Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c10.21

c10.21

Jamili, the author of *Siyar-ul-Arifin* writes about a famine in the time of Iltutmish (A.D. 1210-1236) in which many people in the capital city of Delhi itself died of starvation. The loss of life in the countryside too must have been great, but little is known about it. Ziyauddin Barani and Isami record a famine in 1291 which continued to rage for two years. During these years rainfall was so scanty in the region between Siwalik and Delhi that crops failed completely. A large number of people lay dead in the streets of Delhi every day and no remedial measures were any avail.¹² The peasants of Siwalik, "where not a drop of rain fell", flocked to Delhi to seek relief. But the acute scarcity in Delhi itself compelled them to decide on mass suicide. Both the writers say that every day, in batches of twenty or thirty they drowned themselves in the Jumma.¹³ A few years later Alauddin resorted to rationing in Delhi in seasons of drought;¹⁴ but he could do little about the rural areas where periodic visitations of this calamity would have carried away large numbers.¹⁵ During the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq Delhi, its environs, and the area of the Ganga-Jumna Doab were struck by "the most severe famine of which we have any records in India."¹⁶ According to Wolseley Haig it continued to rage for seven years, but "there is no doubt that famine lasted from 727 till 741 A.H. (A.D. 1326-27 to 1340) with slight interruptions and its of immense wealth and riches.²⁹ Ibn Battuta calls it a very fine city. In the fifteenth century Nicolo Conti speaks of it as a place fourteen miles in circuit. The whole of Gujarat (often written as Cambay) remained a "great Kingdom"³⁰ thoughout, though it was sacked in the time of Alauddin. Thus, both these visitors were greatly impressed by the riches and population of the port towns on the west coast, and are corroborated by Wassaf whose description of Gujarat is still more impressive.³¹