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 capital of the invaders; here the first Mahomedan kings of India ascended the throne, and erected those monuments, prominent among which is the wonderful Kutb Minar. We must presume that Delhi was then the most important Hindu city, at all events in this part of India, for twenty-seven temples had been built within its limits ; it was retained as their principal city by the victorious Mahomedans.

A century later, the confined area of Old Delhi was not able to accommodate the growing population, and suburbs stretched out into the plains to the north-east. A great horde of Moghals now invaded India, penetrated as far as Delhi, and plundered the defenceless suburbs. Ala-ud-din, therefore, in 1303, had to entrench his army at Siri to cover them, and, when the Moghals retired, he there constructed the second city.

In A.D. 1320, Tughlak Shah came to the throne, the whole of the princes of the previous dynasty having disappeared. He was a stern old warrior, accustomed to the constant attacks of enemies whom he had met in the frontier province, where he had been "Warden of the Marches," and he was not content with the comparatively low walls of Old Delhi, which gave less security than he considered desirable. So