The site of Devagiri (today Daulatabad) had…

The site of Devagiri (today Daulatabad) had been occupied since at least 100 BCE, and there are remains of Buddhist caves similar to those at Ajanta and Ellora.

These have been occupied and reused since.

The city, known as Deogiri or Devagiri, is said to have been founded around 1187 by Bhillama V, a prince who had renounced his allegiance to the Chalukyas and established the power of the Yadava dynasty in the west.

Alauddin Khilji, Sultan of Delhi from 1296, is determined to bring isolated South India under his domain and sends his commander, Malik Kafur, on a southern expedition.

The conquest of South India (the Deccan) by the Delhi Sultanate had started in 1295 when Alauddin Khilji, as the son-in-law and commander of the Sultan Jalaluddin, had raided and plundered Devagiri.

The rajas, so powerful that they are held by the Sultanate to be the rulers of all the Deccan, had been reduced to pay tribute.

The tribute falling into arrears, Devagiri is again occupied by the Muslims under the Ghurid slave-general Malik Kafur, in 1307.

Ramachandra, the king, is taken to Delhi.

Khalji will soon reinstate Ramachandra in return for a promise to help Khalji subdue the Hindu kingdoms in South India.