Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India (A.D 1000-1800)
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GROWTH OF HUSLIH POPULATION IN MEDIEVAL INDIA K. S. LAI ffoTcJSPr «f llislory UnsvcTSlty of Jodfipcf BLS£AI!CL{ ; SEIJI Br tie ssr.e eathet Histcrr ol tin Khaliis Twilight o! tho Sultanate Muslim State in India Studios In Medioval Indian Histniy Studies in Asian Histoiy (Ed.) ill RIGHTS RESERVED, 1973 Rs 40.00 ’ PRIKTEO IK IHDIA PeMishfd by RESEARCH fUBUCATTpNS in Social Sciences, 2/<4, Ansati Rood, Daiyagan DtW-6 and^'inlcd at R. P. PfRjjetl, TS26-B. West Boiitas Keger, Shabdsra, Delhi-32. fiu:face ilt inflyt-nce of mc<ljcvat Inrftan KfusUnxs un indiao sodaS ordcf T wa-s active ajid palpable,. *\r.d vci n<: dmicri''fon •vVa'? not the i Same all ibroupji ibe snechc^al ranpmg, ^ay, bete-cen A.IX H)0O end il'Of!. In xfic hcgjjmsj'ng MusUms nerc i'c" m number'., Indeed very few, Ob\50ii\ly the quantum of their {mf-act at that stage cotiW have teen only Hnuted. Tt grew a^- ihdf tminbcis grew. On the other band, while tlie 'aptetit‘«"‘hcc Mudim'' in Imbn gave the Hiadu chihsatton a big joU. ifs inihiencc on Indian i.oci«y contjaned to remain ever strong. In any society people have to coc\!si, jdcas arc exchanged, and different sections of people milnence one another’s life and thought. So happened in medieval India too Here the Muslims and Hindus clashed and Ov^exiited siresst's and ; their rautua} relalions parsed through strains; but they also inllncnced each other in social and cultural spheresy Side In '•sde, all through (he ccniuncs of the Middle Ages the Muslim numters went on rising. Increase in population is not merely a growth in numbers end, as W. E Moore ptdnts out, it changes not only ‘phoaixeof 'social also the com- plexuy and Jtnertelationsldpj or organiratjonal forma v.dibin systems, nsimhy vrith accompanying strains". These jueas kd me to the conclusion that In any spuly of medieval hsslorj and society our one u?^k should be to iry lo estimate how m.any Muslims and nou-Murlims there were and to delcrmlne the prop-wtion of Musliim in the oiaull populatioft of Ir.dut, Then the picture of Muslnus Ihjng and worhinp whh the tnsjorily of nt-Ti-Mushmv would tecomc <-Ud moie clear, l-'or, *‘&gc fad Is pafemls clear. The sasi majority of hi uslhri’^ iit I tuftK fund Fakistani art- cojt'ieri*^ from ludigcncmv element^, ami the hwo tmtlpU) llwory' lip.'' Oo historical Fopuhitiou '.tiidif ‘1 of p(c<er,i>m timac arc bcutg succesifuify fttiempied m many wtshrn counted', hut in Ipvlis nm much work ha-j b-cen done m tins A'lrea. llis teofc is rdinast a rntdika Attempt at population 6.{udy oj the nicd>eVMl perfod. It need hardly be agid tteii to squeeze mformailim (lie design attd sfes of |>3puladon in medieva! times from centemporary sources has been an uphill task. Besides, any study of population of pre-census times can be based only on estimates and estimates by their very nature tend to be tentative. In our computation, however, sufTicient historical evidence has been forthcoming for any demographic behaviour. If nothing more. I have at least been able to collect in one place direct and indirect evidence leading to fairly good estimates of mediev.a! Indian population, although the estimates themselves may not always be invulnerable to challenge. However I hope that the uniqueness, magnitude and delicacy of the task would make the reader indulgent and the critic tolerant. In this stiidj I have found it fruitful to divide the eight cen- turies of the medieval period into four parts of two centuries each, and study the overall population as well as the growth of Muslim numbers separately for the periods A. D. 1000 to 1200, 1200 to 1400, 1400 to 1600, and 1600 to 1800, These bench-marks are not as arbitrary' or unscientific as they look. The year 1000 saw the introduction of Muslims in the cis-Indus region consequent upon the invarious from Ghazni. 1200 witnessed the establishment of Turkish rule and 1400 its decline. Akbar’s Age came to a close by about 1600. The two last centuries witnessed the peak of glory and the nadir of decline of Muslim power in India. A number of friends, belonging to the University ofDelhi where. this study was carried out, helped and encouraged me in completing' the work. Professor Donald F.Lach of the University of Chicago and a Visiting Professor in the Department of History, Delhi Uni- versity, duting the year 1967-68, gave me some Dcmograph'c Tables of European cities prepared for his own use. Dr. Ashish Bose. Professor of Demography in the Institute of Economic Growth, -went through the first draft of the book, lent ready advice on many points, and helped me in preparing Tables and Diagrams. Dr. Suren Navalakha of the Asian Research Centre placed at my disposal some very valuable material on the growth of Muslim population in Bengal. Dr. Feroz Ahmad of the Physics Department ungrudg- ingly carried out for me some calculations on the electronic com- puter, and Dr. H. C. Varma was kind enough to prepare the Index. To all these and many others not mentioned here I owe a debt of jjratitude. K. S. Lai . ;-V'- V' , ’;-^-ft trc/aee-y, i\'-. .'