As soon as he was firmly established on the throne of Delhi, he sent an expedition to the south under the command of his son Ulugh Khan. A number of seasoned and experienced generals accompanied him.

After reaching Devagiri, they marched towards Warangal in pursuit of Prataparudra who took refuge in his fort and offered a stubborn resistance. The contemporary Muslim historians do not give much detail about the campaign. It is, however, certain that the siege continued for 6 to 8 months and the imperial armies suffered great losses in men and material.

Still they continued to persist and adopted the old strategy of scorched earth policy and of closing all sources of supply to the garrison. They were able to capture the outer wall of the fort when a rumour spread that Ghiyas-ud-din had died and Delhi throne had been captured by a usurper.

There was great consternation in the Imperial army’s camp. Some of the generals such as Malik Timur and Tigin fled along with their armies. Ulugh Khan had no alternative but to raise the siege and retreat towards Devagiri. Hindus attacked the Imperial camp and plundered it. This is Barani’s account which does not seem to be satisfactory particularly regarding the course of the retreat.

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Ibn Batuta gives a different version. He holds the prince Ulugh Khan responsible for this incident. According to him he persuaded his friend Ubaid, the astrologer, to spread the rumour of the death of the sultan so as to enable him to assume the sovereignty. But he was disappointed when the royal officers accompanying him refused to offer allegiance to him and in fact tried to kill him.

He had to flee to Delhi. The sultan, though aware of his treasonable plot, gave him money and troops and sent him back to Tiling. This account of Ibn Batuta, too, cannot be relied upon. Ghiyas-ud-din was a stern ruler and would not have tolerated this behaviour from his son and would have certainly punished him harshly for his treasonable conduct.

Ismay’s account in Futuh-us-Salatin seems to be correct. Greatly perturbed over the prolonged siege of Warangal, Ulugh approached Ubaid, the astrologer, to predict when the fort would fall. Ubaid spent a week in calculating on the basis of the position of the stars and fixed a day when the fort would fall. He further declared that he was prepared to forfeit his life if it did not happen.

However, there seemed to be no sign of the fall of the fort as the appointed day came nearer. Ubaid was nervous. He thought of a plan to save his life. He informed the highest officers in the Imperial army, Timur and Tigin that Ulugh knew that the sultan had died in Delhi and another prince had been raised to the throne.

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He was, however, cleverly keeping back this information so as to kill them treacherously as they happened to have Alai connections. Both these amirs became suspicious and planned to leave him along with their armies.

However, to save their lives from an attack by Prataparudra’s forces, they came to an understanding with him not to send any forces in their pursuit for at least for a watch.

Ulugh was greatly alarmed at their departure, and retreated to safety at Devagiri along with his loyal commanders. But he was pursued by Prataparudra’s forces that killed many of his soldiers and plundered them. As soon as he reached Kotgir, he met the forces of Majir Abu Riza who was trying to reduce that fort.

Majir gave all possible help to the prince in distress and took measures to punish the rebels. Tigin and Timur were killed in action at Kalyan when intercepted by the zamindars of the neighboring territories. The remaining were captured and brought to Delh by Ulugh’s brother Mahmud Khan, the maqta of Devagiri. Deterrent punishments were meted out to them.