In late 1310, the Sultan of Delhi Alauddin Khalji sent his slave-general Malik Kafur on an expedition to the southernmost regions of India.

In February 1311, Malik Kafur besieged the Hoysala capital Dwarasamudra, and the defending ruler Veera Ballala III surrendered without much resistance.

Ballala agreed to pay the Delhi Sultanate an annual tribute, and surrendered a great amount of wealth, elephants and horses.

By 1310, Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi controlled large parts of northern India, and had repelled the Mongol invasions.

His motive appears to have been plundering, although his courtier Amir Khusrau says that the objective of the expedition was to "spread the light of shariat" in the South.

[2] The Delhi army resumed its march on 29 January 1311, and after crossing the Tapti River, reached the Yadava capital Devagiri on 3 February 1311.

It halted at Bandri (identified with Pandharpur), the fief of Ramachandra's general Parasuram Deva, who had been instructed by his master to support the Delhi army.

[4] The Hoysala monarch Veera Ballala III had returned to his capital Dwarasamudra in a hurry, and had little time to make adequate preparations for the impending onslaught from the Delhi army.

The Delhi generals wanted to take advantage of this, but it was not possible for the entire Sultanate army to reach Dwarasamudra in a short time.

[5] Ballala's messengers requested Malik Kafur to send two envoys to their king, so that the terms of the truce could be finalized without any misunderstanding.

[9] Historian Banarsi Prasad Saksena doubts this claim, as it does not appear in the writings of the contemporary Delhi courtier Amir Khusrau.