..y. .'. '''... ' -' '• Purl I - '•' '' - '. r^;: «iid LjmSfasions of. Dcmdgraphio ' I:.';'- 0ata- , ! uV.'ifi /Softie McthodoJogical Problems; of Hssmiatiftg. /Po'pu- ' ' ,;'3’” • . ;‘Jation . Pori 2 I , jMcdfcval Tndi^,^ . Total Popftlftlton of in. Total Population— PrC'lOOOposUion IV.'A.O. .1000*1200 1200/1400 ' * ' •VJ,' ATX '1400* 1600'' i<?oo*i800. /;vii;-AVD. / , ' ‘ T'' : - • Cfoftfh of Afusluft FopttlatfoR In Mctlieval; India ' %' Avrif.Tsilu.sinn PopftlAfjon---"Pr«''J0OO Position 97 - rxx A.D. ififlaT.200 . X. A.D. laCO-MOO . ioix:'' a:d, \ 4(mmQ ‘ ••,./ - xfr: A;d. i6O0*i8Oo . 144 -.X- liOiS ,4 „ of <1,r<nvih , ,:Cftmpom’,nte of Munim .PopnlationTti, " ;'-// ’ MMsevftl India' ; ACllX CcTnpottc.r4rof'C}Fft\snh of Mofilu Foppladon. ;X!y./ 'Beft|a.{''“'A flpec!.a1''Tx5'e -Sludy of-Gfowth' of -Mifslinf '' - • ; .Popft'.ifition m%' ‘ '/'Xyr Factors fTtieh drecbea- lslaftif?TUoa of!ftdi.a XI 87 Sftfttrftfftii -'300 X^. Ayi.. '0p , X;' 'Appendices- ' • 1.0%. "of ^ Iftdfeft--; .i-<>pulat foft Oaring Malirniid ' ; ' /: :--,Ghliirs4 |,'rii' 5 ftsy.sffms '. 2ii' I : - ' X’l'' ' f 'XS3 y, - M 55 -^::. mumt IIATERIAIS A^O IIMJTATIOI^S 0 F OEilOGBAPHfC DATA The mnc,! InipofSimt isouice materials for the study of jrtedievaJ Indnui detBo,i^rap4j>% as i\n the ^mdy of any other aspect of nicd<evaf lnt{on\ msnnjy compri'-e contemporary Arabic and Fersitm gaoraphs- cal and hi-ttorfca} ‘sorks. Of no less consequence arc {he accounts of foreqjn itinefants, especially furopean. Many modern work!*: also help id cstnnoimp the pnpnlaiion of medieval times. Tiicse fall into three ctitngories. The iir^t set cons^ts of those wsiten in tfie prc-censm yeai'v and nttcmptmg piipafatitm estsmnfcs of past centuries. Aetna! censtH reparA from ladJ onuarck form the second scb there .ire the writings of scholar? like WJj. Mortdandt J.M.- Pattvi nnd Kingsley Dasjs Vth.' have, on the Kn^-ic of the koitrcc-meRTrals m?n» p'oned atsHc. attempted to adjudge fhe populainm of India tlufing the medieval period* Pmiart and A mine Works Arabic r,iui Persian worKs have beer? evaluated time and again Ip. stHoktn id meditval Indian Idstory, but primaril) v-ltfi a view u‘< aa'/tssiaf thetr tmrouayree, nuiheniidry ami rdiabjlity vjs svf political and socml history. Here we hav< to hrnv tur'ihij ala ticipnd in the study of tnedteval population. Medkvai Indian hktorranA, hh: all oshetv jn the mt-dtCval v,or!d, were nos ifpcre^ied sn ffie iimty of popytollon a# $ueh. But on going flircmph their «v0rk5 a littie msrpstely. one docs come acrois a pood d«! #f ssvfmtststtop, mw sometimes cvre?t datw nudodaticpcif svln'yh belp in 4 - GROWTH OF MUSLIM POPULATION IN MEDIEVAL INDIA demograpliic study. It is from them that we Icam that many rulers, for varied reasons, were keen on knowing about the number of their subject people. For instance, wc arc told by Ibn Hattuta that once during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, when relief measures were undertaken at the time of a famine ‘all over Hind and Sind’, ‘jurists and judges set out registering the names of inhabitants in different streets, sending for the people and giving them provisions’. Akbar indeed ordered a regular census in the twcnty.lfth year of his reign.' Right up to the time of Aurangzeb do wc hear of sar sliiiihorp (counting of heads, census ?), which goes to show that some son of estimate of the number of people used to be kept. Even though, we have no access to such records now, stray references in the chronicles about population trends are not altogether lacking. For the period A.D. 1000 to 1200 one important source of information is Arab georaphers and travellers. The ‘geographers’ usually travelled widely and collected all sorts of information—on the habits, manners and customs of the people, thfcir religious and social life, articles of trade and manufacture, life at the sea-ports, regions with concentrated or dispersed population etc. —about countries whose ‘geography’ they were writing. Consequently, their notices on India have a bearing on its population .structure also. A few historians also throw light on such events as hint at the rise or fall of population. For example, Albcruni, Utbi, Baihaqi and Ibn-ul Asir all write about the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni and similar happenings, and the loss or dispersal of the Indian population in the process.