During 1310–1311, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent an army led by his slave-general Malik Kafur to the southernmost kingdoms of India.

He was unable to make the Pandya king a tributary to the Delhi Sultanate, but obtained huge quantities of plunder, including elephants, horses, gold and precious stones.

By 1310, Alauddin Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate had forced the Yadava and Kakatiya rulers of Deccan region in southern India to become his tributaries.

After returning to Delhi, Kafur told Alauddin about this, and obtained permission to lead an expedition to the southernmost regions of India.

[3] Some later chroniclers state that Sundara sought Malik Kafur's help, leading to the Delhi army's invasion of the Pandya territory.

[5] According to the 14th century chronicler Isami, the defeated Hoysala King Ballala guided the Delhi army during the plunder of the Pandya territories.

One day, Abachi, who was a Mongol commander, decided to join the Pandya service, and even thought of killing Kafur.

According to Banarsi Prasad Saksena, Khusrau uses "Mardi" as an antonym of "namardi" (Persian for "impotence"), to characterize the fort's defenders.

This is the same as "Birdaval", which is named as the capital of the Ma'bar country (the Pandya territory) in Taqwīm al-buldān (1321), a book by the Kurdish writer Abu'l-Fida.

[6] According to Mohammad Habib and Banarsi Prasad Saksena, who transliterate the name as "Bir-Dhol" (or "Vira-Chola"), the term may be a figure of speech invented by Khusrau to refer to the capital of Vira Pandya.

[2] While describing Malik Kafur's entry into the city, Khsurau states "the Bir (Vira) had fled, and the Dhol (Drum) was empty".

A large part of the Delhi army encamped at Birdhul, while a small party went out in search of Vira Pandya despite the heavy rains.

[9] According to Khusrau, the next morning, the Delhi army learned that the town of Barmatpuri had a golden temple, with several royal elephants roaming around it.

However, this identification is doubtful, as Firishta places this mosque in the "Carnatik" country at the port of "Dur Samandar" on the shore of the "Sea of Ummam", and states that it was built after Kafur subjugated the local ruler Bikal Dev.

[12] Although the identification of Firishta's "Sit Band Ramisar" with Rameshwaram is dubious, it is not unlikely that Malik Kafur's forces marched to Rameshwarm from Madurai, in search of the much-sought elephants and Pandya wealth.

According to Amir Khusrau's Ashika, during a campaign against a ruler called "Pandya Guru", the Khalji forces reached as far as "the shores of the sea of Lanka".

[14] Lilatilakam, a 14th-century Sanskrit treatise written by an unknown author, states that a general named Vikrama Pandya defeated the Muslims.

[15] By late April 1311, the rains had obstructed the operations of the Delhi forces, and the generals received the news that the defenders had assembled a large army against them.

[17] According to Alauddin Khalji's courtier and chronicler Amir Khusrau, the Delhi army had captured 512 elephants, 5,000 horses and 500 manns of gold and precious stones by the end of its southern campaign against the Hoysalas and the Pandyas.

In Delhi, Alauddin held a public court (darbar) at Siri on 19 October 1311, to welcome Malik Kafur and other officers of the army.

Later, during the reign of Alauddin's son Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah, the Delhi general Khusro Khan raided the Pandya territories.