The conquest of Madurai - A Pandya Kingdom
The conquest of Madurai was already part of the plan which was introduced to Alauddin Khalji by Malik Kafur. The ultimate goal of the conquest of Deccan and South India was the plunder of wealth. After the conquest of Devagiri and Conquest of Warangal, Malik Kafur learned and explored the region south of Warangal. The region was considered highly prosperous. As the siege of Dwarasamudra was successful, the eyes of Malik Kafur were on the prosperous Madurai region which was then ruled by the Pandya kingdom.
Malik Kafur, by the time of the conquest, had gathered information about the politics and conflict that was going on inside the Pandya Kingdom. Following the strategy of Malik Kafur, the advantage of the conflict between the two Pandya brothers Vira and Sundara could be taken.
Though the conquest of Madurai is said to be an unsuccessful attempt, this was covered by the immense amount of plunder and loot that included horses, elephants, and gold.
Background
In 1311, Malik Kafur decided to march to Deccan with a large army and the aim of immense plunder and looting of the region south of Warangal. By February 1311, he was successful in besieging Dwarasamudra with a mere army of 10,000 soldiers. King Ballala chose a truce over the battle and now, Dwarasamudra was the tributary of the Delhi Sultanate. Malik Kafur stayed in Dwarasamudra for 12 days, till the rest of the army reached there and then planned for the new attack on the Pandya kingdom.
It is also found in some of the writings that Hoysala ruler King Ballala, helped and guided the Delhi forces for their attack on the Pandya kingdom. There have also been mentions of the Pandya prince Sundar seeking the help of Malik Kafur, leading to the invasion.
This was a time of political Imbalance in the Pandya Kingdom as two of its Princes Vira and Sundara were engaged in a conflict for the succession of the throne. This conflict occurred after the death of King Maravarman Kulashekhara.
The March and spoof
As soon as the Delhi army reached the Kingdom of Dwarasamudra, the march to the Pandya Kingdom started. It took five days for the entire army to reach the Pandya Kingdom where the army headed to close two different plateaus and terrains. The important officers that accompanied Malik Kafur included Bahram Kara, Katla Nihang, Mahmud Sartiha, and Abachi, which were the leading generals.
But the generals of Allauddin included a person who was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. One day Abachi, the Mongol general changed his mind and side and decided to join the Pandyas, cheating on his army. He even planned to kill Malik Kafur. Even after the formation of a strategic plan, he failed in his intentions as his contingent was attacked by the Pandya kingdom, and the interpreter got killed. So, he decided to go back and joined the Delhi army again. But when Malik Kafur came to know about his intentions, he was imprisoned and later presented to Alauddin Khalji. His execution in Delhi further led to the rise of the Mongol rebels against Alauddin.
The Pandya kingdom was surrounded by mountains, and there were only two passes through which the army could pursue the kingdom. The army stopped at the banks of river Narmada and the ‘fort of Mardi’ was acquired by the Delhi army. The massacre took place as soon as the Delhi army reached the fort.
The raids on Madurai
The conquest of Madurai was achieved through five raids. These were the raids on Birdhul, Kannanur, Barmatpuri, Madurai, and Rameshwaram.
Raid on Birdhul
After the massacre of Mardi, Malik Kafur set out for Birdhul, the headquarters of Pandya prince Vira. The name Birdhul was probably referred to and stated the meaning – ‘The capital of Vira’. As Malik Kafur reached Birdhul, Vira had fled from the place along with the entire treasury.
Vira Pandya fled to the city named Kabam, gathered some of the soldiers, and finally reached the city of Kannanur. During the raid, the Delhi army found a contingent of 20,000 Muslim soldiers in Birdhul, who were left deserted by Pandyas. Their life was spared by the generals, and they joined the Delhi army as they helped the Delhi forces to pursue Vira Pandya.
Raid on Kannanur
Heavy rains were reported as the Delhi army was pursuing the city of Kannanur. Unfortunately, this time too, the Delhi army was unsuccessful in capturing Vira Pandya as he escaped to the forests with some of his followers.
As the rain stopped, the Delhi army captured about 108 elephants along with the treasury. The city of Kannanur was looted and massacred by the Delhi army. Delhi generals wanted Vira Pandya to become the tributary of the Delhi Sultanate and also tried to follow Vira Pandya through the forests but were unsuccessful and returned to Kannanur.
Raid to Barmatpuri
The next raid was laid towards Barmatpuri (probably modern-day Brahmapuri). Malik Kafur had the information that Barmatpuri had a golden temple and many royal elephants around it. They reached Barmatpuri at midnight and captured around 250 elephants by morning.
The army plundered and destroyed the temple, which was embedded with precious metals, stones, and rubies from place to place. All the worship structures of the temple were either destroyed or brought down.
Raid to Madurai
From Barmatpuri, Delhi Army re-arrived at Birdhul and after a few days decided to raid Madurai, headed by Sundara Pandya. Sundar Pandya had the information of the raid and vacated the city, before the arrival of Malik Kafur and the army, along with his queen.
Still, there was the hope to find the elephants and treasures in the holy temple of Jagannath but in reality, only 2-3 elephants were found around the temple, raising the anger of Malik Kafur. Witnessing all this, Malik Kafur decided to set the entire temple on fire.
Raid to Rameshwaram
This was the time that the Delhi army and the reach of Delhi Sultanate reached the southernmost land boundary of the Indian Subcontinent. The writings of Khusrau and Barani, which are considered as the main source of any of the events or incidents related to the Khalji dynasty, have no mention of Rameshwaram. But at the same time, one of the most famous and important chronicles of India Ferishta mentioned Malik Kafur attacking the local ruler Bikal Dev and then constructing the mosque called Masjid-i-Alai (Alauddin's mosque).
The Madurai temple incident
When Malik Kafur and the Delhi army reached Madurai, a very popular incident happened that has been in the words and stories of the masses till now. Malik Kafur was ordered by Alauddin to destroy the Madurai temple. But this order of Alauddin was not fulfilled. The reason is that when Malik Kafur sent one of his soldiers for the inspection of the temple, he noticed that eight elephant statues were standing in front of the entrance of the temple. The soldier named Thiruvegambarayan who was there for inspection learned that these stone statues were offered sugarcane by Lord Shiva himself in his human form. Malik Kafur himself reached the temple after he learned all this from Thiruvegambarayan. The scene surprised the entire army and forced them to believe in God when they saw that the elephants stretched their trunks and ate the sugarcanes offered by Malik Kafur. Malik Kafur immediately decided to call off the demolition of the temple.
When they were set to find the priest who told Thiruvegambarayan about the history of the temple, they could not find him. It was believed that Lord Shiva himself came to the earth to save the temple.
Return to Delhi
For some time, the Delhi army was blocked by the heavy rains in the region and eventually came to know that Pandyas had gathered a large army against them. This forced the generals and forces to think of returning to Delhi as it was not worth it to attack the Pandya king as they had already collected enough gold, treasury, elephants, and horses from the conquests of Hoysala and Pandya kingdom.
It took nearly six months for the Delhi army to reach Delhi where the generals and forces were welcomed by Alauddin Khalji himself. The generals and nobles were also provided with a small part of the looted treasury.
The Pandya kingdom afterword
The conflict between the two Pandya brothers continued and resulted in the defeat of Sundara Pandya. Sudara Pandya decided to seek the assistance of Alauddin in 1314 who helped him in establishing his rule in South Arcot (Madras). The Pandya kingdom was again raided during the reign of Mubarak Shah by Khusrau Khan, and later by the Tughlaq dynasty rulers.
