FIKST INVASION OF THE DECCAN 101 Bandelkhand and Malwa, Prince Ala-ad-din set out with eight thousand men from his government of Karra on the Jumna, bent upon more ambitious schemes. Forc- ing his way through the forests of the Vindhya range, by difficult passes, and ill-provided with men or sup- plies, the prince carried his small force seven hundred miles to Devagiri, the capital of the Maratha raja, which he took and pillaged unresisted. He had given out that he had quarrelled with his uncle, the Sultan of Delhi, and was seeking service with one of the southern rajas. The ruler of Devagiri was taken by surprise and fled to one of the hill forts. Here, by another lie, Ala-ad-din procured his submission and the cession of Elichpur, and thus the Moslems made their first step into the Deccan. It was from the boundless treasures won in this campaign that the conqueror procured the " golden stars " which lighted his road to Delhi. The way to the south, thus opened, was never closed again, though in the earliest years of his reign Ala-ad- din had other work to do. After the suppression of the nobles came the invasions of those human locusts, the Mongols, who from 1296 to 1305 made repeated incur- sions over the Indus. The worst of these was in 1297, when Kutlugh Khwaja, starting from the Oxus and com- ing down the passes, marched upon Delhi, driving before him such a crowd of fugitives that the streets were blocked and a state of famine prevailed. The capital was in no condition for defence; but when urged to temporize with the enemy, the Sultan indignantly re- fused. " If I were to follow your advice,'* he said,
