Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c11.108

c11.108

⁷⁷ Rajputana had constantly fought against the Turkish sultans of Delhi and lost great numbers. When Akbar gave it peace with honour, its population grew. But the kingdom of Mewar continued to fight against Akbar. One can get an idea of the loss and dispersal of population from war, which was Chittor's destiny, from a few examples of the sixteenth century. When Rana Sangram Singh had fought against Babur (1527), he had under him more than 100,000 soldiers (Rushbrook Williams, *An Empire Builder of the Sixteenth Century* (Longmans Green & Co. : London, 1918), p. 152. But such was the loss of Chittorites in battle that, when seven years later, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat launched an attack against Chittor, Sanga's widow Rani Hadi Karmeti could gather only 2,000 cavalry to oppose him. In Chittor's massacre by Akbar in 1567, 30,000 people were killed. Besides, the loss of life in *jauhar* in the first instance (1534-35) was 32,000 and in the second (1567) can only be imagined. Add to this the soldiers killed in battle. War continued and Chittor's population went on dwindling. No wonder that in the famous battle of Haldighat (1576 the force under Rana Pratap counted only 3,000 horsemen (G.N. Sharma, *Mewar and the Mughal Emperors* (Agra, 1954), pp. 55-57, 65-81, Lal, *Studies, op. cit.* (n 3), p. 171. In the seventeenth century, when Mewar was at peace with the Mughal Empire its demographic recovery was quick. In a battle against Aurangzeb (1679), the Rana of Udaipur had in the field 20,000 cavalry, 25,000 infantry and 1000 elephants. (G.N. Sharma, *op. cit.*, p. 170). According to Manucci, *op. cit.* (II, n 41), II, p. 433, the Rana of Udaipur had, about the end of the seventeenth century, under him 50,000 cavalry and 200 000 infantry.