Growth of Muslim population in medival india (A.D. 1000-1800) .

The influence of medieval Indian Muslims on Indian social order
was active and palpable. And yet its dimension was not the
same all through the medieval age ranging, say, between A.D.
1000 and 1800. In the beginning Muslims were few in numbers,
indeed very few. Obviously the quantum of their impact at that
stage could have been only limited. It grew as their numbers
grew
On the other hand, while the appearance of Muslims in
India gave the Hindu civilisation a big jolt, its influence on Indian
society continued to remain ever "strong. In any society people
have to coexist, ideas are exchanged, and different sections of
people influence one another's life and thought. So happened in
medieval India too.
Here the Muslims and Hindus clashed and
coexisted ; their mutual relations passed through stresses and
strains; but they also influenced each other in social and cultural
spheres, Side by side, all through the centuries of the Middle Ages
the Muslim numbers went on rising. Increase in population is not
merely a growth in numbers and, as W. E. Moore points out, it
changes not only "the size of social systems...... but also the com-
plexity and interrelationships or organizational forms within systems,
usually with accompanying strains".
These ideas led me to the conclusion that in any study of
medieval history and society our one task should be to try to
estimate how many Muslims and non-Muslims there were and to
determine the proportion of Muslims in the overall population of
India. Then the picture of Muslims living and working with the
majority of non-Muslims would become still more clear. For, “one
fact is patently clear. The vast majority of Muslims in India (and
Pakistan) are converts from indigenous elements, and the 'two nation
theory' has no historical basis."
Population studies of pre-census times are being successfully
attempted in many western countries, but in India not much work
has been done in this area. This book is almost a maiden attemp
at population study of the medieval period. It need hardly be sai
that to squeeze information on the design and size of populatio-
in medieval 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, sufficient 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
medieval 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 study 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 of Delhi 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, during the year 1967-68, gave me some Demographic
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
gratitude