Late Middle Ages · South Asia · War

1308

Malik Kafur's southern conquests begin

1308

Alauddin Khalji dispatched his favorite slave-general on a plundering expedition into the Hindu south. Over four years Kafur would reach Madurai and return with elephants, pearls, and a quantity of gold that staggered Delhi's treasury. The campaign pillaged temples whose wealth had accumulated over centuries. No northern ruler had ever projected military force so far south.