Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c10.58

c10.58

Afif does not write about this rise of population in a casual way. He was so much impressed by the fact that he repeats his statement at another place, when the population seems to have grown still more. "In the reign of this monarch (Firoz Shah)", says he, "the population was greatly increased throughout the Doab, from the hill of Sakrudih and Kharla to Kol, not one village remained waste, even in name, nor one span of land uncultivated. In the Doab there were fifty-two parganas flourishing, and a similar (state of prosperity) prevailed......in every fief (iqta) and district (shiqq). Thus in the district of Samana there were four prosperous villages within one *kos*..."⁵⁶ And these villages were not merely a collection of a few hutments; in each village there were two to three hundred inhabitants.⁵⁷