Tomara (also called Tomar, Tanwar and Tuar) is a Hindu clan, the members of which ruled parts of North India at different times. The Tomars claim descent from the Puruvanshi lineage of Indraprashtha of Mahabharata times. People belonging to the Tomar clan are found among the Rajputs and the Gurjars of northern India.

According to historic genelogies in puranas, the Tomars are the descendants of the Pandava prince Arjuna, through his great grandson Emperor Janamejaya, son of Emperor Parikshit.^{[citation needed]}Prince Dhritrashtra, blind by birth and the elder son of Kuru scion Vichitraveer abdicated the throne in favor of his younger brother Pandu whose sons were called Pandavs. King Pandu later abdicated the throne back to his elder brother due to his ill health. Their sons were involved in a great battle and finally Yudhishthira became the king after defeating Duyodhana.^{[citation needed]} King Yudhishtra founded the city of Indraprastha in the Kuru kingdom and later abdicated in favour of Parikshit, the grandson of his brother Arjuna. Capital city after Mahabharata war remained Hastinapur which was later flooded and the capital of the Pandava kingdom was moved eastwards in times of King Nishchakra. Indraprastha remained one of the major cities of Kuru-Panchala Empire for many centuries. Kuru Kingdom was one of the 16 Maha Janapads (or great states) under the Magadh Empire, around 300 BC. King Kshemaka, 28th in descent from Yudhisthira was last ruler to have absolute power in the Kuru kingdom, he was overthrown by his ministers and his sons relocated near Godavari River in south India. His grandson Uttungabhuja established a small kingdom near Godavari and his descendants later re-established Indraprastha a few centuries later, under Anangpal Tomar I in the eighth century AD.^{[citation needed]}

Prithvi Raj III, commonly known as Prithviraj Chauhan (1149–1192 CE), was a king of the Hindu Chauhan (Chauhamana) dynasty, who ruled the kingdom of Ajmer and Delhi in northern India during the latter half of the 12th century.

Prithviraj Chauhan belonged to the Rajput Chauhan clan, which according to a legend mentioned in later manuscripts of Prithviraj Raso was part of Agnivanshi Rajputs, derived its origin from a sacrificial fire-pit. Chauhan was the last independent Hindu king to sit upon the throne of Delhi. He succeeded to the throne in 1169 CE at the age of 20, and ruled from the twin capitals of Ajmer and Delhi which he received from his maternal grandfather Arkpal or Anangpal III of the Tomara dynasty in Delhi. He controlled much of present-day Rajasthan and Haryana, and unified the Rajputs against Muslim invasions. His elopement in 1175 with Samyukta (Sanyogita), the daughter of Jai Chandra Rathod, the Gahadvala king of Kannauj, is a popular romantic tale in India, and is one of the subjects of the Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem composed by Chauhan's court poet and friend, Chand Bardai.