Muslims attack: In 1191 Sahibuddin Gauri attacked Prithviraj but Prithviraj defeated him in battle of Tarain. In this battle, Prithviraj had received the help of other kings but Chalukya king, Bhimadeva did not help him. Unfortunately, Prithviraj did not follow the defeated Muslim army and it escaped successfully. In 1192 Sahabuddin Gauri again attacked Prithviraj and this time Prithviraj was defeated and was made a prisoner. Jaya Chandra did not help Prithviraj in this battle and surprisingly according to `Prithviraj raso`, the second attack of Gauri was at the invitation of Jaya Chandra.

Decline of Kannauj: According to some Indian historians, Jaya Chandra and Mohammad Gauri fought many wars and Jaya Chandra always came out victorious. But Muslim writers describe only one war. After defeating Prithviraj and establishing his authority over Delhi, Ajmer and Kola, Mohammad Gauri decided to attack Kannauj. Under Kutubuddin Gauri 50,000 soldiers attacked Kannauj. During the battle Jaya Chandra was killed by an arrow of Kutubuddin and immediately on the death of their king, the Hindu soldiers fled away from the battlefield. This probably took place in 1194 A.D.

The Muslim army occupied the fort and plundered the treasures of the Gahadvalas. It is also said that about 1000 temples were leveled to the ground and on their places mosques were built.