Life
Alauddin Khalji (reigned 1296–1316) built the Delhi Sultanate to a new height, beating back devastating Mongol invasions, taking the Rajput forts of Ranthambore and Chittor, and pushing Muslim power into the Deccan through his general Malik Kafur. He is remembered for sweeping price-control and market regulations that sustained a huge standing army. Assessed directly as a ruler: an able administrator and defender against the Mongols, but harsh, with the siege of Chittor remembered with lasting controversy in Indian tradition.